Fear and Bloating on the Vineyard

Part 2

by Jason Gay

I quickly discover that I'm not the only reporter on this hunt. Clinton's still in Washington for a few more days, but the swarm has already begun. Shiny satellite trucks with deep white dishes are stacked like blocks of ice in the parking lot of an elementary school where the White House has established its island press office. Everyone is coming -- the Boston Globe, the Herald, the New York Times, AP, the Dallas Morning News, CNN, CBS. Even Women's Wear Daily will be there, in case any fashion news breaks.

There are several breeds of journalists who cover this kind of story. There are peppy television reporters from local affiliate stations, who wear Donna Karan knockoffs and interview five-year-olds about what it's really like to shake the president's hand. There are aloof national-magazine writers who wear tortoiseshell sunglasses and coolly pretend not to know who Carly Simon is. There are hard-bitten national reporters who cover the president wherever he goes, whether it's Berlin or the beach.

And there are rogue freelancers like Jib Ellis, an island resident who chain-smokes cheap cigarettes, tools around the Vineyard in a beat-up red Ferrari Testarossa, and loves to feed bad rumors to earnest mainland reporters. Ellis is already pumped with adrenaline for the Clinton visit.

"I've never seen a President get so bird-dogged by the press like this one," Ellis says. "I don't know if people are going to be reporting this year on what kind of ice cream he eats, but honestly, I don't know if there's going to be anything else to write."

Part 3

Jason Gay can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com.