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(UPDATED) WESTPORT, Conn. – More than a dozen spectators lined the shoulder of Sherwood Island Connector in Westport on Monday night and waited anxiously to catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama's motorcade.
At about 7:30 p.m., their patience paid off as the motorcade made its way down the connector before turning right on Nyala Farms Road.
"It was nice to see," Bridgeport resident Jean-Claude Jean said. "I didn't see the president, but it was exciting to see all the cars.
Obama first arrived in Westport at about 5:15 p.m., after the presidential helicopters landed at Sherwood Island State Park. Minutes later, his vehicle was escorted onto Interstate 95 south headed to Stamford, where he was attending a fundraiser at the Marriott Hotel & Spa.
Knowing Obama would be back in Westport after the Stamford event to attend a $35,800 per guest dinner party at movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s home on Beachside Avenue, Jean and others gathered along the side of Sherwood Island Connector before 7 p.m. to see the “most powerful man in the world” drive by.
Jean, president of First Class Driving Service, said he’s no stranger to presidential encounters. In the 1990s, when former President Bill Clinton visited Westport, Jean said he saw that motorcade. A few years later, he said he met former President George W. Bush at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich, where the then-president signed Jean’s business card and shook his hand.
“It’s something I will always remember,” Jean said. “To me, it doesn’t matter if they are Republican or Democrat. That’s my president — our president.”
Hours before Obama arrived, a Secret Service agent was stationed outside Weinstein’s home. The agent, out of the Brooklyn, N.Y., field office, checked the identification of every person working the event, from the valets to the caterers driving in to drop off food.
A Connecticut State Police helicopter also looped above the area around Weinstein’s home several times during the afternoon.
Mike Pierre, one of the at least 10 valets working the party, said he was thrilled when he found out he was assigned to work a presidential event.
“This is definitely the coolest valet job I’ve worked so far,” he said. “I’m excited to see the motorcade — I wonder if it looks like it does in the movies.”
Obama’s visit to Westport lasted less than two hours. By 9:15 p.m., Obama had reportedly left the party and Westport.
Comments (21)
Now, now, the collapse of the housing market bubble and its subsequent impact on the rest of the economy is directly attributable to the repeal of Glass-Stegall in 1999, the housing policies pushed thru by Dodds-Frank and the Bush tax cuts (voted for by Reps and many Dems to forestall collapse after 911)
Two of these items wer done before Bush by a Dem controlled congress. To blame one person is absurd.
Politicians are the only people on God's good earth that enact laws that cause problems that they then campaign against. (thanks Cliff)
"Elect them and you will pay even more in taxes and worse, in diminished political, military, economic and moral leadership as he deliberately weakens the USA."
Taxes are at their lowest level in 50 years. Our military is still stronger and better funded than the next 3 countries combined. Politically we are still number 1 around the world. Our economy, though weakened, is still doing better than most of the eurozone; even China has slowed significantly. As for moral leadership, I have no idea what you mean.
Where do you get your ideas?
100 percent correct
What a waste of money...if you can raise a billion dollars from the hated and chastised1%....pay for this with your campaign money ...
The Kenyan/birther baloney is getting a little tired. Get over it. Obama is the President and will be for four more years. Romney's mystery-meat campaign is DOA. In fact, the more people hear the hateful blather, the more folks are deciding to reelect the President because there is no serious alternative.
If I want someone to organize blacks in the ghettos of Chicago, I'd pick Mr. B Hussein Obama. If I want someone to fix the biggest economy in the history of the world, I'd pick Mr Romney. It's that simple.
What would you pick a drunk coke head for as in the former president.
Why would you pick a lieing pot head as the current President?
Sorry Tim. Your freeloading days are numbered. President Romney will cut off your food-stamp supply and force you to get a job like everybody else. No welfare for you! Ha ha ha.
Typical ignorant republican reply.
It costs several million of OUR tax dollars to fly this guy and his entourage around the country so he can raise money for his party and his reelection. Elect them and you will pay even more in taxes and worse, in diminished political, military, economic and moral leadership as he deliberately weakens the USA.
How could this community organizer become the president of US? Only in America.
I hope that my vote in November will enable Obummer to consider being a candidate for governor of the state of Connecticut or head coach of his daughters' basketball team.
Oh they let you vote. I thought you had to be a citizen
You obviously dont know much about how the mess got created but blaming only Bush when the actions to get there started 20+years earlier is really not a very good argument...additionally blaming someone else is so much easier than taking responsibility for your own actions..my children do this all the time...and as for taxes being the lowest they have been is no thanks to our current pres..so are you thanking bush or giving credit to Obama for that..
Hey, they let a Kenyan to be the US president. Sure they'd let non-citizens vote.
No lets pick a drunk coke head like Bush
"I would really hate to learn that the said activity was due to a presidential fundraiser."
It was.... The same as it use to be for the village idiot Bush Jr. and his father Bush Sr.
Who is Bush? Speaker of the House? Republican nominee?
Once again typical republican Alzheimer's..Who is Bush? He is the village idiot that created the mess Obama inherited.. I know you Republicans are trying to make as if his 8 years never existed and I can not blame you... But they did and we are still living the effects of the drunk.
All I know is that my train to Westport got held up in Stamford for 45 minutes for "police activity". I would really hate to learn that the said activity was due to a presidential fundraiser.