CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Republican heavyweights Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty were supposed to be the main event at a July 5 GOP rally in Parma, but a sparring match in the crowd stole the show -- lighting up the blogosphere with conspiracy theorists contending the clash was not as it seemed.

Video showing an alleged Romney supporter stuffing a handkerchief into the mouth of a shouting protester at the rally quickly became Internet fodder.

The story was viewed more than 30,000 times on cleveland.com, The Plain Dealer's online affiliate. It made national headlines and popped up on dozens of blogs. And The Plain Dealer has received a stream of emails contesting its original report.

But speculation is rampant that the show-stealing rabble-rousers -- Al Neal, a union advocate from Canton, and Richard Brysac, a Parma resident who supports Republican Mitt Romney for president -- are not who they say they are.

Others argue the skirmish was a feigned display meant to vilify Romney supporters.

Here is what we know.

Many claim Neal is not a Canton resident, citing a 2011 pro-union piece published on unionreview.com. The article describes Neal as a labor historian and organizer with the Grand Canyon University Organizing Committee in Phoenix, Ariz.

Neal, 25, said Monday he attended the private Christian university beginning in 2006, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history and served as a member of the Arizona Federation of College Republicans. He added that he was born in Seattle, then lived in New York, California, Arizona and Texas before moving to Ohio.

A volunteer for Fight for Fair Economy Ohio, Neal says he has lived in Canton for about four months. He was reached Monday on his cellphone, which is assigned a Canton area code.

Brysac, on the other hand, has been lambasted for claiming to support Romney, but voting Democrat in previous elections.

A breitbart.com article reveals screenshots of Brysac's recent voter history, which shows he voted Democrat in the 2011, 2010 and 2008 primaries. What the article does not reveal is Brysac voted in a March 2012 Republican primary, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

"I've lived through 12 presidents, and Obama is the worst I've seen in my lifetime," the 77-year-old said at the rally. "I am a Democrat. I urge all Democrats to go against Obama for this country."

Regardless of what Brysac claimed at the rally, GOP and Tea Party assertions that he cannot be a Republican are incorrect. Political affiliation in Ohio is determined by how a person votes in the most recent partisan primary. According to Ohio, Brysac is a Republican.

There has also been speculation about the spelling of Brysac's name. Voter registration and a 2011 traffic violation logged with the Parma Municipal Court spell his name "Brysacz."

However, Brysac spelled his name without the "Z" during an interview at the rally.

"I spell it two ways," he said Monday.

The Ohio Liberty Coalition maintains on its website that the exchange between Neal and Brysac was a political play staged by the two men.

Neal vehemently denies staging the fracas and said he had never seen Brysac before the rally.

"There is no way it was staged," said Neal. He said he suffered from a chipped tooth in the skirmish.

The accusations that he was not sincere in his agenda to protest Romney's "vulture" capitalism leave him saddened, he said.

Brysac, reached at home, also was asked if the fracas was a farce. He refused to answer questions over the phone and requested they be sent via email, which The Plain Dealer did. But Brysac did not respond to the questions.

What the Ohio Liberty Coalition's article doesn't state, as it references a second-hand Tea Party investigation, is that the incident was not isolated to Neal and Brysac alone.

Other protesters and apparent Romney supporters took part in the disruption.

Seven young protesters were surrounded by purported Romney supporters who shouted profanities during the confrontation.

The protesters did not become vulgar or violent when Brysac got physical.

The group left the Kentown Plaza rally composed even when a man dressed as Uncle Sam came nose-to-nose with Neal and was heard yelling profanities at the protesters as they walked away.

The man was Tea Party member J. Joseph Baruth. He is also a pastor for American Family Ministry.

"All I did was speak the name of Jesus as Uncle Sam and lay hands on his chest praying, and they left," said Baruth in an unsolicited email to The Plain Dealer. "Then I followed them down [the] sidewalk speaking the name of Jesus."

Baruth included a link to the Ohio Liberty Coalition article in the email, which he said had been sent to more than 600 people.

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