Inside the Beltway

Finish the roundup

Enjoying an autumn’s drive through the rural Virginia countryside, foliage splashed like an artist’s palette in brilliant splendor, Heidi Koontz, owner of the Washington-area marketing and public relations firm Intuitive Fare, came upon a man and his horse.

“At the intersection of Routes 211 and 522, near Flint Hill,” she says precisely. “Many cars honked as they passed by, but the horse didn’t move, proudly holding up his owner.”

Who was this mysterious man on horseback?

His name is Forrest Whorton. His horse’s name is Zeke. They hale from Castleton, Va., and together they were out doing their part to support President Bush.

“Zeke is half appaloosa, half thoroughbred, 16 hands tall (one hand is four inches). He’s 2 years old, going on 3,” Mr. Whorton, a stone mason, told Inside the Beltway when we tracked him down yesterday.

“It’s not the first time we’ve been out there,” he says, attaching the name of his choice for president to Zeke’s horse blanket. “And I always carry the American flag. We will stand in various places where people can see us, like atop hills.”

Other days, when not standing perfectly still, Mr. Whorton climbs in the saddle and gallops off.

“I’ll ride to Warrenton, Culpeper, [Little] Washington in Virginia. I’ve ridden to Winchester. I do it to draw some attention, not for myself, it’s for the candidate and our country,” he explains.

“I’m proud to be an American. There’s something about carrying the American flag, it makes me feel good inside. Fills me with pride.”

And why does the horseman feel Mr. Bush deserves four more years?

“We need as a country — as American citizens — to stick together and not have this be like the election in 2000, where the country is split,” he says. “I’d love to see everyone vote our president back so he can finish the work he started over in Iraq. I feel like we’re making a lot of headway there. So let’s give the president four more years, and if there are some changes to be made, then let’s look at it in the next election in 2008.”

Free press

Who says top White House adviser Karl Rove doesn’t have a sense of humor?

When Boston Globe White House correspondent Rick Klein reached the foot of the steps to board Air Force One for a presidential campaign flight this week to La Crosse, Wis., Mr. Rove attempted to play gatekeeper, informing the reporter that his seat was “already taken.”

But, wrote Mr. Klein later, “your intrepid correspondent ignored this high-ranking federal government official and walked up the stairs anyway.”

Tuesday will tell

Plenty of mail surrounding our item yesterday on discrepancies in presidential polling numbers, which to the average American tend to fluctuate with the tides.

“As we say down South, I don’t believe for a New York minute that the polls continue to sway back and forth from day to day, as indicated by all punditry, poll takers and news analysts that can be found on any and all 322 cable channels (or however many you have) available to most people today,” writes Inside the Beltway reader Ron Brock of Newbern, Tenn. “As always, action speaks louder than words.”

Too lazy?

Pollsters suggest Sen. John Kerry could win the presidential election if impressive scrolls of newly registered voters — numbering in the hundreds of thousands — in several key states show up to vote on Tuesday.

But will they join the civic-minded ranks?

“In battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, we have more support than George Bush among potential voters,” agrees Kerry-Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. “But [to win] we have to turn those potential voters into actual votes.”

Registered voters

The polls open and who comes in?

Mary Poppins and Mickey Finn,

Then Betty Boop

And Alley Oop,

Sherlock Holmes and Gunga Din!

— F.R. Duplantier

• John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.