Vice Presidential Pool Reports of April 23, 2021

VPOTUS travel pool report #1: JBA

Good morning from a chilly but cloudless Joint Base Andrews. Your pooler tested negative for Covid-19 at the White House and is now awaiting a 7:30 call time at JBA.

Two stops in New Hampshire today after arrival at a municipal airport in low-key Laconia, a town on Lake Winnisquam. Please see below for the White House's daily guidance.

Of note, Vice President Harris's afternoon remarks on workforce development and infrastructure will be carried via livestream on the White House's website. Your puller will provide color on that event, and more comprehensive reporting during the rest of the day.

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DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT
FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 23

At 9:25AM EDT, the Vice President will travel to Plymouth and Concord, New Hampshire. The departure from Joint Base Andrews and arrival at Laconia Municipal Airport will be covered by the travel pool.

At 11:55AM EDT, the Vice President will hold a listening session on the American Jobs Plan's investments in broadband at New Hampshire Electric Cooperative in Plymouth. There will be travel pool coverage of this listening session.

At 2:00PM EDT, the Vice President will take a tour of IBEW Local 490 with apprentices and staff in Concord. There will be travel pool coverage of this tour.

At 2:40PM EDT, the Vice President will deliver remarks on the American Jobs Plan's investments in workforce development and infrastructure. These remarks will be covered by the travel pool and livestreamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live.

At 4:45PM EDT, the Vice President will depart New Hampshire en route Washington, DC. The departure from Laconia Municipal Airport will be covered by the travel pool.

VPOTUS travel pool report #2: Tiny, posh plane

Pool has boarded a far smaller and more luxurious aircraft than is typical for White House press travel. It's an Air Force C-37a, the military version of a Gulfstream V jet. We're told the landing strip in Laconia New Hampshire is too short for the C-32 aircraft (a military-modified Boeing 757) that usually carry U.S. vice presidents.

There were two other planes lined up alongside us on the tarmac, including one bearing the familiar AF1/AF2 aircraft livery. Otherwise all three looked identical. The other unmarked plane has departed, giving us a clear view of VPOTUS's plane and her arrival path.

Your pooler is camped out, eating a provided bagged breakfast in a blue taxpayer-subsidized first-class-style seat whose only rival onboard is a side-facing sofa in the forward cabin.

VPOTUS travel pool report #3: Marine 2 arrival and wheels-up

The pool deplaned and saw Marine Two landing at 9:21 a.m.

VPOTUS Harris disembarked at 9:25 a.m. She was greeted on the tarmac by Lt. Col. Neil Senkowski. Per the White House, he is Director of the 89th Airlift Wing Flightline Protocol.

VPOTUS engaged in discussion with Lt. Col Senkowski as they walked together, stopping to punctuate her speech with lots of hand gestures. She boarded Air Force Two at 9:27. (Any aircraft a U.S. VPOTUS boards carries that call sign.)

Your pooler was held about 15 yards from the airplane's foldaway boarding staircase. VPOTUS turned toward the pool as she climbed the stairs but did not respond to a shouted request to take questions before takeoff. She did return salutes on the tarmac.

Air Force Two taxied at 9:32 a.m. Your pooler couldn't see it take off.

Pool Force One followed. We are wheels up at 9:37 a.m. for Laconia, N.H.

VPOTUS travel pool report #5: Laconia addendum

Your pooler neglected to mention that on the tarmac in Laconia, VPOTUS didn't react at all to shouted questions about when she would visit the U.S.-Mexico border, and about how she plans to address "Northern triangle" countries' responsibility for the flood of migrants entering the U.S. from the south.

VPOTUS travel pool report #6: Setup for VPOTUS remarks in Plymouth

Pool arrived at the New Hampshire Elec. Co-op in Plymouth, N.H. at 11:48 a.m. About 20 supporters were lined up on the street holding signs. Some Biden campaign signs and one handmade placard reading "Women Rule."

VPOTUS went inside for a few minutes. Pool remained outside in a parking lot anticipating outdoor remarks. Your pooler's hotspot has a robust signal.

VPOTUS will speak in front of giant fiber-optic cable spools and ranks of warehouse shelves holding rows of electric transformers. Behind us are a pair of "bucket trucks" with their cranes held high and supporting an American flag between them. There's also a "digger truck here" with a giant steel auger. Names of the vehicles are per Jeff Bird, an electric line design technician who will introduce VPOTUS.

VPOTUS greeted Bird, saying: "Hi! I've read all about your work."

More to come from Sen. Hassan, the electric coop's CEO, Mr. Bird, and then VPOTUS.

