Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder traveled with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day. He and his colleague Jason Reed who traveled with the Obama campaign posted daily blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage. Brian’s final blog entry on covering the McCain campaign follows.

I don’t think it can be said that Senator John McCain’s loss of the U.S. presidency to Barack Obama was for lack of trying. Senator McCain campaigned hard in the final two days before the election.  On November 2 and November 3 we went to 11 rallies, in 9 different states, and worked 45 out of 48 hours.  We flew more than 4,000 miles over those two days. At each rally I shot a picture from the same spot in the buffer in front of the stage.  What you see in this combination of pictures are those images, one from each of the 11 rallies.  The covers of our schedules are at the end of the sequence.  While in the end past decisions and this unique moment in history may have stopped Senator McCain from becoming president, he certainly gave it one final, strong push.

 Reuters Washington staff photographer Jason Reed has been traveling with the campaign of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama. He and his colleague Brian Snyder traveling with the McCain campaign have been posting daily photographers blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

In the past year and a half I have been priviledged to have a front row seat to American political history - on a personal journey as a Reuters photographer on the road to the White House with Barack Obama.
 
In the first 24 hours that we have all had a chance to absorb the historic election of Democratic Senator Barack Obama to become the 44th president of the United States, I have finally had time to catch my breath after an incredible 21-month journey photographing his unlikely rise on the political world stage, alongside my Reuters photographer colleagues. From the very earliest beginnings of his campaign, at his announcement speech on those frozen steps of the State House in Springfield, Illinois to the grand stage in Chicago’s Grant Park where he delivered his victory speech last night, I feel incredibly privileged to have gone along for the ride and witnessed one of the great ascensions to the U.S. presidency in history.
 

 
Of all of those who aspired to the highest office in the land, from the early days when we chased many Republican and Democratic candidates from coffee shop photo-ops to town halls across the state of Iowa, it always seemed to me as a photographer that it was Barack Obama who stood out from the crowd. This was not at all just because of the color of his skin, although the press has made much of his race as the first African-American candidate to go all the way to the White House. When I was taking pictures, it was in observing his quiet grace, the way he engages people from all walks of life and of course his famous ability to crystallize into words the hopes and aspirations of millions through his campaign for ‘change’. The reactions he evokes from his followers and supporters are like no other recent candidate’s I have seen. I have tried to convey this through my pictures on the wire.

On the eve of the election on Monday night, the very day that he had just lost his grandmother to cancer and on the back of his final grueling campaign push through Florida, North Carolina and Virginia in one day, Senator Obama walked to the back of his plane en route to Chicago and personally thanked every one his staff and then the independent traveling press corps for their hard work during the collectively long journey to election day. I thought that showed a lot of character and class. The long, arduous road to Washington appeared to have taken its toll on Obama himself just an hour before our encounter with him on the flight, as he showed a rare display of emotion and broke down in a few tears as he mentioned the death of his grandmother while addressing one of his final campaign rallies. 

 
We have made many classic images of Obama at campaign rallies which, with the help of the campaign prop department and lots of red, white and blue flags, show Obama looking presidential as he speaks at the podium.

But among my favorite pictures are those that show the human side of the story, the faces of the people who waited up to six or seven hours to watch Obama walk onto the stage and chart a path for the country over the next four years. Often, I would come across people from all walks of life who appeared mesmerized by Obama’s words as he addressed rallies, spoke in Union Halls and bumped into people on the street.

 
It has been once-in-a-lifetime experience documenting the presidential campaign of Senator Obama, but while it’s easy to think that the road to the White House has been covered and it’s all over, the focus is now on the coming transition period until he is sworn-in to office on January 20, 2009 and then the critical first 100 days of his new administration. The American people and the world will be waiting to see how or if Obama can start delivering the change that they put him into office to create. He now has to prove that he can live up to the lofty expectations of an American public weary of a floundering economy, a war in two countries and other political strife. Reuters photographers will be there every step of the way to record the key moments as history continues to unfold before our eyes and our cameras.

Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder is traveling with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day. He and his colleague Jason Reed traveling with the Obama campaign have been posting daily blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

In my past campaign coverage experience U.S. presidential candidates do not often continue to campaign on election day. Instead they do a long series of satellite interviews with local television and radio stations in battleground states. But, after a seven state, 24-hour day of campaigning, Senator John McCain dropped off his ballot at his local polling place and headed back out on the campaign trail with a flight to Grand Junction, Colorado for a campaign rally, the final rally of what has been a long presidential campaign. Senator and Mrs. McCain climbed the steps to their campaign plane after that final rally, turned, and waved to the crowd gathered below for a final time as the McCain 2008 presidential campaign wound down. Hours later McCain would call Senator Barack Obama to concede defeat and congratulate the new president-elect.

Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder is traveling with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day November 4. He and his colleague Jason Reed traveling with the Obama campaign are posting daily blog entries on the Reuters photographers blog sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

The final day of campaigning before election day and we are scheduled to have rallies in 7 different states: Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona.  Most of the rallies are airport rallies which means the campaign plane lands and taxis up to a hangar that has been set up for a rally.  This saves a lot of time since there is no motorcading. Visually, several of the rallies have been inside the hangar, with the open side of the building serving as one of the backgrounds, making silhouettes a natural way to photograph them (top image).  When Senator and Mrs. McCain took the sage in Blountville, Tennessee, they were silhouetted against the open side of the hangar, waving to the crowd on opposite sides of the stage (bottom image).

Reuters Washington staff photographer Jason Reed is traveling with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama through election day November 4. He and his colleague Brian Snyder traveling with the McCain campaign are posting daily photographers blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

When people ask me what its like to cover a presidential election campaign, traveling with Democratic nominee Barack Obama over the past months, my standard reply is it’s like going to three or four rock music concerts a day, every day, for weeks on end. The adrenalin rush you get from the thousands of excited supporters in the crowd is infectious, even after a 14 hour day on the road and you are suffering a nasty case of severe sleep deprivation.

The rock concert analogy played out more literally on Sunday, as American popular music legend Bruce Springsteen headlined for Obama at a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio. Throwing his support behind the democratic nominee, Springsteen fired up the crowd with some of his songs, most with a political flavor, ending his set with a spoken political speech accompanied to the strumming of his guitar.

In a few carefully chosen words, Springsteen summed up the historical significance of Obama’s campaign, and its unusual path from community organizer in Chicago, to a state senator, to U.S. senator, to possibly the next U.S. President.

Springsteen’s message drew a lot of emotion in the crowd, crystallizing the hopes and dreams of thousands who have followed Obama’s path in this election campaign which began an incredibly long 21 months ago, where he announced his candidacy for president in February last year.

The mini Springsteen concert was one of the more memorable rallies that I have covered in all the months that we have been on the road and it was great to get a front row seat to the spectacle. With one day until the U.S. presidential election, the excitement is infectious.

Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder is traveling with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day November 4. He and his colleague Jason Reed traveling with the Obama campaign are posting daily blog entries on the Reuters photographers blog sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

One of the first town hall meetings that Senator McCain ever held in New Hampshire at the start of his failed presidential nomination bid in the year 2000 was in the town of Peterborough. He returned there as the 2008 Republican presidential nominee with less than two days to go before the 2008 general election. The overflow crowd of thousands of people stood outside to listen to the Senator speak on a cold, damp New England night in the center of Peterborough. Senator McCain climbed onto a small stage to thank the small town New Hampshire crowd for their enthusiasm and support.

Reuters Washington staff photographer Jason Reed is traveling with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama through election day November 4. He and his colleague Brian Snyder traveling with the McCain campaign are posting daily photographers blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

Following an election rally in the small town of Pueblo, Colorado Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took his family for a meal at Jorge’s Sombrero, a Mexican restaurant in the quaint desert town. Accompanying the Illinois Senator were a gaggle of dozens of traveling press, who managed to squeeze their way between the tables of diners, who I am sure had not expected their own meals to be interrupted by a sudden horde of tv cameras and correspondents charging in among the waitresses.

Obama, who it appears may be getting a little tired of the intense media attention that now follows his every move, this time played nicely for the cameras, following the previous day’s incident where he appeared to run from the press on his way to a Halloween party in his Chicago neighborhood (previous blog entry). As eight traveling photographers managed to shoehorn their way into the four person booth opposite that of the Obama’s, I thought this is appeared to be about as natural a scene as it can get, considering the popularity of the subject matter and the sheer number of press in that room.

Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder is traveling with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day November 4. He and his colleague Jason Reed traveling with the Obama campaign are posting daily blog entries on the Reuters photographers blog sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

The custom painted “Straight Talk Express” McCain campaign bus is one of the carry-over themes and props from Senator John McCain’s presidential run in the year 2000. Though reporters and photographers can no longer ride on the bus with McCain to experience first hand the “straight talk” he was famous for dispensing during the 2000 campaign to groups of media huddled inside, the senator does use it periodically now for his arrival at campaign stops. We don’t know (and neither do some of the Senator’s staff members who we asked) exactly how many “Straight Talk Express” buses are now positioned and roaming the country waiting for the senator to drop in by plane and jump aboard. The media traveling with the campaign see them suddenly appear at airports in states from coast to coast. Despite the fact that the bus is no longer the place of continual interaction with reporters that it once was, the symbolism of the bus and its legendary role in the 2000 campaign seem to live on.

