Article: Wordsmith to a hero: of pens, swords, and Mark Salter.(PEOPLE)

IF Mark Salter hadn't lost his way beneath the Superdome in New Orleans two decades ago, he might never have met John McCain. It was like that scene in This Is Spinal Tap when the band wanders lost through the basement of an arena in Cleveland--except Salter was at the 1988 Republican National Convention frantically searching for the room where his boss, Jeane Kirkpatrick, was supposed to sit for an interview.

"It's a cavernous building," says Salter. So he phoned for help. Torie Clarke, the future Pentagon spokeswoman, showed up to guide him. At the time, she was working for McCain and helping out with the convention. On the night of George H. W. Bush's ...

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