April 10, 2008, 1:30 pm
And You Thought the Phone Only Rang at 3 A.M.
By Jeff Zeleny
Barack Obama at the Sunrise Cafe in South Bend, Ind. (Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Senator, is there something in your pocket?
As Senator Barack Obama wrapped up a drop-by visit to the Sunrise Cafe here today, he was poising for a photograph with two waitresses and the restaurant’s owner. When he leaned in for the picture, touching his leg to one of the older women, he suddenly cracked a smile.
“That’s my phone buzzing there,” he said, gesturing to his right pocket. “I don’t want you to think I’m getting fresh or anything.”
With that, the first full day of Mr. Obama’s latest bus tour across Indiana got underway this morning. The Democratic presidential primary here is May 6 and Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton are competing for victory in a state that for the first time in four decades is playing a key role in choosing the party’s nominee.
-snip-
Mr. Obama did, however, pick up the breakfast check. He pulled out two separate – but thin – wads of money, unfolded a few bills from one stack and left it on the counter. (We couldn’t see how much the bill was, but it looks as though there was a healthy tip left behind.)
As he walked out the door, the waitresses were buzzing about their breakfast guest – and, of course, that vibrating cell phone.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/and-you-thought-the-phone-only-rang-at-3-am/#more-4777