Election Countdown "A to Z" (L is for Love, Reggie)

L is for Love, Reggie
(Forget about working for Diddy, I want to work for Obama.)

According to his Wiki, Reggie Love is the "body man" and personal aide to presidential candidate Barack Obama. No matter what happens on November 4th, this had to have been the dream gig of a lifetime. Love, a former Duke Blue Devils basketball player, has been a constant road dog for the hopeful future president since the first days of the race. The UK Guardian says he was even responsible for starting the infamous terrorist fist bump habit played ceaselessly on Fox News.

The Guardian described his role like this: "At the start of Obama's day, Reggie is with him in the hotel gym or local YMCA, where they work out together. As the day rolls along, he travels with the nominee in his armoured SUV, managing the phone call list and dialing the numbers. At events, he is his personal photographer and stopwatch, alerting the candidate to the need to wrap up his comments and stick to his schedule."

You can imagine what this cat saw along the campaign trail. Several of Love's photos (part of job is to snap shots along the way, and according to The New York Times, he has over 10,000 photos) were included in the Manifest Hope Gallery in Denver, curated by Shepard Fairey, during the DNC. They include a simple but powerful image (above) of a light machine gun sitting on the lap of an anonymous secret service agent in the backseat of Obama's armored SUV. With this type of intimate access, I can only assume the book deal has already been cast.


photo: Reggie Love (Manifest Hope Gallery)