By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
Cameron Spencer said he found President Bush to be a pretty neat guy when the two met on Feb. 10.
“He told me it was nice to be around a bunch of conservatives,” said Spencer, a junior at UNC Wilmington and an East Rowan High School graduate.
Spencer, 21, traveled to Washington, D.C., the weekend of Feb. 9-10 to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Omni Hotel. The event is commonly referred to as the “C-PAC Convention.”
It’s a meeting primarily of college Republicans from across the United States. At the convention, all of the Republican heavyweights ó Bush, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, included ó addressed the group.
Spencer said that at the convention, Bush came across as very personable.
“He said that although this was his last year in office, he was working hard to get things accomplished,” Spencer said. “He was upbeat and enthused.”
Spencer is a member of the College Republicans at UNC Wilmington. He said the group’s former president, Brian Pate, served as an intern at the White House and is now an employee there.
Spencer said that Pate arranged the group a tour of the White House early in the weekend. He said they got a peek into the Oval Office during that visit.
Spencer and his fellow Wilmington students got a second tour of the White House on Sunday. He said that during that tour, Bush returned via Marine One from a weekend at Camp David.
Spencer and his comrades went onto the White House lawn where they saw three huge Marine helicopters swoop in.
“At the last moment, two of them peeled off and one landed,” Spencer said.
Out stepped the president and his wife.
Spencer said about 50 people were on the White House lawn, and Bush spoke to each of them personally.
“He talked to everyone like he knew them,” Spencer said.
Local sports fans might recall that Spencer was quite a golfer at East Rowan before graduating in 2005. He was all-conference throughout his career and named East Rowan’s Player of the Year three of his four years at the school.
Spencer earned a scholarship to play golf at UNC Pembroke but transferred to Wilmington after his freshman year. He’s majoring in business.
Spencer is the son of Brian Spencer and Glenda Dyson.
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.