Mackinac Island — A top official for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign said Friday he was punched in the face by a man working for rival Sen. Marco Rubio at a bar on Mackinac Island, where Republicans are gathered this weekend for a leadership conference.
Grand Rapids consultant John Yob, who is Paul’s national political director, said early Friday he was assaulted in a Mackinac Island bar by a man he and a witness identified as working for Rubio.
“He literally physically assaulted me by punching me in the face,” Yob wrote in a Facebook post. “The state police are looking for him. I have it on video, from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”
Shanon Banner, a Michigan State Police spokeswoman, said her agency was not involved in the incident at Horn’s Gaslight Bar and that the Mackinac Island Police Department responded.
A Mackinac Island police officer declined comment early Friday morning about the incident and said it was unclear when the department would release any information.
The Michigan Republican Party is hosting Paul and five other presidential candidates at the Grand Hotel this weekend for its biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. A record 2,180 Republican leaders, donors and activists have registered to attend the confab.
Rubio is not attending, but his campaign has sent surrogates, including pawn shop reality TV star Rick Harrison of the History Channel show “Pawn Stars.”
A Rubio campaign spokesperson did not immediately return messages Friday morning seeking comment.
Yob called on Rubio to fire the aide immediately.
Grand Rapids consultant John Yob says he was assaulted in a Mackinac Island bar.
Brandon Hall, a conservative blogger from Grand Haven, said Friday he witnessed Yob being punched at Horn’s Gaslight Bar, a popular Mackinac Island watering hole.
“As I was sitting at the bar talking to someone at Horn’s in Mackinac Island Thursday night, I witnessed (the man) suddenly, out of nowhere, approach one of Rand Paul’s advisers, John Yob — unprovoked — and try to hit him,” Hall wrote on his West Michigan Politics blog. “(He) missed a full on shot but still struck Yob’s in the face with a powerful blow near the jaw.”
Hall said the Rubio campaign official was at the bar trying to drum up votes for the Florida senator in the presidential straw poll The Detroit News and MIRSnews.com are conducting this weekend at the conference.
The man appeared intoxicated as he “wrangled” Republicans at the bar to vote for Rubio in the straw poll, Hall said.
“It’s probably not a good idea to be a loud-mouth drunk about it, and go sucker punch John Yob,” Hall told The News. “That’s probably not the best straw poll strategy.”
The Michigan Republican Party’s conference begins Friday afternoon with a reception on the Grand Hotel’s famous front porch followed by opening remarks by Gov. Rick Snyder at 4:45 p.m.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is the lone keynote speaker Friday night. The other five presidential candidates are speaking on Saturday, according to the conference schedule.
Obviously, large amounts of alcohol were involved.
I dunno. Maybe you grew up in a different world than I did,but every time I saw physical confrontations that involved large amounts of alcohol consumption,the participants were serious about trying to remove each other's head.