VPOTUS travel pool report #7: Pre-game in Plymouth at the N.H. Electric Co-op

Sen. Hassan spoke first with a stiff breeze blowing and her face covered by a black mask throughout. (No one who spoke so unmasked.) "Broadband access and affordability isn't a luxury. It's really essential. And we learned that during the pandemic, when the need for broadband access grew significantly," she said.

Hassan said a New Hampshire teacher told her one of her students had to drive to a school parking lot to get online. She praised Congress for appropriating state broadband infrastructure aid "that was fairly unrestricted."

Hassan said the goal should be "to make sure we are getting that reliable high-speed broadband to people in this country no matter where they live, no matter what they earn."

Steve Camerino, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Electric Co-op, spoke briefly -- and quietly -- facing VPOTUS and not the pool. (The wind, the social distance and the masks are conspiring to cover a lot of sound, and your pooler left his boom mic in his other jacket...)

Camerino asked for more "federal action" on broadband. "There are areas where the density is too low for investor-owned companies to go," he said, adding that rural Americans are "going to fall behind" in access to education, telehealth and commerce.

"We need your help and we really appreciate the help provided so far," he told VPOTUS.

Jeff Bird read brief remarks from a piece of paper. He got flustered at one point and VPOTUS walked toward him to reassure him: "We don't know what you know! You're teaching right now."

VPOTUS pointed her arm toward the press pool and suddenly got sotto voce as she got within a foot of Bird. She told him: "All these guys, they may or may not understand what you do. What you do is so important." She said again: "These people, they don't understand."

The pool here includes a reporter from the Manchester Union-Leader.

Report on VPOTUS remarks coming up.

VPOTUS travel pool report #8: Plymouth remarks on broadband access

VPOTUS spoke at 12:10 p.m. for about eight minutes, beginning by praising Sen. Hassan as an advocate for universal broadband access.

No major news, but highlights are below.

VPOTUS compared the push for universal broadband to congressional action in 1936 to fund nationwide electrification: "The idea was pretty basic: Not everybody in America had electricity. And it was really clear that without electricity you couldn't function. You couldn't participate at an equal level. You couldn't be competitive. The quality of life would be so compromised. And so we said as a country: 'Hey! No, this is everybody in it together. We all have to participate in making sure everyone has the basic services that are necessary to raise their families, participate in society and be productive.'"

She laughed: "Many of us grew up with -- you know, we had to do our homework and if you needed help you went to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Those days are over! Now you've got to have access to the Internet!"

She spoke briefly but mostly inaudibly in the face of a stiff wind about broadband's impact on small business. Your pooler caught the words "access and affordability."

"Think about our seniors. The pandemic made so clear that some of our most vulnerable, those that need healthcare the most, can't get to a doctor. But we have this thing called telemedicine where you can get diagnosed, you can get treatment -- *if*if you have access to broadband."

VPOTUS said massive amounts of money are being spent to bring "affordable access to broadband to everyone. It's the same thing that our country decided to do in 1936, saying 'Let's get electricity to everybody.' And rural America should not be left out of that priority." ...

"the emphasis on co-ops, the emphasis on nonprofits, the emphasis on efforts that are being led by the community. And so that's why we're here today: To see it. To see it and understand. This is really an incredible moment in our history."

VPOTUS turned to the racks of transformers and asked Steve Camerino: "What are we looking at?" Camerino told her they were electric transformers and fiber optic cables.

VPOTUS went back to Jeff Bird for a minute-long conversation, even quieter than before and closer to him. Nothing was audible. She chatted with Camerino and then walked back inside the Co-op building for a meet-and-greet listening session that is closed to the press.

VPOTUS took no questions from reporters. We have yet to get face-time or a gaggle today.

Your pooler is sending this dispatch from inside the parked pool van where VP staff was kind enough to bring some pizza. Our van driver spotted a bald eagle circling overhead.

When VPOTUS wraps up inside we'll be on the road again, headed toward Concord, N.H. for an event at an apprenticeship training center run by the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers. Expect that transit to be another 45 minutes.

VPOTUS travel pool report #9: Rolling from Plymouth, and a few protesters

Motorcade rolled at 12:56. About a half-dozen people were still holding signs where the driveway meets the roadway. Some were protesting against VPOTUS. (Your pooler didn't take note of them upon arrival.)

