Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s visit to The Evening News this week was interesting, but it also provided some fun - and  a glimpse into how urban legends get started.

The governor’s entourage was early for the 1:30 p.m. interview with our Editorial Board. I was in the lunchroom eating when word came that her car had pulled into the parking lot. I threw the rest of my lunch back in the bag and rushed to meet her - I had been designated to escort the governor to our board room.

By the time I made it down the stairs to the front door, I was startled to see that the lobby was empty. “Where’s the governor,” I asked our front counter receptionist.

“Oh, she went to get a doughnut,” I was told.

A doughnut?

“Yeh, she realized that she was a little early, so she asked her driver to take her to a doughnut shop,” the receptionist said.

Should I rush back upstairs and see whether a photographer is available to follow and get a shot of the governor stopping at a Monroe doughnut shop?

But, wait. What doughnut shop? There aren’t any downtown. Where could she be going?

Word spread quickly through the building about the governor searching Monroe for a doughnut.

Meanwhile, the governor returned and we had a serious and wide-ranging discussion about issues ranging from the state budget to the value of higher education. You probably saw the story in Tuesday’s Evening News.

As the session ended and Gov. Granholm was walking out the door, I asked her if she found a doughnut. She looked puzzled.

“A doughnut,” she asked?

“Isn’t that where you went after you arrived at The Evening News earlier,” I asked.

The governor laughed. Realizing what had happened, she explained that the security guards who travel with her have a sense of humor. They probably told someone the boss had gone to get a doughnut as a joke.

It turns out she didn’t go anywhere. She was in her car in our parking lot catching up on her reading.

But I heard people talking about the governor’s doughnut trip for the rest of the day.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 11:40 am and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.