Which Presidential candidates have you seen in person?

[zorkpolitics]

I've seen 5:
Kennedy at a rally in New Haven CT (though I was only
Bush 1, His motorcade went through my wife's home town, he waved.
Clinton, spoke at my company in Rahway NJ
Bush 2, Gave a social security town hall in my home town, Westfield, NJ
McCain shook my hand at a town hall in NJ

[Joe Biden 2020]

Howard Dean at a rally in Santa Fe, New Mexico in July 2003.

[exopolitician]

Just Obama at an event in Bristow, VA.

[Person Man]

Bill and Barack when they came to Laramie.

[Andrew]

I saw Howard Dean speak in 2004.

[Ban my account ffs!]

None.

The highest ranking official I've seen in person was Tim Pawlenty... and then Paul Wellstone, Mark Kennedy, and Amy Klobuchar.

[MatthewZD]

Jimmy Carter in 1977.  My parents and I were visiting my uncle and his family that Easter in Calhoun, GA, where my mom grew up.  I was an Army brat and we were living in Savannah at the time.  Well, one of Carter's sons lived in Calhoun and he went to visit.  A ton of people turned out to greet him at the small airport and I remember as he passed shaking hands Carter said they "didn't expect this kind of a reception."

I also saw Newt Gingrich when he came to speak at a class at my college in the early 90s.  If he noticed the "I survived the Reagan administration" button on my backpack strap, he didn't say anything.  (I was a bit more liberal in my youth than I am now)

Interesting story that happened to my mother.  She and some relatives were sightseeing in DC in the mid-90s and had stopped to take some pictures outside one of the buildings near the White House.  An older gentleman stopped and offered to take a photo so all of them could be in the picture.  One of the relatives thought he looked familiar and asked.  It was Lloyd Bentsen.  I always thought he seemed very classy in the 1988 campaign and wish we had more gentlemen like him in DC. 

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Neither while candidates

Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama

[Franzl]

none

[Hash]

none

[CPT MikeyMike]

I think I've said this before: I met John McCain back in 2000 and he poked me in the eye with an umbrella!

Also I have met Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Dole.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Bob Dole.  Mitt Romney, too, since I worked for him in 2004.  (You could even argue that he was a presidential candidate at that time!)

Mark Warner, if you can count him too.  Warner I actually met during a Democratic fundraiser in New Jersey.

[JSojourner]

When they were candidates or at any time?

I have seen...

Vice President George H.W. Bush in campaign mode
Senator Al Gore in 1989, when he stumped for Jill Long
Senator Paul Tsongas in 1992 in campaign mode (why he came to Indiana is beyond me!)
Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney when he stumped for Rick Hawks

Former President Gerald Ford when he dedicated a museum

[pragmatic liberal]

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

I saw Obama's announcement speech in Springfield in March of 2007 and I saw him and shook his hand when he came to Missouri to campaign for Claire McCaskill in 2006.

I saw Hillary Clinton (and shook HER hand) when she came to Missouri last December.

I also saw Bill Clinton and shook HIS hand a couple years ago when HE came to campaign for Claire McCaskill.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Pres. Ford (GOP 92 convention)
Pres. Bush41 (GOP 92 convention)
Quayle (1988)
James Baker III (2001 he gave a speech at a luncheon at the Houston Club)

[Хahar 🤔]

none

[Punditty]

Good thread. Let's see...

Paul Simon in 1988
Jesse Jackson in 1988
Michael Dukakis (but not until 2001)
Bill Clinton in 1992
Bill Clinton in 1996
Ralph Nader in 2000
John McCain (in 2001)

That's all I can think of right now, but I may be forgetting someone.

[phk]

none

none

[DownWithTheLeft]

None, but

I've met Schundler in 2001
Forrester in 2002
Told Torricelli he was a crook in 2002
Made a cheeseburger for Kean Jr. in 2006
Saw Corzine numerous times including once when I went up to him shook his hand and ask him how fast his motorcade sped to get here
Saw Menendez in 2006