The buzz on the LA Auto Show floor this morning isn't about 650 HP Mustangs or smokin' booth babes. It's about the Occupy protests. Word is, they're marching toward the LA Convention Center, so out-of-town journalists and PR people are fleeing for the airport, fearing they'll be trapped if they wait too long.
So far, as with everything related to Occupy, this is a fairly unsubstantiated rumor. The Occupy LA camp is close, and there's ongoing police action nearby, but the only protesting appears to be from pampered auto journalists fearful of being accosted by a news story that isn't spoon-fed to them.
To us, there's something wrong about the idea about "journalists" running away from a story.
The only real evidence are the automaker fixers, running to and fro, catching their hosted journalists, PR people and marketing flacks to inform them of rescheduled shuttles. One Canadian journalist had his airport shuttle brought forward from 2pm to 11am and was being ushered out the show's front door as we shook his hand.
A flack from Mercedes Canada was in a tizzy at the prospect because, you know, when the proletariat revolts the guys with the Mercedes emblems on their lapels will be quickly identified as working for the 1%.
We're not going to run away from the story. If they show up we'll be here. Heck, we might even try to get 'em press passes.