[chocophile]

I attended a McCain Town Hall forum last summer at the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro, and during the Q&A a mother came forward to give McCain a bracelet that was her son's -- perhaps this was the reference in his speech. It was a moving moment, and McCain handled it very well. The setting -- in a military museum -- made the moment even more special. The McCain campaign was at low ebb -- he was out of money and the conventional wisdom was that he was finished; the war in Iraq was going badly. He arrived in a plain blue van with very little staff. Nonetheless, the crowd at the Wright Museum was Standing-Room-Only and he was enthusiastically received. I suspect McCain has received other similar gifts, but perhaps it was the setting and timing of the gift that made him choose to wear that bracelet and mention it during his speech.