Column: "Sauntering": Ralph Nader has deep, brown eyes

I don't spend a lot of time with the national news, particularly the political campaigns this far out from the actual election. My beat is Eureka Springs and its environs and that is where I keep my attention focused.

Former State Rep. Lonnie Clark of Berryville got after me one time because I didn't know about what was going on in the Arkansas General Assembly and how Carroll County might be affected.

At any rate, through the years of newspaper work and general living, I have had the opportunity to shake hands with one man who eventually became President of the United States and two men who wanted or want to be president.

Last Friday, Ralph Nader came to Little Rock and was holding a press conference in the hotel across the street from where Mayor Kathy Harrison, Aldermen Karen Lindblad and Butch Berry and I were attending the Municipal League Conference.

Berry had already left to come home when we got the news about Nader's visit. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity, Harrison, Lindblad and I strolled over to meet the man who has changed the course of the nation more than once without being president.

Nader was late, held up by traffic on the interstate as he drove in from Memphis. There were more media people in the small room set aside for the press conference than there were Nader supporters.

I was a bit embarrassed about the size of the room, until I realized there were only half a dozen of his volunteers in attendance.

He came in quickly and stood behind a microphone stand provided by a local television station. He looked pretty much like he always looks on television - intense, black suit, white striped shirt and black tie.

His dark hair is salted and brushed to one side. His posture is not as straight as one would hope, but that happens as we get older.

He grasped the microphone stand with both hands and started talking in a rapid-fire manner brought on by many repetitions.

There weren't many questions, but he answered the ones he got with short, to-the-point answers. He tried some jokes as he answered the questions, but they didn't get a lot of response.

As he signed the mayor's copy of his latest book, he seemed to be paying attention as she invited him to Eureka to campaign and told him about the renovated auditorium and its seating capacity.

I caught his attention and shook his hand, thanking him for all he has done in his years of work. He smiled and his dark brown eyes were deep.

And then, he was gone - on his way to the airport to fly to Baltimore.

And that is the way it usually is. We wait around and around. The important person comes along, is present for a few minutes and is gone. There is hardly any time for a real impression or moment of recognition or response.

It was a bit different the evening I met Bill Clinton. He, Hillary and Chelsea were in Eureka Springs for an overnight visit.

I was part of a group invited to have supper with them at the Victorian Sampler.

He stood on the porch in the warm sunset and gave a speech about the importance of recycling and congratulated Eureka on its pioneering work in establishing a recycling program.

The atmosphere was relaxed. When I shook his large, warm hand and looked up, he smiled and his eyes were sky blue.

The first time I had seen him had been the formal opening of the downtown trolley depot.

I have always remembered how his jaw dropped in shock when the late former Mayor Don Thurman said he had always liked Bill Clinton, but had never voted for him.

Way back in my salad years as a reporter, George Wallace came to Alamogordo, N.M., to visit the town where he had been stationed during World War II.

He and Lurleen had been newly married and they lived in what he called "a chicken coop" while he was training at the nearby Air Force base.

There was a big crowd of people around him as he walked through the yard to the back of the house where the small building stood.

As he turned and walked back, I was standing on a porch step. I held out my hand and he shook it as he went by. I don't remember the color of his eyes as he looked up at me, but I remember the strength in that hand.

And some years later, in southern Oklahoma, I went with some friends to see Gerald Ford make a campaign stop.

We waited on the tarmac and waited and waited for Air Force One. I guess everyone was looking the wrong way. All of a sudden, the crowd turned around and there was the huge blue and white airplane gliding quietly toward us.

Ford came down the steps (and didn't trip, thank God) and got into the crowd. I remember him being head and shoulders above us, but I don't know how that was actually accomplished.

I didn't get close to him or get to shake his hand. He was there. I got to see him and that was enough. Again, the whole appearance took just a few minutes, then it was over.

I think if you get the chance to see the President or someone who has a running chance at the job, you should go and see that person. It makes a memory that stays with you a long, long time.

I am not sure Ralph Nader will ever get to be president. I am not sure I like the idea of him making the difference in the last campaign that may have put our country into the beleaguered war.

He says everyone has the right to run, and so they do. He has accomplished so much without being president, it makes me wonder what he could do if he was president.

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Column: "Sauntering": Ralph Nader has deep, brown eyes

I don't spend a lot of time with the national news, particularly the political campaigns this far out from the actual election. My beat is Eureka Springs and its environs and that is where I keep my attention focused.