BIRMINGHAM. Mich. - Searching for a few dollars more, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain ran into his Hollywood idol on the campaign trial in Michigan.

“I had a great thrill last night. I saw Clint Eastwood, a real hero of mine,” McCain told customers at Kerby’s Koney Island, a local diner, on Thursday about a fund-raiser the evening before in Birmingham, Michigan.

McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said that Eastwood, 78 but still one of the most macho movie stars around, was staying at the same hotel as the Arizona senator and asked to see him.

The Oscar-winning actor/director and former Republican mayor of Carmel, California, supports McCain and has appeared at his events in the past.

Eastwood spent an hour in McCain’s suite, but Buchanan declined to say if he would be lending either his movie-making expertise or star-drawing power to the campaign.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.-Photo credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser (Eastwood arrives at screening)