I don’t film everything I do up on the Hill. Sometimes it’s nice to just chat with the folks I’m covering. And sometimes I’m surprised.

That happened twice yesterday. I ran into Rick Santorum and Jean Schmidt.

Each time, I holstered my camera and just talked.

I had met Santorum before; I bird-dogged him when he came to the University of Virginia while I was a student there. He had come to the University to talk about “Islamofascism”; his reception was the left-wing equivalent of this summer’s healthcare townhalls. Of course, there was the obligatory student that made sure everyone in the auditorium knew to google the word “Santorum”.

At the time (November, 2007), I told the ex-Senator that he should run for President – that the Republican field looked weak. Obviously, he ignored my advice.

But now he’s making noises about running again. Or someone is, anyway. So yesterday, I asked him if he was going to do it. He was coy. Again, I told him he should. I was honest with him: I said there are thousands of us on the left that would love to see him run because he’d draw such a clear contrast between the sane and the not so much. Our conversation veered into where America is politically – he thinks it’s conservative; I think it’s not… And we had a fun five or ten minute discussion.

But this was interesting… After being coy about his intentions, and telling me he hadn’t decided yet whether or not he was going to run, when I told him I needed to get back to work, he dropped one of his bags to shake my hand, and with a big smile on his face, said, “See you on the trail!”

Now of course, he could be saying that to mean he’d be campaigning for someone else, or for another office. But I swear the cat had canary feathers stuck in his teeth…

So that was Santorum…

Later in the day, I was hanging outside the NRCC and Capitol Club (the Republican dinner club) when Jean Schmidt walked out. I’ve filmed her refusing to answer several different questions; invariably, she see’s I’m not a friendly and runs for cover.

(an aside: You can see that happen in the YouTube just a few posts back. I didn’t highlight it, but I really get a kick out of it. She had come out of the Capitol, saw me, started out friendly, then recognized me, and then did almost a full 180 to run back into the secure, inaccessible to the public, area of the Capitol. It just tickles me that a video camera can dictate the path of a United States Representative.)

Anyway, on with our story.

Jean Schmidt had earned the blogospheric moniker “Mean Jean”. and that’s the assumption I’ve always operated under.

Well…

This time, like I said, I had holstered my camera. As she passed, I said, “Hi Jean. Nothing to fear today; my camera is in my pocket.” She kept her head down and walked on past me. But she couldn’t get far… She had to stop at the crosswalk and wait for traffic. So I asked, “Still running marathons?”

At that, she lit up. Big smile, glowing personality and then came the deluge… “Every day!”

I said,”26 miles???!!!”

She said, “Oh, lord no. About 6 or seven…”

Me: “On the treadmill”?

JS: “Oh, never, unless I have too…”

Me: “I’ve been thinking about taking up running again, but my knees are getting creaky, so I’ve been doing an elliptical.”

She offered, “Well, how old are your shoes?”

And then we talked about ten minutes about how to minimize joint damage, buy good running shoes, etc.

The point is, she’s actually quite nice, notwithstanding her nutty politics.