McCain Cedarburg rally still in minds of residents

Cedarburg bar owner Chris Morton says when he heard the news about John McCain, he immediately remembered McCain’s stop in his city.

“I pulled the pictures out right away,” Morton said.

“This turnout in Cedarburg is what our campaign is all about," McCain said at the time, during his 2008 presidential campaign. "We’re going to go across small towns of america.”

Cedarburg was McCain's first stop of his post convention campaign.

Store owners say they haven’t seen a cedarburg crowd that large before or since.

“Big crew," Mark Kennedy said. "A lot of security.”

“I looked out down the street, and it was shoulder to shoulder, all the way down to the courthouse,” Morton said.

After the speech, McCain, his wife Cindy and Sarah Palin got ice cream at the Chocolate Factory, where Michael Wycklendt was managing

“He was very down to earth," Wycklendt said. "Just, a nice guy.”

He displays the pictures McCain offered to take with the employees.

“I still have customers that come in every so often, and they’re like, hey, this is where he had his, started his campaign for 08.”

Morton’s workers remember McCain leaving,  when he decided to make an unscheduled stop to waive at the crowd.

“Impromptu," Morton said. "And Sarah Palin and him both got off the bus. Secret service kept driving. They were like two blocks away before they realized that he got off the bus.”

“The secret service really wanted him to stay on the bus, but he got off here and waived at everybody," Kennedy said. "It was really cool.”

McCain also worked extensively with former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform.

His daughter Sidney McCain works at WSME radio in Milwaukee.