Here’s an experience I never expected to have…..walking into a press conference for a presidential candidate, running into a local brothel owner, two of his girls in tow, and having said brothel owner introduce me to MSNBC pundit Tucker Carl son.

The said businessman, Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch and something of a media figure himself, was there to show support for his favorite candidate, Republican Ron Paul.

Carl son was traveling with the Paul campaign on assignment reportedly for New Republic magazine. He apparently knows Hof and when he got to town called him up. They arrived at Lawlor together. It was all very proper, the girls lovely and conservatively dressed, though one remarked to me she could easily change that.

Following the press conference, while the candidate took one-on-ones with the media in another room, Hof , Carl son and the girls, had their own photo op, posing for pictures up by the podium, a Ron Paul 2008 banner in the background. When I left the girls were still hanging around hoping for a picture with the candidate themselves……..only in Nevada .

Hof , by the way, says he’s supporting Paul because of his stands on personal liberty, including apparently a constitutionalist view of legalized prostitution. A conservative Christian, Paul doesn’t endorse the oldest profession, but sees addressing it legally as a matter of state’s rights. Actually in Nevada it’s been left up to the counties. The state law was written to prohibit prostitution only in counties with a population of 400,000 or more (read Clark and Washoe). Hof sets up shop in Lyon County .

I only had time for a brief chat with Carl son, but we agreed the Ron Paul phenomenon is one of the interesting stories of this election season and I observed that Nevada with its historic libertarian undercurrent is potentially fertile ground for a candidate like Ron Paul.

I’ve talked with a lot of local volunteers for the various candidates and, in conventional ways, they all tend to be committed to their candidate. But the Ron Paul people may be in a whole different class. Those local radio ads you’ve been hearing? The billboards? They weren’t purchased by the campaign, but directly by local supporters. Most of them appear to be enthusiastic rookies at the political game, involved for the first time in their lives. And more than one told me the only other candidate who had caught their eyes and ears was Democrat Dennis Kucinich.

Obviously opposition to the war is part of that link, but I also sense in 1992 they’d be lining up behind Ross Perot. Beyond the issues, they’re looking for something they don’t find in today’s candidates. And that says something about what might be missing in today’s over scripted, continually polled and forever triangulating campaigns.