A cowboy in a pickup truck pulling a horse trailer parked directly in front of the Manning House about an hour before U.S. Sens. John McCain and Scott Brown showed up for a Saturday shake-and-jaw.
Dennis Molnar, a retired postal worker, was on his way to do some roping and swung by to get McCain to sign his book.
Legislative District 28 Republican chairman Walt Stephenson served as sentry, lest any downtown saddle thieves be lurking about.
While waiting for the dynamic duo's arrival, Molnar brought out the horse, which immediately started posing for photos.
The horse's name? Lefty. Molnar cracked that he would change his name to Righty if it would make anyone feel better.
System infiltrated
Meanwhile, inside the Manning House, the guests of honor were greeted by technical difficulties in the form of a spitting and sputtering microphone.
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When McCain took the mike, he started with a joke about sleeping like a baby after losing the presidential election - sleep two hours, wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry. But with the microphone refusing to cooperate, he quipped, "This microphone brought to you by the Democratic National Committee. …"
Just like Who?
Meanwhile, District 8 hopeful Jonathan Paton got a mention in the Boston Globe, when a reporter wrote about Brown's impact reverberating in Arizona.
Paton has been angling for a parallel between him and Brown, who was an underdog running against the moneyed favorite. "We only need to look at Massachusetts to show us the way," Paton said last week.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Andrew Stone said he found that funny, given Paton served as a senator and a lobbyist and has the support of some big local movers and shakers.
Paton claiming to be an anti-establishment outsider, Stone said, "is about as credible as Tiger Woods giving lessons in fidelity."
Who loves who?
Even though Congressional District 8 candidate Jesse Kelly is backing U.S. Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth over McCain, e-mails have been circulating showing Kelly tried to friendly up with the senior senator before Hayworth was officially part of the race.
Campaign manager Bret Summers shopped an e-mail to McCain staff last July after Kelly and McCain met at a May fundraiser put on by auto magnate Jim Click. "The senator mentioned that he was interested in helping with my race," it reads, seeking a sit-down appointment.
A September follow-up from Summers sought five minutes to discuss "receiving the senator's support that he offered back at our prior meeting."
Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers, noting the senator is staying out of the race altogether for now, said, "Senator McCain is committed to retiring the Democrat and electing a Republican in CD8."
Could sour grapes be at play? Summers Tuesday said "support" is not the same thing as "endorsement" and said he was following up out of respect.
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 573-4243 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com
