DENVER, Colo. — Mitt Romney cheerfully meandered back past the blue divider curtain on his campaign jet last Friday carrying a large bag of beef jerky. He doled out the giant hunks of dried meat to reporters one by one, engaging in the kind of innuendo-laced banter common in the back of the plane but widely thought to be absent from the front. At one point, a journalist who received a smaller piece of jerky complained that he had "jerky envy," prompting an outburst of laughter from the candidate.

The exchange raised more than a few eyebrows when it hit Twitter and the blogosphere: Funny, loose, a little racy — who was this guy?