I caught some of C-Span’s ‘Road to the White House’ coverage tonight. Rudy Giuliani was visiting a sea food restaurant in New Hampshire and going around shaking peoples hands. It was an interesting sight.

Now reason #1,554 why I probably would not make a good presidential candidate has to deal with shaking hands. I am not a fan of the practice. I remember a few years ago when Donald Trump wanted to run as a reform party candidate. He was open about his displeasure for the ritual and many discussed the political and social effects it would have. (Though I have since seen him embrace the practice of handshaking on his show The Apprentice and doubt his not being president had anything to do with hand shaking.)

Rudy Giuliani doesn’t seem to have the same problem. In fact from what I saw he embraces the handshake a little too readily.

The video started with Giuliani grabbing a fresh lobster straight out of a tank and holding it up for a good minute while people took pictures. He got a good look at it, noting how the lobsters mouth opened side to side instead of up and down, and then threw it back in. When he was done he started heading out to shake hands and meet people. Someone offered up a towel to wipe off the water, which he took quickly getting the moisture off his fingers and then tossing it aside.

Then for fifteen minutes C-Span put together video of him basically going around and shaking everyone’s hand, man, woman & child. Several times people were eating as he ran to embrace them. “Wait, let me wipe my hands,” they would exclaim embarrassed to be in mid-eat. “No, no, don’t worry about it” he would yell grabbing their seafood stained fingers.

At one point Giuliani grabbed a few clams, opened them up, sucked them down and threw the shells down on the table. Then he turned around and started shaking more hands. It went on and on.

Frankly I found myself a little grossed out by the whole affair. Granted C-Span had a lot of edits and in that time Giuliani could have been dousing his hands with Purell or at least wiping them off. It didn’t appear to be the case though.

I am not accustomed to being a public figure who has to touch so many people in my life, so I am sure its just second nature. Still it is a little odd to shake a presidential candidates hands and then have the taint of shellfish and ketchup left behind. Isn’t it? Is it just me?

The animated series King of the Hill had an episode where the main character met George W. Bush on the campaign trail and was shocked to find he had a weak handshake. That incident lead the character to rethink his affiliation. Maybe it would be worse if Giuliani was shy about extending his hand in friendship or worse yet, had a soft grip. Better to have sticky fingers than loose ones?

Still the New York Times had an article awhile back about how Dick Cheney and other politicians use Purell like water on the campaign trail. Lets hope Giuliani and the other candidates do too!