Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410030069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
"It's amazing how people don't even know it's going on," she said. But she was as happy to fill them in about Vice President Al Gore as she was to tell them about the house specials.
Gore's 21/2-hour visit to downtown Roanoke for two fund-raising events did more than pump up Democratic Party activists. It thrilled a lot of folks who headed to the Roanoke City Market for what they thought was just another Friday night on the town - but found themselves delaying their dinner plans to join the crowds gawking for a glimpse of the vice president.
Cheers went up, and flash-bulbs flashed, when Gore emerged from his limousine and waved before entering the Marketplace Center. The crowds waited patiently for an hour to catch another sight of Gore, as he hobbled on crutches - he recently tore his Achilles tendon playing basketball - across Market Street to his second event at the City Market building.
But was Gore the main attraction, or his security entourage?
"I think everybody is more excited about the Secret Service and the guys on the buildings than anything else," Dalton said.
Perhaps so.
Take Barbara Coleman, who came in from Vinton. "I've never seen the men up on the roof before," Coleman said, pointing to the Secret Service snipers atop the Books, Strings & Things building. "I have in the movies and on TV, but not in person. It's fascinating. I like it when I can see things real."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB