Gianforte's campaign has sought to cast Jacobs as the aggressor, claiming he “shoved a recorder in Greg's face and began asking badgering questions.” Montana voters go to the polls Thursday to decide a special election contest between Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist to replace Ryan Zinke, who became interior secretary.

So far, Gianforte has shown no remorse. Neither has Rogers, who punched a TV reporter at a news conference in 1981 on the day he launched a Democratic primary campaign to represent West Virginia in the Senate.

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When I reached Rogers by phone Thursday, he initially posed as someone else and told me that Rogers was unavailable. But as I described the events of the previous night in Montana and my interest, Rogers's right haymaker of 36 years ago, he revealed his identity and unspooled a dramatic tale, seemingly unable to resist an opportunity to reminisce.

I asked whether he regretted the incident or still felt that the journalist, Loren Tobia of WSAZ-TV, deserved a black eye.

“Oh, he didn't deserve it,” Rogers replied. But, he added, “one of my several weaknesses within Christian theology is I don't have a real sense of guilt. If you spin that tape back, rewind it like a movie, I would've done exactly what I did or I wouldn't have been me.”

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The story of Rogers's punch actually begins with what a contemporaneous Washington Post report described as a previous “run-in with New Martinsville Police Chief Anthony Castranova, who claimed that Rogers spit in his face during an argument.”

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Rogers confirmed the expectoration and told me he did more than that during a confrontation in a restaurant: “I jumped him. We got in a big fight. Rolled around and stuff like that.”

“This guy was pretty slick,” Rogers said. “Instead of getting me for assault and battery, he got a mental hygiene."

Rogers spent four days in a mental hospital. When he got out, he decided to run for Senate.

He made for a fascinating candidate, to say the least — a brawling, Harvard-educated lawyer who had twice run unsuccessfully for governor. When I suggested during our conversation that Rogers was “well known” to journalists already, he corrected me; “notorious” is the proper description, he said.

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Rogers was a primary challenger to Sen. Robert Byrd. He ran for state Senate last year as a Libertarian and finished third.

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Rogers called a news conference July 15, 1981. After reading a brief, prepared statement, he said in a gruff voice: “Now, if you have any serious questions, I'll listen to 'em.”

Tobia asked whether Rogers thought his recent stint in a mental institution would affect his candidacy. Rogers, seated at a table with microphones, sprang up, strode over to Tobia and threw a punch.