Long lines greet Hillary at area book signing

Thursday, August 7, 2003

By MATTHEW CRAFT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

LAKE FOREST PARK -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton swept through a bookstore here yesterday afternoon, signed close to 2,000 copies of her best-selling memoir, "Living History," in two hours and left behind a dazed crowd of admirers and a dozen Hillary haters.

Third Place Books had issued 1,200 passes to customers beforehand. Audrey Nilles, who began planning for the event in May when she learned of Clinton's visit, took the day off work -- along with many others -- and arrived at 8 a.m. with a bundle of books under her arm. The line started moving after 11 a.m., and by 12:45 p.m., she and a couple of friends were walking to the car.


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives at a well-attended book signing yesterday at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park.

"I said, 'Hello' and 'Thank you very much for everything,' " Nilles said of her encounter with the Democratic senator from New York. "There wasn't much time for anything else. She gave everyone this warm smile. Hopefully, she's our first woman president."

Clinton started the day at the Golden Tennis Shoe Awards, a fund-raiser for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. Kirsten Brost, communications director for Washington State Democrats, said 1,500 people paid between $100 and $150 to attend. An additional 200 who landed on a waiting list watched the award presentation and Clinton's speech on a television in a separate room.

Clinton's next stop: Lake Forest Park Towne Centre. The line started at a table inside the bookstore shielded by police officers, Secret Service agents and stacks of books and wound through metal detectors and out the front doors. It stretched past the Honey Bear Bakery, which was offering commemorative sugar cookies and T-shirts, and curled around Hollywood Video on the corner.

A dozen protesters stood at the intersection, waving signs, screaming at passing cars and heckling those waiting in line. One elderly woman held a sign that read, "Watch for low-flying brooms."

"I sold my soul to Hillary," read another, carried by a man wearing a devil's mask.

The bookstore's employees had set up an assembly line for Clinton to greet 1,200 admirers in 120 minutes. Her admirers marveled at how well her signature held up despite the pace.

Walking to her car, Amy Alpine flipped open her copy and admired the distinct script and clear capitals ending in an abridged last name: Hillary R Cl ... .

There was no chance to chat, just enough time for a smile and a thank you.

The exception was Bruce Melin, who wore a button from Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. Melin finished "Living History" Tuesday night and discovered that Clinton had made the conversion from Goldwater Republican to Democrat in the 1960s, just as Melin did.

Clinton spotted the button and laughed. "You changed," she said. "I did, too."

P-I reporter Matthew Craft can be reached at 206-448-8126 or matthewcraft@seattlepi.com

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