--- title: On Halloween, Obama Dashes Hopes of Presidential Candy in Rhode Island description: President Obama disappointed Rhode Island college students when he bragged out presidential M&Ms but failed to bring any to hand out. canonical: https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T16:21:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:09:22.224Z article:section: Politics og:title: On Halloween, Obama Dashes Hopes of Presidential Candy in Rhode Island og:description: President Obama disappointed Rhode Island college students when he bragged out presidential M&Ms but failed to bring any to hand out. og:url: https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e353a332d5fe1bf/698763c1cd6848831f0976f0/obama-rhode-island.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4840 og:image:height: 2723 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 31, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: On Halloween, Obama Dashes Hopes of Presidential Candy in Rhode Island twitter:description: President Obama disappointed Rhode Island college students when he bragged out presidential M&Ms but failed to bring any to hand out. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e353a332d5fe1bf/698763c1cd6848831f0976f0/obama-rhode-island.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Dashes Adult Hopes on Halloween for Presidential M&Ms > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 31, 2014 4:21 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 31, 2014. President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 31, 2014. Evan Vucci—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 31, 2014 4:21 PM UTC President Barack Obama violated the first rule of Halloween Friday: If you bring candy, bring enough for the entire class. Speaking at Rhode Island College at an event highlighting Democratic priorities for women, Obama referenced Friday evening’s annual trick-or-treat at the White House. “A good thing about being president is we never run out of presidential M&Ms,” Obama said, referencing the customized candy boxes handed out at the White House and aboard Air Force One bearing the president’s signature. “And so we’re going to be giving those out.” When a member of the audience shouted that she wanted some candy, Obama was forced to dash her hopes. “You want some, is that what you said?” Obama asked as the crowd roared. “Only to kids,” he added to laughter. In practice, the Presidential chocolate candies are a perk for VIPs, young and old, who visit the White House or ride on Air Force One. Sometimes even members of the White House press corps, who pay to travel with the President, are offered a box. The boxes have been known to end up for resale on online auction [sites like Ebay](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?%5Ffrom=R40&%5Fsacat=0&%5Fnkw=presidential+m%26ms&%5Fsop=1). Obama spoke wistfully of when his daughters were younger, saying Malia and Sasha are now too old to dress up for Halloween. “That’s so sad. You know, I used to be – we’d dress them up, and we still have the pictures, and they’ll resent them later. But at the time, they were fine with it. They were so cute.” Aside from the candy, children visiting the White House Friday night will also receive the Michelle Obama-approved dried fruit mix. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/"},"headline":"Obama Dashes Adult Hopes on Halloween for Presidential M&Ms","datePublished":"2014-10-31T16:21:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:09:22.224Z","description":"Rhode Island college students disappointed, but the candy is not for them","url":"https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Candy","halloween"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e353a332d5fe1bf/698763c1cd6848831f0976f0/obama-rhode-island.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e353a332d5fe1bf/698763c1cd6848831f0976f0/obama-rhode-island.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 31, 2014.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 31, 2014.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3551223/halloween-obama-mms-rhode-island/","name":"Obama Dashes Adult Hopes on Halloween for Presidential M&Ms"}}]}] ```