Our Reporter Goes Christmas Shopping With Bill

By Debbie Tuma

For my birthday, which is just 17 days before Christmas, I decided to take a break from the cold weather and fly down to the sunny city of Charleston, South Carolina for some R&R and great shopping. As a seasoned shopaholic, I have had my exciting moments, mainly from finding great sales, but never have I had a day like last Saturday, December 8, when I found myself Christmas shopping alongside President Bill Clinton.

"Shop till you drop" took on a new meaning, and I almost dropped dead when I reached over to grab a Charleston sweet grass basket at the City Market and looked up to see the former President admiring the same native local craft. We almost chose the same basket, but after all, would I haggle with the former President? And anyway, I knew he could afford more than I could.

In the midst of about a thousand locals and tourists dressed casually in T-shirts, shorts and jeans on this 72-degree day, Bill Clinton was wearing a blue suit and pink tie as he made his way through the aisles of Charleston's famous open air City Market. He was in town campaigning for Hillary, and was also making appearances at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children's Hospital and at the graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

As he walked alone, except for his Secret Service men, through this historic market, stopping to pick up local crafts, he waved and shook hands with those in the crowd. He stopped to autograph Hillary campaign posters that people were waving, and he posed for numerous photos.

As he stood by the table of native sweet grass baskets, I thought of telling him it was my birthday, but I was too busy snapping his picture like every other tourist in the place. Then he started asking the creator of these handwoven baskets, Elouise Frazier, about their famous history in the Charleston area.

"These baskets originated in the West African culture," she told him. "My family has been making them for generations here in Charleston, where sweet grass grows as it does in West Africa."

Clinton seemed fascinated by these intricate baskets, as he purchased two - a larger one for $185 and a smaller one for $85, which his Secret Service team paid for. As he signed the back of one of Frazier's baskets, she sighed, "I'll keep this forever."

After the Secret Service men paid for the baskets they took them in their shopping bags to his limousine waiting outside the marketplace.

"I love these homemade crafts, because so much work has gone into them, by the local artists," Clinton told 25-year vendor Susan Shelton, as he held up several of her pressed wildflower pictures under glass frames. "These are beautiful. I want to hang them in my house."

After he dropped about $300 on six of her framed flowers, Shelton said later, "I didn't charge him any tax. I told him I sold three times more of my work when he was President, and that my sales started going downhill in 2002. The retail business was better when he was President."

Clinton continued smiling through the throng of Christmas shoppers to the next long row of tables, stopping to pick up handmade glass and silver jewelry, handknit scarves and Charleston scenic prints.

He also admired some brightly colored pocketbooks made from bamboo slats, created by local artist Laura Webb. While purchasing one orange bag and another fuchsia one for $30 each, Clinton shared his interest in bamboo.

"He talked about the bamboo in his house, and said he loves this wood because it's so durable and sustainable," Webb told me.

Clinton finished his shopping spree by buying five fused glass pendants made by artist Michelle Black of Charleston.

As his Secret Service men and press aides tried to usher him out of the market to his limousine, the former President was blocked by enthusiastic fans.

Rick Smith, a fishing captain of Amagansett and Charleston, handed Clinton one of his cards. When Clinton went to autograph it, he said, "No, I'd like to take you fishing next time you're in Charleston." Clinton said he'd love to fish and put the card in his pocket. Then Nick Nahikian, a war veteran of Blairsville, Georgia, reached out and handed Clinton an American flag pin. "I liked the optimism of your leadership," he said. "We need more of that now."

Clinton said, "I'll treasure this, thank you," and put it in his pocket.

Bill Clinton had also campaigned for his wife in Charleston three weeks ago, and he is scheduled to return to this state in mid-December for a dinner in Columbia to honor former South Carolina Governor Dick Riley, who is also his former Secretary of Education. The following day, December 9, Hillary's rival, Barack Obama, campaigned along with Oprah Winfrey for S.C. votes, bringing the largest crowd so far of 60,000 people to South Carolina University in Columbia.

"Well, maybe I'll catch Barack at a shopping spree over Washington's birthday weekend," I thought, leaving the market after my unexpectedly eventful birthday with Bill.

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