How I Met Presidential Candidate Tim Scott (Sorta)

We went down to Texas at the end of October to catch a Dallas Cowboys football game. My daughter, Melody, and her family paid for our trip down South to include that game, plus a Maverick's basketball game, and a night at the theatre to catch the musical "The Little Shop of Horrors" at the iconic Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas.

We stayed at the Westin on La Colima St. There was a Men's Conference taking place at the hotel, and I thought I saw a familiar face. Was that who I thought it was? Tim Scott is a very popular Republican Presidential candidate, rising in the polls. Was he here to give a political speech to this group, and should I approach him and get a story? The conference was exclusively African American and I didn't want to "crash" the event, so I decided to try to "ambush" when he was by himself. (Hey, anything to get a story, right?)

I waited in the hotel's lobby for an opportunity to get him alone, but it seemed that there was always a group around him and I didn't want to be rude and intrude.

Finally I noticed that everyone in the conference was wrapping it up and checking out of the hotel. Tim Scott came down with his luggage to check out and I figured, "It's now or never!" Before I approached him, though, he walked across the lobby to use the bathroom, and I didn't want to interview him there, so I walked up to his lady waiting by the bellhop cart and asked her if she thought it might be okay if I took his picture and have a little talk with him when he got back. She said it would be alright.

When he came back, she walked up to him and told him I wanted to talk with him and get a picture. As he approached me, I introduced myself. I said, "Mr. Scott, my name is Ray Castellanos and I'm the editor for the Cascade Courier in Cascade, Montana, and I would love to get an interview with the Tim Scott for our readers."

He said, "Hi Ray, my name is Emanuel."

Oooops!