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After a few minutes, I step into Deke and Christine’s office, a small room at the cab end of the trailer, outfitted with black-leather couches and a wall stacked high with expensive-looking electronic devices. Initially, Deke and Christine are somewhat reticent about discussing their own political views. They explain to me that the attributes that make Reggie Reggie — the Bush video, the free merchandise, the music mixes (country, rap, pop, rock, patriotic, depending on the event and the part of the country), the truck’s itinerary — are all determined at the highest levels of the RNC. (Deke mentions that Ed Gillespie, the RNC’s chairman, deserves credit for naming Reggie.) Deke drives the truck, Christine manages it, and of course they interact with the crowds, to some extent, but the legions of local Republican volunteers who staff the truck at its various destinations (and work under the watchful eye of local RNC reps) do the heavy lifting in terms of schmoozing. "We just get e-mails that tell us where to go," Christine says at one point. "We don’t even know where our next stop is half the time."

Eventually, though, I learn a bit more about why the Hendersons — who had a crack at Reggie because their employer, GMR Promotions, has a contract with the RNC — are willing to dedicate nearly a year of their lives to furthering the Bush-Cheney cause. If I understand them correctly, the Hendersons believe George W. Bush should be president because he’s a nice man who tries hard.

Christine: Every American wants to feel that they have moral values. They pass down their values. And to me, our current president has done that from day one.... He makes you feel, in his heart, that he’s trying and doing all he can.

Deke: He’s genuine.

Christine: He’s a genuine person. He portrays that out, and that’s why I believe in him. He’s trying so hard to do everything he can, as far as — if you want to start doing numbers and everything — school and, you know, education, number one. I mean, family ... he goes to church. He’s a Christian man.

Deke: What’s number one about the president, he says what he’s going to do.

Christine: That’s what we like. He tells the people, then he does it, you know. He says what he’s going to do, and he follows through.

Deke: Yeah. He’s the man with the plan.

Christine: Yeah, you know, and people, everyone — he’s human. He’s a human being like everyone else, you know

As the conversation progresses, Deke and Christine tell me that they have liberal friends. (The best man at their wedding was a Democrat; in addition, each grew up with one staunchly Democratic parent.) They lament the rudeness of the people who’ve harassed them during their travels — the ones who cut Reggie off on the highway or who vandalize the truck when it’s parked for the night — but do so with a weary, patient sadness that makes them highly sympathetic. "As long as they’re friendly protesters, I mean, that’s what America is about," Christine says. "Everyone can state their opinion, but there has been some vandalism and stuff like that. It’s unfortunate, but we just go on with it. We think positive, we try to fix the problem, and we go on." "You know," Deke adds, "if you don’t agree with our views — respect ’em." They claim that although they received a noticeably cooler reception in their travels for a brief period following the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, people are warming up to Reggie again. "How can you blame the president for the actions of others, you know?" asks Deke. "That’s what the feel was when we were out on the road," Christine says. "But now it’s come back around, and it’s been very positive, and I feel very positive." And — not surprisingly — they become grim when asked to imagine a Kerry presidency. "I just don’t feel that he would get things done," Christine says. "I’d be afraid," Deke says. "I’d be afraid, too," Christine agrees.

IF REGGIE’S mission ultimately fails, and John Kerry is elected president, it won’t be because of Deke and Christine. Their explanation of George W. Bush’s appeal probably won’t sway undecided policy wonks or die-hard liberals, but they are, to quote a cliché, "good people" — and as the Hendersons’ own commitment to George W. Bush shows, sometimes being "good people," or managing to convince the public you’re "good people" even if you’re not, is all you need. But Reggie could be undercut by a few blind spots in the RNC’s otherwise meticulous planning. Consider the gargantuan white board on which newly registered voters are invited to write messages to the president. Some of these are innocuous: "I support President Bush’s positive agenda for America"; "Four more years." But others, depending on one’s point of view, are more ominous — most notably, the odd coupling of "Continue to rely on your faith in Christ in all that you do for our country, God Bless" with "Put a boot in their - - - — it’s the American way!" The volunteer pool, too, seems to be dangerously unregulated. In Loudon, for example, one of the volunteers takes two nervous French journalists to task for their country’s position on the Iraq war ("We went in and liberated France, and now you screwed us! We don’t appreciate that at all"). Later, the Bush man tells me he thinks Kerry is the favorite, because, as he puts it, "I think the American people, too many of them, they’re only interested in themselves. The more you lie to them, the better they like it."

In other words, there are still a few bugs in the system. That’s bad news for Deke and Christine. But it’s good news for anybody who’s Anybody But Bush.

Adam Reilly can be reached at areilly[a]phx.com