'Fox & Friends' draws crowd
BUTLER TWP — The front counter and kitchen of Mac's Route 8 Cafe was bustling at 5 a.m. today as voters piled into the business to catch a glimpse of the nationally-televised morning show “Fox & Friends.”
“It's exciting. It's nice to see these smiling faces so early in the morning,” said Donna Kuhns, the diner's manager.
Kuhns said the visit from “Fox & Friends,” with host Anna Kooiman at the helm of today's taping, brought well-known faces into the restaurant, where Fox News or CNN is usually on the television for customers.
Today the show wasn't just on the TV. Customers and waitresses stepped over cords and around camera equipment on their way to seats in Mac's dining room. A film crew decked out in backpacks of gear set up lighting and prepped scenes for filming — a job that seemed to take twice as long as the taped segments themselves. At one point the diner was rearranged to allow the show to film a roundtable discussion with voters about today's primary races.
Members of the show's crew said the Butler County taping was part of the network's team coverage of the Pennsylvania primary, with other crews spread out across the state in places the network believes will give viewers a representative, if small, view of how voters in the state are leaning.
After the Mac's taping, which was expected to run from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., the crew was headed next to Indiana, which has its primary May 3. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware hold primaries today.
The network's coverage comes as voters headed to the polls in a contentious and high-profile primary season. With front-runners Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton both holding double-digit leads in pre-election polls, the importance of the election wasn't lost on voters who turned out to spend the morning with “Fox & Friends.”
“For the first time in 40 years Pennsylvania is in play (in a primary),” said Larry Thompson, the vice chairman of the county Republican Party, who pointed out that in most years the presidential nominees already have been decided by the time Pennsylvania's primary is held.
“I think it's a big deal for Butler County, but especially for Pennsylvania,” Thompson said.The show's visit to Mac's drew mostly Trump supporters and many Fox News fans who said they were excited at the opportunity to appear on one of the network's broadcasts.John Speicher of Meridian, who said network host Sean Hannity is his favorite person, got to Mac's at about 5 a.m. for a chance to take part in the show. Speicher was not disappointed as he gave an interview to Kooiman. Afterward, he called it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.“Fox News is on my TV all the time,” Speicher said, adding he's a Trump supporter and has “been with Trump from the beginning” because of his economic policies and his promises to smash the ISIS terrorist group.“I say he's even going to be better than (President) Ronald Reagan,” Speicher said, “and I like Ronald Reagan.”Voters traveled from around the region to see the show's taping this morning with Christine Grenci of Pittsburgh and Justin Weigle of Harmony making the trip to Mac's for a front-row seat to a roundtable discussion with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler, Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson and a collection of voters and residents — nearly all of whom said they supported The Donald.Grenci, a former Kasich supporter who said she began backing Trump after the Colorado primary, said she understands the real estate mogul's appeal to voters as well as the simmering anger at the idea the party's establishment might succeed in denying him the nomination by using procedural moves and little-known rules governing the state's primary.“I think Trump is our best shot,” Grenci said. “Being a Republican, you're not just up against the Democrats. You're up against the liberal media (too).”Weigle said he likes Texas Senator Ted Cruz, but is supporting Trump because he believes the businessman has a better chance of winning the general election in November. That's despite polling that shows Trump is deeply unpopular with much of the country — something Weigle said he thought would change, just like the polls showing former GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney beating President Barack Obama in 2012.
“I guess I feel betrayed by the polls with Romney,” Weigle said, “so you can't trust them. I trust the celebrity factor.”With most people in the room united in their support of Trump, discussion turned to the GOP election process itself, a subject Rep. Kelly dropped by to specifically talk about.Kelly, who said he had voted for Trump early today, said he thought Pennsylvania's GOP delegate system — where voters pick who will represent them at the national convention, but have no idea who those delegates support — is a problem.“I'm worried that people will feel disenfranchised,” Kelly said, “and that their anger now will turn into apathy in November.”This morning's taping represents the home stretch for Kelly, who has been giving numerous interviews to television and radio shows in recent days on his opinions regarding the GOP's internal strife as well as Pennsylvania's primary rules. Kelly was expected to be back on a different Fox program this afternoon, but this time from Washington, D.C., where the House was scheduled to hold a series of votes.Mike English, the brother of former Congressman Phil English, said this year's contentious primary has laid-bare the “terrible” rules governing Pennsylvania's primary, and stoked voter fears that their voices don't matter.“This time has brought out the fact that the people of Pennsylvania had no idea what a lopsided arrangement the delegate situation is,” English said.Whether it's the primary or general election, though, Trump supporters said this morning he was on the path to the White House in November, and wouldn't be stopped by the efforts of party leaders or polling numbers that show many people dislike him.Speicher said he believes the electorate will come around to supporting Trump in the long run because of his outsider status and the fact that he “can't be bought.”“Really, I'm not concerned because I think the people are gonna realize what Trump's all about,” Speicher said, “and I don't think you're going to change him. I really believe in him.”
