The singing majority

ST. PAUL -- Hours before John Rich took the stage to perform the national anthem on Wednesday night, he proudly brought up his most unusual Republican National Convention credential: he is one of the few people in the Twin Cities to have spent time with John McCain and Sarah Palin together.

Rich, the right-leaning, Hannity-loving half of the country duo Big & Rich, is among a small number of celebrities to be actively campaigning for McCain, and the only one who has written a song, "Raisin' McCain," that is appropriate to be played at political rallies and after acceptance speeches.

"I think that the campaign has a guy like me around because I am a younger guy but I am a conservative guy," Rich said. He was wearing a cowboy hat, an untucked tuxedo shirt and black velvet jacket. His boots clacked lightly on the floor as he walked to CNN's studio outside the convention hall for an interview. "I hope my presence will prompt young people to pay more attention to Senator McCain."

Rich joined McCain and Palin on the senator's Straight Talk Express in the Midwest on their first weekend a ticket, an experience he said that reminded him of traveling on his tour bus, but with less available whiskey. "It's a lot of people doing a lot of important things," Rich said. "I just sit down and shut my mouth."

When they first met Palin greeted Rich that her kids were fans of Big & Rich, and he was impressed by her grounded answer when he asked her how it felt to be picked to run with McCain. "What an engaging woman she is! She's like a laserbeam," Rich said. "Does she seem country? The mooseburgers that she shot? She's a real country girl."

As he exited the arena, several dozen teenagers ran up to Rich and gathered around him for a group picture. They were at the convention as part of a C-SPAN program and were coming from a meeting with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

"Some of us were excited, but it was nothing like this," said Ryan Vanasse, who was chaperoning a high-school group from Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

As Rich walked on, he spotted a woman in a yellow suit walking towards him. "There's Kay Bailey Hutchison," he whispered.

"I'm John Rich," he said, extending his hand to Texas's senior senator.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited to meet you," Hutchison said.

"I'm one of those young conservatives for McCain that they say don't exist," Rich said. "The silent majority."

"Or," Hutchison said, "the singing majority."