Obama, Clinton make one of the final campaign trail stops in Prince William County VA

Though both presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, had scheduled campaign stops in Prince William County before Halloween, Hurricane Sandy made both reschedule events. On Nov. 3, President Obama along with former President Bill Clinton made their appearance together at a campaign stop at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow.

The event opened with prayer and the singing of our national anthem by Miss America 2010, Caressa Cameron from Fredericksburg.

Many people braved the cold to be serenaded by Virginia native Dave Matthews and listened to speeches made by Tim Kaine, Democratic senate candidate and Gerry Connolly, Democratic congressman for the 11th district while they awaited the arrival of Clinton and Obama.

Christine Conley, of Haymarket, spent the day “canvassing” as a volunteer for the campaign before making her way to the event. She gave her “good” tickets to her daughter and son-in-law who brought her grandchildren.

She plans to work every day until Election Day. She has spent this political season making phone calls from a private residence for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Conley is a lifelong political volunteer at the age of 64. Before moving to Prince William County, she worked in Fauquier County as the District 1 coordinator and was nominated as the grassroots volunteer of the year.

She says she had been involved in politics all of her life and lived previously in California. Referring to herself as a “life-long democrat,”  she was awaiting the event that was to be held before the hurricane, but was happy it was re-scheduled in the county.

Jennifer Rodriguez and Kim Smigo, of Richmond, are emergency room nurses who drove to Bristow in order to see a “once in a lifetime event,” according to Rodriguez. She says that it was quite an event to see a former president and the presiding president together on one stage. They arrived for the event at 3 p.m. Smigo worked the whole night on Friday night and Rodriguez had to go to work at her 4 a.m. shift after driving home from the event.

The crowd anxiously awaited the arrival of Obama and Clinton and could often be heard cheering as they viewed helicopters landing. Though there were some lulls while waiting, the crowd was entertained while listening to music, watching advertisements on screens and doing the wave.

Clinton spoke of Obama’s accomplishments and referred to his wife, Hillary as “one heck of a Secretary of State.”

The former and current president briefly passed each other and exchanged a handshake and hug as Clinton exited and Obama took the stage to discuss his plans for the country should he be re-elected as people cheered him on with chants and waving of posters.

Virginia voted democratic for the first time in the last ten elections in 2008 when President Obama was elected with 53% of the vote. He carried Prince William County with 58% of the vote.