Plans for a big political weekend blown out by the wind. Sigh.

By Jay Warren
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: February 10, 2008

There are a lot of disappointed people in Southwest Virginia tonight. And, I suspect there are a lot of disappointed reporters!

This weekend we thought we would be hearing from former President Bill Clinton, and presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. That would have been historic for Southwest Virginia. And it would have been very exciting.

Instead, we heard from Huckabee and Bill Clinton. And it now appears we’ll hear from Bill Clinton again.

What happened? In a word: the wind. It grounded planes and kept Hillary and Obama from taking off. Hillary is making up for her absence by sending her husband to Roanoke on Monday. There’s no word yet as to whether Obama will make up his event. But, clearly, SWVA Democrats were ready to hear from these candidates and they are disappointed it’s not going to happen.

The size of Hillary’s rally was impressive, surprising me and our political analyst Dr. Bob Denton. It was an enthusiastic crowd… that is until they heard Hillary couldn’t make it. By all accounts, the Obama supporters were just as excited. They spent much of the day lined up in downtown Roanoke waiting to get a ticket for Monday morning’s event.

Many people, Republicans and Demodrats, were looking forward to seeing these candidates up close, hearing their messages, getting a sense of who they are and what they stand for. As a reporter, I was looking forward to gauging their support, maybe asking them a question, learning more about their campaign operations and strategies. For political junkies, no matter your party affiliation, we were expecting some first class political theater. Unfortunately, that won’t happen.

The candidates should be commended for trying. It is obvious they took our end of the state seriously. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans. Sigh.