They weren’t sure exactly when he would be passing by, but members of the Democratic Party of Dawson County were ready and waiting to greet U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade.

After arriving at 10:30 a.m., six of the group’s active 75 members staked out prime real estate near a plaza on Lumpkin Camp Ground Road — directly on Biden’s route to Impulse Manufacturing in Dawsonville.

Although they had to wait around for 45 minutes just for a glimpse of his passing motorcade, group members were still enthusiastic about the experience.

"We were waving and holding our banner, I hope that (Biden) saw us," said Bette Holland, party co-chairwoman.

Group members say they found out about Biden’s visit Wednesday, which didn’t leave them much time to plan they said. Nevertheless, the group welcomed Biden, and his message, with open arms.

"Bring some of that stimulus money to Dawsonville," said Wava Lavelle. "We’ll be happy to have it."

During his visit, Biden announced that some $2 billion in stimulus funding would be used to increase broadband networks in 17 states, in areas such as Dawson County where high-speed Internet access is limited. The broadband projects are designed to create jobs and bring more industries to the area.

The location of the announcement — a local manufacturing facility — was symbolic for some.

"That’s where we need to start building jobs around America, in manufacturing," Holland said.

For others, the vice president’s visit was clouded with more irony than symbolism.

"I’ve been unemployed since Sept. 20 and I can’t find no work and I think it’s kind of ironic to have a guy come here and basically slap us in the face and tell us how good our economy is," Tim Herron of Dawsonville said.

"He’s coming to one of the hardest hit regions as far as the economy in Georgia and telling us how good it’s going."

Herron wasn’t the only person not thrilled by the vice president’s announcement.

"I’m protesting all the stimulus and all the spending money heedlessly and printing money like it’s water and what it’s doing to our economy," said Stewart Bailey, a financial planner from Dawsonville.

Although not everyone was an Obama administration supporter — as one onlooker said, "I voted for the other guy" — the event ran relatively smoothly.

Aside from the two minutes that it took for the motorcade to pass any given point, if you didn’t know beforehand, you probably wouldn’t have noticed that he was in Dawsonville. Although law enforcement officials were out in force keeping a close eye on things, there were no permanent road blocks. Intersections along the Ga. 400 route were closed just long enough to allow the motorcade to pass through. Then it was back to business as usual.

"We came up from Cumming, but the traffic wasn’t bad," said Gail Turner of Snellville.

Even though she was in close proximity to the speech site, at North Georgia Premium Outlets with her family, Turner missed lived coverage of the speech but said she was interested to hear what Biden had to say.

"We all know someone that has lost a job or their home," said Turner. "So I hope he was saying something good about creating more jobs."