Clinton Campaign '04: The West Goes Wild For Bill
by Bridget Kinsella, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 6/30/2004
Outside the Book Passage store in San Francisco's historic Ferry Building yesterday afternoon, 2,000 people lined up in the shadow of the Bay Bridge as the summer fog lifted to reveal a glorious sunny sky.
It felt like a carnival. Vendors barked, "get your Clinton Book Tour button here." A man with a three-wheeled bike hawked water for a $1 claiming, "It's better than Viagra." One man on line held a sign that read: "Budget Surplus. Civil rights. Reproductive Rights. This country has really missed you Bill!"
Inside the store, the first 100 ticket holders (there were more than 3,000, although anyone over 1,500 was advised that they weren't likely to get their book signed) passed through the security sweep and awaited the former president's arrival. Asked if she remembered Clinton as President, a 10-year-old girl smiled shyly and shook her head. Will she read the book? "Maybe someday," her mother answered, "but she's going to remember this for the rest of her life."
The crowd inside cheered at the sight of Clinton, who had entered the shop (closed for everything but the event) through the back door. Five minutes later, the signing began.
Flanked by secret service agents and Book Passage owners Elaine and Bill Petrocelli, the former President breezily worked his magic. The line moved in fluid progression but not without time for pleasantries. "You look very presidential," Elaine Petrocelli said to an African American boy of about nine. Clinton leaned back to get a good look at the boy, said a resounding "hello," and heartily shook his hand. The boy beamed as he turned around in his black tie and suit festooned with a Clinton Book Tour button while clutching his signed copy of a book twice the size of his head.
Clinton kept signing past 7 p.m., after more than four hours and 2,000 books. Afterward, he did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle inside the store. "Then he and a few old friends had dinner outside," Petrocelli said. "All the vendors (of the Ferry Building) made him food." Hundreds of onlookers stuck around on the Ferry platform, and Clinton gave them a wave as he left.
"What impressed me the most about the president was that there were no VIPs," Petrocelli said. "Even (former mayor) Willie Brown had to wait until everyone got their books signed to get his signed." And he bought six of them.
