Mitt Romney, Judy Topinka, Rod Blagojevich and ironed shirts

CLEARWATER, FL — Mitt Romney irons his shirts — so we all learned at the beginning of the GOP convention, when the party’s presidential choice tried to humanize himself as a regular guy, not an out-of-touch mega-millionaire.

“I can relate to that,” state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka told members of the Illinois delegation Thursday morning. “I think it’s neat he can do it because I don’t know how. My mother always told me don’t learn how because you’ll always get stuck doing it.”

That line from Topinka got the kinds of laughs the wise-cracking Riverside Republican has been known for over the years.

But a few moments later state GOP chief Pat Brady one-upped Topinka on the shirt-ironing schtick by turning to the state’s imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who seems to be the punchline that keeps giving.

“I understand one of the first jobs you get in federal prison is the laundry room. Maybe Rod is ironing shirts today,” Brady said. “You can’t go a whole convention without any Rod Blagojevich jokes now, c’mon.”