Visible messages:

- "Welcome to Plymouth"
- "Kamala saved us"
- "Mexico -- 2,254 mi." (sign shaped like an arrow)
- "Hey Kamala / Stop the illegal invasion / Go visit Mexico" (a person with multiple messages on one posterboard)
- "Impeach Biden-Harris"

VPOTUS travel pool report #11: VPOTUS's book purchases

VPOTUS bought two books at Gibson's, per aide Peter Velz:

"Of Women and Salt" by Gabriela Garcia

"The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook" (America's Test Kitchen)

VPOTUS travel pool report #12: Discussion at IBEW training center

We arrived at the IBEW training facility at 2:00 p.m. and pool waited for VPOTUS in a classroom along with an electrician apprentice named Kelli O'Connor.

VPOTUS entered at 2:13 p.m. and got a demonstration of fire alarm technology from Marco Lacasse, IBEW 490 Business Manager.

She opened a metal box on the wall where firefighters control water pumps: "So who's doing all this fancy work to wire all this up?" she asked.

After looking inside a larger metal box, she asked: "So can we test it out right now?" Told "no," she laughed: "That would have been fun!"

VPOTUS described the union labor that installs this equipment as "brains and brawn. More brains than brawn."

After hearing Ms. O'Connor's story about leaving a career as a concert sound engineer to become an electrician, VPOTUS asked her what she gets out of her union. The answer was about having weekends off, plus a pension.

"Union jobs are good jobs. Period," VPOTUS said. "That's what we're fighting for in our plan."

Pool went to a second room at 2:22 p.m. for a separate VPOTUS conversation with another union official.

VPOTUS travel pool report #14:

In the second classroom, VPOTUS heard a brief presentation from Eric Batchelor, IBEW Training Director; and Haley Kamberalis, an IBEW apprentice.

VPOTUS heaped more praise on the union, saying it offers "good jobs, safe jobs, union jobs."

She asked Kamberalis about apprentice opportunities for women, saying women should "know that's out here, that it works for them."

Your pooler was ushered out quickly before there was an opportunity to ask questions. VPOTUS has not engaged directly with the press so far today.

Pool is now in a meeting hall awaiting VPOTUS's scheduled remarks, which are being livestreamed at this URL: >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mma3kfiz6cE<

A note about the photo supplement to travel pool report #10: For those of you getting these reports from the White House (which doesn't send attachments), here's a tweet with the same four images I shared:

https://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/1385664374900236290

VPOTUS travel pool report #13: Misnumbering

Your pooler is not superstitious. I skipped report #13 by sheer accident and I regret the error. The next report will be #15.

VPOTUS travel pool report #15:

Haley Kamberalis, an IBEW apprentice (see report #14), began introducing VPOTUS at 2:48, and finished at 2:52.

The audience totals 19 people and three empty chairs, with seating spread out because of social distancing measures. Press along the back wall are in close quarters.

VPOTUS just began. Her remarks are livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mma3kfiz6cE.

VPOTUS travel pool report #16: Speech wrap

VPOTUS finished her speech at 3:09 p.m.

Pool is holding in the meeting hall while she does interviews with local TV.

VPOTUS travel pool report #17:

Motorcade rolled at 3:50 p.m. for a 45-minute drive back to Laconia's municipal airport (KLCI for any aviation buffs out there).

Your pooler notes that visitors entering the modest airport terminal walk under a charming painted wood sign that announces Laconia is 545 feet above sea level. New England is like that.

Per the White House, the small audience for VPOTUS's remarks was composed of local elected officials. A White House official says VPOTUS gave interviews to WMUR and the Concord Monitor.

VPOTUS travel pool report #18: Heading home

VPOTUS's motorcade arrived at Laconia Municipal Airport at 4:28 p.m. Your pooler hurried out of press vans in the hope of getting that elusive Q&A, but VPOTUS made a beeline for her aircraft and didn't stop. She did not acknowledge or answer any questions from the pool today.

We hopped back in vans to get to a more distant part of the tarmac where our air-chariot awaited. Your pooler saw AF2 taxiing at 4:39 but didn't see wheels-up.

Paper-bag dinner on the flight home is Mexican food. The cabin interior of "Pool Force One" (Two?) smells like Taco Bell as we lift off at 4:49 p.m.

Unless we pass VPOTUS in the air again, we won't see her on the ground at JBA. Expect a final note when we land nonetheless.

VPOTUS travel pool report #19: Final

"Pool Force One" touched down at JBA at 5:55 p.m.

Per Peter Velz, VPOTUS touched down at 5:46 and be was wheels-up in Marine Two at 5:58. We had no gaggles or other Q&A today.

Thanks to VPOTUS's staff for all-around helpfulness throughout the day, which -- in your pooler's view -- felt a lot like a New Hampshire primary campaign day.

Too soon?

I'm signing off. Ciao.