First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Vermont for a few hours tomorrow afternoon and will likely come away with more than $500,000 for her husband, Democratic President Barack Obama’s re-election bid.
Her jaunt to the Green Mountains will be tightly controlled, and press access will be extremely limited.
The First Lady’s office wrote off the gaggle of reporters who would have covered her jaunt to the Green Mountains with some avidity. Press credentials for the big-ticket fundraisers were not issued to local reporters in advance of Obama’s hours-long swing through the state.
In fact, coverage of the fundraiser is verboten – unless you happen to be the one lucky journalist with a golden ticket. The First Lady’s office has insisted that the reception and dinner in Burlington with Democratic donors and VIPs will be “press pool only” events. In other words, a single, pre-approved local reporter will cover the fundraisers in Burlington … for everyone else in the Vermont press corps. The story will be released by the Obama for America campaign.
Here at VTDigger.org, we played phone tag day in and day out with Obama for America officials for weeks, and word didn’t come down about how showtime would go until Wednesday. Seven Day’s Shay Totten detailed additional accounts of Vermont’s press corps being shut out on the publication’s staff blog, Blurt.
The press is permitted to attend her first stop at Burlington International Airport where she will thank Vermont National Guard members for their service in Afghanistan and Iraq. Reporters will be “sequestered” for two hours — from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. — at the Vermont National Guard hanger until Obama arrives.
The First Lady’s safety is an enormous concern, and so reporters will be treated like potential security risks. Anyone with a camera will be escorted at all times, print reporters will be corralled in a controlled, staged area. No live coverage is allowed. Only preapproved, credentialed cameras will be able to take cutaway shots. Journalists are not permitted to cover the arrival and departure of Obama’s aircraft. The White House will allow one military photographer to shoot her arrival.
As for questions, fuggedaboutit. There are no planned press avails, let alone interview opportunities with the First Lady.
A fundraising sweep
Obama will come to Vermont after she has lunch with Gov. Deval Patrick and his wife, Diane, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The 100 guests for the Democratic National Party event are paying between $2,500 and $5,000 to dine with the First Lady, according to a Democratic official.
Following the lunch in Massachusetts and a visit with Vermont National Guard members, Obama will host a reception at the Sheraton in Burlington. Vermont’s political VIPs, Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch and Gov. Peter Shumlin will be among the 900 guests. Ticket prices for the sold-out meet and greet range between $100 and $500.
This evening, the First Lady will sup with 100 guests at a $5,000-a-plate, sold-out fete held at ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center in Burlington. The First Lady will join Leahy and 100 other guests.
