Republican presidential candidate John McCain trumpeted the support of a "prominent" West Virginia Democrat over the weekend - a fringe political candidate best known because former Gov. Bob Wise had an affair with his wife.

Philip "Icky" Frye, a 2004 Democratic candidate for governor, was on a list of 30 people released by "Citizens for McCain," described in a news release as a grass-roots effort to rally people of all political parties to McCain. The group is headed by U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

Frye, the only West Virginian on the list, said the McCain campaign contacted him about a week ago at his home in Hugheston and asked him to join the group.

"My name popped up, probably because I was an ex-gubernatorial candidate," Frye said.

In the 2004 primary, Frye received 2,892 votes - just more than 1 percent of the votes. Joe Manchin, the state's current governor, easily won that race.

The news release from McCain's campaign called Frye and others on the list "prominent Democratic and unaffiliated leaders and activists."

Jeff Sadoski, a spokesman for the national McCain campaign, said Monday, "This is a list of people who are known in different states, as Democrats or independents. They include elected officers and leaders in the Democratic Party. They were prominent Democrats."

Sadowski said Frye was "someone who has run statewide as a Democrat."

Asked how the McCain campaign chose people to put on the list of "prominent" supporters, Sadowski said, "We did research. We reviewed them."

In April 2003, Frye filed a divorce petition against his wife Angela Mascia-Frye, director of European operations for the West Virginia Development Office. Mascia-Frye began working for the Development Office in January 2001 and accompanied Wise on at least one trade mission to Europe.

Without explicitly acknowledging the affair, Wise apologized and did not seek re-election.

Frye told the Charleston Daily Mail he thought Wise was a "little weasel-faced bastard ... typical Democrat."

Later in 2003, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" aired a short item about Frye. The segment including part of a WSAZ-TV interview in which Frye said he was not qualified to run for governor, but was doing it "to be a sheer nuisance to Bob Wise."

Frye said the person who called him from the McCain campaign was named Mary Frye, adding both of them spell their last names the same way.

"They asked me to be one of their representatives. We're in touch, getting some things together. McCain will make some appearances together with us," Philip Frye said.

"Right now, we are waiting to be told what to do for Democrats For McCain. We will sit back and see how that goes."

The list of 30 political figures released by the McCain campaign includes no current members of Congress or state legislatures.

The list does include former Democratic Rep. Tim Penny of Minnesota, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 as an independent. The list also included several former members of Congress, mayors and Democratic Party officials from various states.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-5164.