On its "Road to the White House" Tour, C-SPAN's Campaign 2008 Bus reaches the end of the road in the Florida Keys this weekend.
The bus, which hosted presidential aspirants during the campaign, opens its doors at two stops today before heading for Tavernier on Sunday.
"We're very pleased, almost giddy, that C-SPAN decided to spend a couple hours with us down here at the end of the road," said Peter Rogers, manager of Voltaire Books on Key West's Simonton Street.
Voltaire Books hosts a visit from the 45-foot-long, patriotically painted bus from 2 to 4 p.m. today.
During the stop, the Campaign 2008 Bus will use its mobile production studio to tape an interview with local author James Gleick, whose renowned "Chaos: Making a New Science" has been newly republished for its 20th anniversary. It will be broadcast at some point on C-SPAN's Book TV.
The bus also will be at the Truman Little White House from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today.
On its way out of the Keys, the bus stops at Cover to Cover Books in Tavernier Towne, mile marker 91.2, from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday.
"That they would come to our little independent bookstore is simply awesome," Cover to Cover co-owner Jenny Bell Thomson said. "It's supposed to be quite educational, and it helps our store celebrate our fifth anniversary."
On Friday, the Campaign 2008 Bus scheduled stops at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for a Rotary breakfast, and at Key West High School for student tours.
"They're basically introducing the kids to what C-SPAN is -- unbiased reporting," said Jennifer Barrios, government teacher at Key West High School. "They're really just showing the kids what the difference is between C-SPAN, FOX and CNN."
Equipped with multi-media demonstration centers, the bus has stopped at nearly 250 schools and been visited by nearly 200,000 people, including more than 61,000 students and teachers.
In addition to being part of C-SPAN's "educational mission with a focus on middle and high schools and first-time voters," the bus played a major role in covering the national elections, said C-SPAN spokeswoman Sarah Howard Parker.
"A number of candidates have been on board," she said. "But no, not the two you think of first."
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was interviewed in the bus studio during the primaries, along with then-candidates Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
And candidate wives Cindy McCain and Elizabeth Edwards have visited the bus during stops.
The state-of-the-art production facilities give C-SPAN "the opportunity to interview students, authors, journalists and politicians ... from anywhere in the country," according to information from the cable public-service channel.
