Man on a mission

Wayne Stalvey wanted to make sure he got the attention of Mitt Romney — an old LDS mission-mate — at Monday's airport hangar political rally at Panama City, Fla. So he figured the best way to stand out to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who ran the Games, would be to wear a 2002 Winter Games cap.

Sure enough, Romney made mention of the hat during the speech, and Stalvey got a chance to briefly say hello to him as he worked his way through the crowd.

"He was a great leader when he was on the mission," Stalvey said of Romney as a missionary in France.

If the Mitt fits

Some Romney supporters get a little creative at campaign rallies to show their fondness for the candidate.

At the Panama City rally, Temley Fish brought cookies shaped like a baseball mitt with "Mitt '08" scrolled in icing. Fish explained she didn't have a mitt cookie cutter, instead modifying a hand-shaped one to get the mitt-look.

Taking his licks

Between campaign stops in Lutz, Fla., on Saturday, Romney saw a favorite restaurant and told his campaign staff they'd be eating there instead of a scheduled lunch stop at a Chili's restaurant down the road. So the motorcade of SUVs pulled into the parking lot of a KFC.

Inside, the multimillionaire ate his value meal while confused reporters and photographers stormed the fast-food counter. Romney runs as much as time permits while on the road and is known for generally eating a healthy diet.

But everyone's got a weakness. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the candidate "loves" KFC, but a new relationship developed on the campaign trail. Fehrnstrom joked that this was part of the campaign's strategy to win over Southern states on Super Tuesday.

Video, photos and stories of the KFC stop made it to the Internet and appeared in various other media reports. And the traveling press corps, some who have been on the road with Romney since September, made sure to dish the details, including that he removed the skin from the chicken and likes the accompanying biscuit the best.

Surf's up

Josh Romney, one of Romney's five sons, entertained the press after a long day of campaign stops via airplane on Monday.

During the last takeoff, for a Jacksonville to St. Petersburg leg, he revived the campaign plane tradition of aisle surfing by standing on a campaign sign and sliding — rather quickly — down the center aisle of the chartered jet during takeoff. A second attempt didn't go so well.