Traveling out of DCA, you frequently see all sorts of political figures. I used to be a MA resident and traveled DCA-BOS, DCA-PVD and DCA-BDL frequently. My local Congressman, Former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn and Sen. Joe Lieberman were frequent guests.
Still, I remember one particular DCA-BOS Shuttle ride around 2002--after the midterm elections when upon scanning the plane as I was boarding I saw John Kerry tucked away in an exit row reading. Now, I'm a Senate aide for a member of the opposite party and see these guys pretty frequently, but I remember thinking that in a year or so things would be much, much different for him, as he'd be getting ready for the NH Primary and probably on his way to being a national figure. I couldn't help but wonder if his commercial travel days would be over. Of course, things did change for him, but nowadays he's back on US Airways...