Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona is pulling in some star power on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, enlisting Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling at an event in Manchester today to shore up support for his party’s presidential nomination in the state that helps kick off the 2008 White House race. 

Schilling, 41, is beloved by locals for taking the Red Sox to the championships twice in the last four years, shattering an 86-year-drought for New England’s only Major League Baseball team.

Fans in particular lionize him for fighting through pain — including a 2004 playoff game when he played with a damaged tendon in his foot, remaining on the mound even as blood trickled from his sock, which can now be found in the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. 

McCain has been trailing Mitt Romney, former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, in recent opinion polls of New Hampshire voters.

Schilling last month said he was backing McCain’s bid for the White House, writing on his blog, “This man will stick to his guns, and be himself, regardless of pressures from outside influences.”

– Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder