Staff members from rival Republican presidential candidates were allegedly involved in bar fight

Well, that escalated quickly.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Republicans are gathered on Mackinac Island for a Republican leadership conference this weekend. Last night attendees gathered at Horn's Bar and at some point later in the night, a fight broke out. From John Patrick Yob, Rand Paul's national political director and chief Michigan strategist:

There were witnesses to the attack:

Brandon Hall, a conservative blogger from Grand Haven, said Friday he witnessed Yob being punched at Horn’s Gaslight Bar, a popular Mackinac Island watering hole.

“As I was sitting at the bar talking to someone at Horn’s in Mackinac Island Thursday night, I witnessed (the man) suddenly, out of nowhere, approach one of Rand Paul’s advisers, John Yob — unprovoked — and try to hit him,” Hall wrote on his West Michigan Politics blog. “(He) missed a full on shot but still struck Yob’s in the face with a powerful blow near the jaw.”

Hall said the Rubio campaign official was at the bar trying to drum up votes for the Florida senator in the presidential straw poll The Detroit News and MIRSnews.com are conducting this weekend at the conference.

Police have not yet commented. We'll update with a statement and the alleged video when they become available.

Update: the video is now available below the fold.

At least one video of the punch is now available. There appears to be a scuffle or something just out of camera view drawing everyone's attention. The Rand Paul staffer jumps up with his phone to film and then goes back to his seat. He appears to say something to the Rubio staffer as he's walking away and the Rubio staffer straight up popped him in the mouth and kept going:

Via Yob, here's the video of the alleged punch pic.twitter.com/jsZIVqhstO

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) September 18, 2015