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CENTRAL JERSEY: Local man gets inside view of State of the Union speech

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   In one whirlwind day, a Princeton resident got a private tour of the Capitol, attended a party with Washington bigwigs and attended the State of the Union address in the visitors gallery.
   ”I’ve done a lot of campaign work for President Obama in 2008 and this past fall for Rep. Rush Holt,” said Roy Winnick, who helped organize the volunteers, made lots of phone calls and mailings during Rep. Holt’s re-election campaign this past fall.
   ”Rep. Holt called about 10 days ago and asked if I’d like to go,” said Mr. Winnick.
   ”I tried to think of who would especially appreciate a chance to see the president speak in person, and I thought of Roy,” said Rep. Holt.
   Most members of Congress receive one ticket to the State of the Union address for a guest.
   The highlight of the evening for Mr. Winnick was getting to meet Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader and former speaker of the House.
   ”I complimented her on her gracious remarks at Rep. Holt’s swearing in on Jan. 5 and expressed hope that we would soon be addressing her again as ‘Madam Speaker,’ and she replied, ‘We’re working on it,’” said Mr. Winnick.
   The other standouts of the evening were three members of the medical team that treated Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was wounded by a gunman during an outdoor town-hall style meeting in Arizona two weeks ago.
   ”Rush and I spoke to them for a considerable time and asking them about the prognosis for Congresswoman Giffords recovery, and their response to my question was ‘it was extraordinary the progress she has made and how well she is doing, given her injuries,’” said Mr. Winnick. “We thanked them for the role they played in saving her life.”
   After being escorted to the Visitor’s Gallery, Mr. Winnick was awestruck by sheer numbers of people inside the chamber.
   ”It was quite a full house,” he said, with the House, Senate, Supreme Court, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Cabinet members in the room. He was impressed with the show of support after the Tucson shootings and the empty seat left for Rep. Giffords on the floor in hope she will be able to return to her duties.
   Mr. Winnick liked President Barack Obama’s speech, which lasted slightly more than an hour.
   ”It seemed like we were constantly standing and applauding,” he said. “It was a serious speech filled with important ideas filled with the theme of winning the future.”
   It was a day Mr. Winnick will not forget any time soon.
   ”It was on the short list, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “It was a very special experience, one I’m sure that will not be repeated in my lifetime, but that I will always remember.
   ”One of the things that made my day particularly special was the opportunity to spend some quality time with Rush Holt, who I think is just fantastic as a congressman and a human being,” he added.
   Mr. Winnick was chosen because of his activism in the local Democratic Party and being passionate about the issues. The party and speech were the highlights of a very long day that included a personal tour of the Capitol from Rep. Holt’s interns, lunch in the Longworth Building with three of Rep. Holt’s aides and a photo on the steps of the Capitol.
   In the afternoon, Mr. Winnick got to see the democratic process in action, observing a portion of the afternoon session of the House.
   ”I watched the House session from the visitors gallery,” he said.
   On top of all that, he even had time to take in a few exhibits at the Air and Space Museum.
   Mr. Winnick, a long-time Princeton resident, is the man behind a new Friends of Obama Club of the United States, which recently held its first meeting. He said the idea to form the group came from discussions with Jeff Brown, the regional field director of Organizing for America, formerly known as Obama for America, a Democratic National Committee grassroots network.
   He said he worked with Mr. Brown while running a phone bank for the Rush Holt campaign this past election season, when he began to notice public support for President Obama was falling. With a 21-year background at a New York-based strategic communications firm, Mr. Winnick saw the opportunity to boost support at the local level.