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.