Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 23, 1993 TAG: 9308230011
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: EDGARTOWN, MASS. LENGTH: Short
Forget all that talk about staid, understated Martha's Vineyard. This island has been positively palpitating, salivating over every detail of the Presidential Vacation. Itching for invitations to invitation-only dinners with the nation's Top Tourist. Buying up Clinton T-shirts in bulk.
"They are blase," longtime islander Harvey Ewing says of his fellow Vineyarders, as they're called. "But they are excited, too."
"We've had a lot of folks who are the power elite lurking about here for years, but there's something about the president of the United States that makes everyone stand up and notice," says innkeeper Carl Buder.
Gaggles of gawkers hang out on roadsides, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beige van that is serving as the presidential limousine. Hundreds lurk along the golf links where Clinton is rumored to be teeing up.
The movers and shakers have been hobnobbing nightly with Clinton in the opening phase of his 11-day vacation.
"There's a lot of jockeying among the rich and famous as to who's been invited and who hasn't and who do you talk to to get an invitation," said Peggy Eastman, political writer for the Cape Cod Times.
Author William Styron, one sought-after dinner guest, predicted that even the most party-hearty would start to poop out soon.
"I think he'll spend the rest of the week relaxing," Styron said of Clinton. "He's wonderfully relaxed and he's having a great time."
by CNB