Reuters Washington staff photographer Jason Reed is traveling with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama through election day November 4. He and his colleague Brian Snyder traveling with the McCain campaign are posting daily photographers blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

TRICK OR TREAT! - Obama brings Halloween home.
 
Following a Halloween pumpkin shopping spree in Florida on Thursday (previous blog entry), U.S. Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama brought it home on Friday to celebrate Halloween with the family in Chicago. After carrying his pumpkin off the plane, Obama was soon spotted walking down the street in his neighbourhood, with his 7-year-old daughter Sasha in her ‘corpse bride’ outfit, as they went to visit with neighbors at a Halloween party.

The Obama ‘protective travel pool’, introduced only in recent months, now travels everywhere with the presidential nominee, a tight group of journalists, photographers and a television crew - with one spot being reserved for a Reuters News Pictures still photographer. The protective pool, similar to that of the U.S. president as part of the White House coverage, is in place in the event of news occurring that would require a presence of the media to record it, such as a presidential or candidate statement on an overseas crisis, or after all of the past attacks on U.S. presidents and U.S. presidential candidates, an attempt by someone to harm the candidate. For the most part however, it is just an exercise in endless patience.

Participation in the protective pool requires hours of patiently waiting for any chance of news and always requires an extremely early morning wake up time, even when the only thing to cover is the senator traveling one mile from his hotel to a local gym in the wee hours of the morning for a workout before starting his official engagements for the day. As with some recreational presidential movements in the Bush administration, Obama gym trips are “off the record” and not something we can photograph, a rule ordained by this particular campaign. We are there just ‘in case’ a newsworthy event or occurrence develops to cover that is not planned. If something truly striking or newsworthy other than him just walking in and out of a gymnasium occurs we will certainly photograph it and have pictures of it on the wire within minutes regardless of the “off the record” rule.

Another example of this protective coverage that rarely produces newsworthy pictures is when the president (or in this case the senator) goes out to a dinner at a restaurant or private home and the White House or presidential campaign media pool sit in a van outside for hours at night while our subject is inside enjoying his meal. A good suggestion for those wanting to experience this hurry-up-and-wait existence - be sure to bring an iPod and/or a good book!
 
Not expecting to see Senator Obama during his few precious hours at home with his family for Halloween on Friday, which is a much needed break from his busy campaigning in the remaining days of this election, the protective pool stood by just down the street from his house, now a miniature fortress of U.S. Secret Service roadblocks and fences in an upscale Chicago neighbourhood. As Halloween night unfolded, cute little kids started wandering around the streets with their parents, knocking on doors and seeking candy and chocolates from generous neighbours. In a departure from the norm of kids dressed as ghouls and witches, we couldn’t believe our luck when a boy came on the scene, dressed as none other than Barack Obama. Bored and looking for something to do, some local press and the Obama press travel pool pounced on the chance to ‘interview’ the boy, who took it all in his stride and asked people ‘Can I count on your vote?’
 

As the light faded and night drew closer, we heard that Obama himself was on the move. Jumping into the travel pool bus, we quickly learned that Obama was going to visit with neighbors at a Halloween party a couple of blocks away, and he was going to walk the few blocks to get there!

After circling in the bus once around the block we spied Obama with his daughter Sasha already on a sidewalk near his home, and we all poured out of the bus to take advantage of the precious few seconds that he would be visible, before respecting his request that we be as unintrusive of his time with his children as possible. We shot a couple of pictures and left him alone. A Polish television crew, operating independently of the campaign staff chaperoned travel pool across the street, and who claimed not to have understood enough English to understand the situation, pursued Obama down the street, inspiring the presidential nominee to break into a run.

The accompanying journalists all speculated on the reason why the stroll became a jog. It was an unusual moment that was uncharacteristic for a man who has a reputation for keeping cool under pressure. Who would have guessed that it was the press that would spook Obama on Halloween?

For the account from the Reuters news wire of the incident see: Rare flash of anger from Obama on Halloween night.

Reuters Boston staff photographer Brian Snyder is traveling with Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain through election day November 4. He and his colleague Jason Reed traveling with the Obama campaign are posting daily blog entries sharing their experiences and favorite pictures of the day from their campaign coverage.

It is the waning days of the extremely long U.S. presidential campaign and both candidates are looking to pull out all the stops and seal the deal with the American public.  Who better to call out in an effort to try to deliver a final political blow than the TERMINATOR himself? Senator McCain called on former actor, “Terminator” and current Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger to introduce and publicly back him at a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio. It was Halloween, but unfortunately the governor did not come dressed as “The Terminator.” Sometimes it is actually a struggle to make a simple clean strong campaign picture like this one: where the two principals come together and interact well onstage, the light is nice, the background is clean and and there is a simple real moment between them.