Michelle Obama

Barack was a distant fourth.

But we worked hard at the grassroots and understood that we'd have to meet people in their homes and in their communities.

And so...

I was kind of like not even a blip on the screen.

So I was out there freely talking and I never had a written speech.

I just would usually talk from my heart and talk about us.

And so slowly things grew and grew and I wasn't in a backyard anymore, but I was in a school auditorium and it wasn't 10 people, it was 5,000 people.

And I think everyone was kind of shocked by how I was connecting in that way.

But I always felt...

Like, this is who we are as Americans, you know?

I mean, one of the best experiences I had in my life was leaving the south side of Chicago and going into rural America and understanding that we're the same people, you know?

It's like the food we eat, the things we care about, the way my dad loved his family, the pride he had in his family, you know, the working class nature, his work ethic.

People would do that.

They'd just shake their heads and nod.

And what might have been a, I'm not sure about you, became a, I know you, right?

And that was the experience I was having.

But as my popularity rose, I was being covered more, right?

And so the press enters the scene and there are now reports, right?

And the first thing, after all this great conversation and connection,

the top of the article would be, she was wearing.