If you’ve never seen John McCain speak in New Hampshire, you probably should. Not because I expect he’s going to present some new policy idea or take the president to task, but because you can’t really say you lived in New Hampshire until you have.

Between his two presidential runs, Sen. McCain arguable campaigned more in New Hampshire than any other national politician. I covered him in 2007 when he had that crazy campaign collapse turned victory, thanks to the fact New Hampshire seems to really love the guy — or at least New Hampshire Republicans, as was pointed out to me on Sunday.

If you’re one of the many who has seen McCain speak to a small room, town-hall style, where he answers any question no matter how crazy, you’ve also heard McCain’s jokes. He doesn’t have many, but the ones he has are not bad the first time you hear them. But they go steadily downhill upon repeating. Here are a few, roughly transcribed:

When people ask me what I did after I lost the election, I tell them I slept like a baby — sleep for an hour, wake up and cry, go back to sleep for an hour…

I like to tell the story about the two guys in the prison chow line, where one says to the other, “I liked the food in here better when you were governor.”

and the sticker

I told that joke in Illinois, but it didn’t go over well.

McCain spoke on Sunday in Concord for an event honoring the late N.H. Sen. Warren Rudman and the opening of a policy center named in his honor. Here’s the story, for Associated Press.