The Campaign Goes On, Even With Crutches

ABC News’ Bret Hovell and Sunlen Miller report: A campaign spouse is used to being the crutch.  But now Cindy McCain is the one needing crutches.

Campaigning alongside her husband, Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., Mrs. McCain hobbled along using crutches because of a knee injury.

Cindy McCain suffered a knee twist in a grocery store two weeks ago, tearing ligaments, and prompting a painful resurgence of an old knee problem. While in college, Mrs. McCain fell while carrying a laundry basket, and hurt her knee, an injury that ultimately led to an artificial knee replacement in 2000.

"I keep the same days, when I’m out on the road with my husband, I keep the same hours he does. And I like it. I’m enthusiastic about it," Mrs. McCain said Wednesday, campaigning in Chester, New Hampshire. "People want to see the spouse, they want to know that you’re here, they want to see you as a couple."

While Mrs. McCain is in good spirits, the injury did get in the way of a few of her Labor Day plans. She had to ride in a pickup truck in Neola, Iowa during a parade rather than walk alongside her husband. 

"She’s excited to be out with her husband … she’s definitely a trooper and is still going to be at all these events on crutches … she wouldn’t rather be anywhere else," McCain spokesperson Brooke Buchanan said.

The campaign said the McCain’s are waiting to see how Mrs. McCain’s knee heals, before considering the next step of surgery.