Wampum

From the Post:

For a year, Jim Rosapepe has loomed as Maryland Sen. John Giannetti's biggest political threat, taking public jabs at him and raising an imposing sum for what could become one of the year's most bitter and negative legislative campaigns.

So wouldn't fate have it that Giannetti was sitting in the bar of an Italian restaurant in Annapolis when the former delegate stumbled in from the dining room, doubled over, eyes bulging and gesticulating as though he were trying to cough -- choking...

Shortly before 10 p.m., Giannetti wrapped up his legislative work and headed to the waterfront to meet his wife. He had ordered spaghetti to go from the restaurant, a popular spot for the local pols, and slipped onto a barstool to wait for his dish.

About that moment, Giannetti said, he heard a commotion coming from the dining room and saw an older man stumble into the bar.

"He was hunched over and kind of wheezing," Giannetti, 41, said. "I had no idea who it was."
It was Rosapepe, 54, a fellow Democrat who has been ramping up what is expected to be a bruising campaign to challenge Giannetti, a first-term senator from Prince George's County...

As he sought out someone from the restaurant staff, Rosapepe said, he ran headlong into Giannetti, who leapt into action.

"I knew I had to do something, so I went over and I grabbed him," Giannetti said. "In one motion, I pushed up with my fist, and out it popped."

A hunk of fish the size of a golf ball landed on the floor.