A relaxed John Ensign took an informal tour of Carson City's open air market, Tuesdays at Curry, picking up several ears of corn for the dinner table and a novelty hat equipped with a solar-powered fan to cool the forehead.
"I've got three kids so two of them are going to be upset," he said of the high-tech toy.
Ensign, suit coat and tie left behind in the car, received a warm welcome from most of the vendors setting up booths and the small crowd of customers at the market before 5 p.m.
He passed out campaign literature pushing his Web site and telling one potential voter to "check it out if you have any questions and if we don't get back to you, don't vote for us."
Camille Souders of Mound House made it clear she was already in his camp when he offered her literature.
"You don't have to give me anything, honey," she said. "I'm voting for you."
He received a few more serious responses, however, including from a veteran who asked about restoring full medical benefits for vets.
"Everybody knows I'm a fiscal conservative," said Ensign. "But I would vote to raise taxes to take care of veterans if we had to."
He quickly added that won't be necessary because the money can come from other parts of the existing budget.
Ensign said he stopped by while getting an informal tour of the Capitol from Mayor Ray Masayko.
He said he is pushing the Web site because "I really believe the Internet will revolutionize campaigns."
Ensign is the Republican nominee in the race to fill retiring Democrat Richard Bryan's U.S. Senate seat. The Las Vegas veterinarian and former two-term congressman is leading Democrat Ed Bernstein, a prominent lawyer in his first bid for public office, by about 20 percentage points.
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