It's ear-y to see Obama on the Mount
Posted: Saturday, May 31, 2008 7:40 AM by Chuck Todd
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
KEYSTONE, SD, May 30 -- Barack Obama joked with reporters on a late-night visit to Mount Rushmore National Memorial Friday.
The senator decided to make the trip upon hearing that the traveling press was heading to the park after landing in nearby Rapid City. He spent about 15 minutes on the lookout platform chatting with Wesley Jensen, a ranger with the U.S. Department of the Interior.
When asked if he would like to see himself on the monument someday with Presidents George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he joked: "I don't think my ears would fit. There's only so much rock up there."
It was his first trip to the national landmark, which was completed in 1941 and dramatized in the classic 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film "North by Northwest."
"There's something about seeing it at night that's spectacular," he said.
Obama was making his second campaign trip to the June 3rd state, which along with Montana is the last to vote in the primary season.
Hillary Clinton visited the monument earlier this week.
