Nude, crude and on the warpath to McCain victory

THEY were nude, they were crude and they were the audience Senator John McCain hoped would refocus the American presidential campaign on his pledge to win the war in Iraq.

The occasion was the annual rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, which each year attracts up to half a million bikers.

After a 68-year history of debauchery, rally week would ordinarily frighten a presidential campaign but this was a detour long since scheduled in the unorthodox courtship of the 2008 elections.

And as a reward thousands of rally-goers arrived early on Monday night to hear the man who was celebrating a weekend opinion poll that put him level with Senator Barack Obama for the first time since the primary season ended.

The secret service lined the timbered balconies at the Legendary Buffalo Chip concert venue.

After a week when he broadcast commercials mocking his Democratic opponent’s rock-star status he sought to remind people he was the more serious and experienced candidate.

And in Sturgis he did this by acting as a warm-up act for American Pop Idol contestant Kelly Pickler, the Hawaiian Tropicana bikini contest and convicted brawler Kid Rock.

His campaign team explained it was not an official campaign stop but a chance to show his support for veteran servicemen, an ever-present theme during the rally.

He stated he preferred the sound of 50,000 friends’ Harleys than the welcome Obama received from 200,000 people in Berlin.

So, while conservative America’s presidential candidate may not share obvious similarities with aspiring swimsuit models and a bad-boy rocker, he knew where to look for allies.

And when he said he would win the Iraq war, but only in a way which respected those who had lost their lives fighting it, he was given a cheer the crowd otherwise reserved for women who took off their tops.

“It was a very receptive crowd,” explained one man who worked in the military and served in Germany.

“Us bikers are like red-necks, we are very patriotic and care a lot about our troops. There are an awful lot of servicemen here this week.”