<p>I saw Obama at a campaign stop in my hometown. Our whole family went and we were within 15 feet of him when he spoke.</p>
<p>I also saw Clinton in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Carter and Rosalyn at a book signing in Chicago (after he left the presidency, obviously.)</p>
<p>I wasn’t there but my sister and BIL went to the movies one night at a little theater near Chappaqua and the BIL ran into Bill Clinton in the men’s room!</p>
<p>They also went to Castle on the Hudson for NYE one year and Bill, Hillary, her mom, and Chelsea were there. They knew something was up when the first walked in as SS was stopping and checking everyone who came in and the ladies all had to open their purses. </p>
<p>I am never in the right place at the right time. :(</p>
<p>I shook Lyndon Johnson’s hand, (on the White House Lawn) but I don’t think I’ve seen any of the other presidents.</p>
<p>I saw Obama at the pre-inaugural performance, but he was a pretty small speck in the distance. I did see the Queen of England one time in a parade.</p>
<p>I’ve met Bill Clinton once at a law firm where he was at a meeting. After he had left office.</p>
<p>Same with G.W. Bush. Same office, actually, but in connection with the Texas Rangers back in the dark ages.</p>
<p>Mythmom, I want to see the movie of your life!</p>
<p>I met Mitt Romney over 30 years ago. Does that count?</p>
<p>I saw a couple of former Presidents at Yankee Stadium when I was a child. I saw Herbert Hoover at an Old Timer’s Day game in 1959. A couple years later when Harry Truman was introduced to the crowd while I was on my way to the concession stand I found I was standing within a few feet of the former President. The last President I met was Richard Nixon in 1968. I wangled “press credentials” from a neighbor who was heavily involved in Repurblican politics for a press conference and campaign rally. I also shook Nelson Rockefeller’s hand at that rally.</p>
<p>Closest I’ve come since was driving past Poppy Bush’s place in Kennebunkport by accident when he was in residence, and getting stuck behind Bill Clinton’s limo (yes, there was an intervening secret service vehicle) when he was on the way to a Georgetown basketball game and I was on my way to Phillips with my family while in Washington.</p>
<p>I was kissed by JFK! I was about a year old and don’t remember a thing, but my mom always told the story so it must be true. Shook hands with Johnson, Ford, Carter. Have met both Clintons and have met and had a conversation with Obama – a truly remarkable man in person. Living in Iowa we see a lot of all the candidates. A guy I work has met every presidential candidate since Carter on – Clinton, Bushes, Obama on down to Gravele, Trump, Caine. As in met and actually has had a conversation with. He has a string of Secret Service badges/pins that is longer than his arm He says that of all of them the one who most impressed him was Bill Bradley – but he also says that he knew right away that he would never get elected – too nice.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a bunch, but only spent time with Carter - he was campaigning at my school - and Reagan. Ford was by far and I mean by far the worst speaker and most unimpressive in person. Nice man, but an accidental president. </p>
<p>The most impressive elected head was Edward Heath, former British PM. Very quick on his feet, coming from the parliamentary system. Really looked the part. I wish I’d met Margaret Thatcher.</p>
<p>Obama did a whistle-stop tour through here when he was campaigning in '08. We walked to the local commuter rail station (which is very small), expecting maybe 100 people to be there. The crowd was 600+, but we had gotten there early enough to have a very good view and got some close-up pictures of him speaking.</p>
<p>Clinton spoke at D’s graduation in 2010, but we were pretty far back in the audience and saw him mostly on a big screen set up for the event.</p>
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Bradley spoke at my college graduation–really boring, sorry to say.</p>
<p>I was at a small fundraiser for Obama early in his campaign featuring ( who else) Stone Gossard a guitarist with Pearl Jam. Obama spoke at my younger Ds high school to support Maria Cantwells campaign for reelection as senator, the year before.
I also went to a larger event supporting Obama when it looked like he was the candidate.</p>
<p>Younger D and I were outside older Ds school on the sidewalk when Clinton’s limo drove by, on the way from one speech to another. ( she was probably about three or four). The interior light was on so you could see quite clearly and D exclaimed that she saw “our neighbor!”. ( she meant he was familiar from television)</p>
<p>Older D participated in City Year and at the end of year celebration in Chicago in June2001, shook hands with both Bill Clinton & John McCain.( CityYear was supported by both)</p>
<p>While I was an exchange student in Denmark, I and several other students had lunch with (then Governor of California) Ronald Reagan and Queen Margrethe. I was pretty excited to be next to real royalty and that guy who used to be on “Death Valley Days”.</p>
<p>I met Obama at a smallish fundraiser in a local backyard. I have the funniest photo of myself just after we shook hands; I am holding up my hand with an astonished look on my face. He was warm, gracious, eloquent - the whole package.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I met Clinton at a banquet. He was hours late to the reception then stood distractedly in the receiving line, shaking hands whilst chewing gum and looking over our shoulders to find someone or something more interesting. Seemed like a jerk.</p>
<p>I saw Bill Clinton golfing just after he was elected, but not yet sworn in. A small crowd had gathered and he let a boy run up and exchange his golf ball for a bright orange one. The kid was thrilled and Clinton was quite gracious and comfortable.</p>
<p>Still, my best part of the memory is my MIL spotting him from her window and running outside in her nightgown, in the rain, yelling “Bill! Biiiiiiiillllllllll!”, and she hadn’t even voted for him!</p>
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<p>I met Bill Bradley once. At the time, I was living in NJ and working in New York City. The day after an election when he was re-elected to the Senate, he came to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC during the evening rush hour to shake hands with the masses of NJ commuters who pass through there on their way home after work. He was nice like that.</p>
<p>I remember thinking that if he were ever elected President, the Secret Service would have appalling problems. He was almost a foot taller than anyone else in the crowd. Anyone who wanted to shoot him in the head would have had a very easy target, even when he was surrounded by hundreds of people.</p>
<p>I have heard Obama speak twice. He is amazing in a crowd. I have heard Bill Clinton twice, and shook his hand, etc. He can make anything seem intimate. When he shook my hand he pressed lightly on the space between my index finger and thumb-made every single person melt away from the room for a second. Somewhere I have a picture of him holding my S.</p>
<p>I field-produced TV interviews with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at the Carter center in Atlanta. I also met Gerald Ford at some kind of post-presidency press event.
And my husband is pretty sure he met President Obama’s grandmother while he (my husband, not the future president ) was working as a messenger for a real estate company in Hawaii.</p>
<p>Nixon came through town when I was about 6 in a parade. It was pretty cool.</p>
<p>Used to hang out in the gym with George W and his secret service guys in Dallas before he was Governor and he came back to speak at a fitness event in 2010.</p>
<p>I have met every Canadian Prime Ministre since 1978.</p>
<p>Others I have shaken hands with or at least saw up close are.</p>
<p>Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia
Fran</p>