Air Force One touched down at the Raleigh-Durham InternationalAirport about 9:45 a.m. Gov. Jim Hunt, other state dignitaries andstudents from Davis Drive Elementary School were present to greetClinton, who planned to spend 4-1/2 hours here.
After Clinton left the plane, he spoke to a girl supported by asmall walker.
The president's speech will be his third on education standardsdelivered to legislatures during the past five weeks; previously,he addressed the Maryland and Michigan legislatures.
While Clinton lost the state to Bob Dole last year, response tohis address at the Legislature is a landslide.
``It's been unbelievable,'' said Julia White, the pressspokeswoman for the state Senate. ``Some (legislators) have smallchildren. If you let a small child sit on their lap, the child justkeeps growing and growing and growing ....''
As with other joint sessions, senators will end up in foldingchairs in the House chamber, along with the judges of the stateSupreme Court and Court of Appeals, members of the cabinet andCouncil of State.
Given all the dignitaries invited to the speech, it will be virtuallyimpossible for the general public to drop by the building and get a seat.
In other preparations, dark draperies have been hung temporarily aroundthe glass walls of the N.C. House for security reasons. A presidentialadvance team has been working out of committee rooms, and legislators havebeen told not to park in their assigned spaces under the legislativebuilding.
Clinton will stay through lunch, which he is expected to have in theoffice of House Speaker Harold Brubaker, with Brubaker and a few otherpeople. Security was even tight on the menu; rumor had it it might beNorth Carolina barbecue.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
