Obama gives diners a lunch rush

Senator Barack Obama greets customers Saturday at Harper's Restaurant in Columbia, S.C. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- On today's lunch menu: Soup, salad, and Barack Obama.

Diners at Harper's Restaurant just off Columbia's downtown got a special visit today from Obama, who was making a final pitch for votes as South Carolina Democrats went to the polls. He spent about a half-hour greeting the lunch and brunch crowd, stopping by nearly every table to pose for photographs and exchange pleasantries.

“I might get to shake hands with the future president!” one woman said excitedly into her cell phone as Obama arrived. As Obama began to work his way around the room, he approached a family gathered around a big table and said, “How’s it going, everybody?” Then he grabbed a white napkin off their table and wiped his hands. “I got a little juice on me," he said.

Beverly Wilburn, a cook at the restaurant, came out of the kitchen to greet him. “You got my vote,” she told him. “All right.” Asked if she had voted yet, Wilburn said, “As soon as I get off of work.”

But Obama didn't have it so easy with Ellis and Alex Caulkins, precocious 12-year-old twins from Florence, S.C. “Hey, Obama, what are you going to do about foreign policy?” Ellis asked, telling Obama he didn’t seem to be making many campaign promises. Obama reiterated his vow to get American troops out of Iraq, then asked the twin boys what they were doing today. Ellis explained that they were headed to Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia. “That sounds fun,” Obama said, before the boys’ grandfather pulled them away. “Let’s go eat, boys, time to eat,” he said.

Back at his table, Ellis said he wasn’t satisfied with Obama’s answer, but admitted he had something of an agenda. “I don’t want another Democrat,” he said, professing admiration for Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. “We have enough of them.”

Fortunately for Obama, Ellis will be at the zoo today, not at a polling place.