Mike Huckabee may not be winning–but at least his staff is having a good time. In fact, the bus or plane feels more like a college road trip than a presidential campaign. Early in the primary season, Huck’s troops–most of them Southern twentysomethings only a year or two out of college–developed a game called aisle surfing, where upon takeoff one person crouches on a cafeteria tray at the front of the cabin and rides down the center aisle as the plane angles into the sky. A successful ride often ends with a broken tray–and the surfer on his or her back.
Harrowing plane rides have become regular occurrences as the campaign has crisscrossed much of the country in small jets, often flying in and out of snow storms and heavy winds. Those sanguine enough to sleep usually find themselves the victim of “nap notes”–messages scrawled on a slips of paper and placed on their laps while snickering colleagues snap pictures. A baby-faced staffers take a snooze? Cue up “I promise I’m 21.” A member of the press corps passes out? Expect an “I’m not pregnant” stuck to his or her chest. Even Chuck Norris has been tagged. On a recent trip in Texas, Norris’s wife Gena discreetly placed a note on the slumbering star’s lap and clicked her camera. Its message: “MH can beat me up.” (Three guesses what those initials stand for.)
And as for about Huckabee himself? It took until today, but the former Arkansas governor finally got gotten. While catching some z’s between Houston and Abilene, a nap note somehow found its way to the boss’s belly. The caption, photographed by his daughter Sarah, was perhaps the most fitting yet:
“When I close my eyes, it feels like I’m on Air Force One.”
