NAMES IN THE NEWS : Joke on Pat Paulsen’s Car Thief

ASTI, Calif. — The list of items stolen from Pat Paulsen’s car sounds like material for one of his comedy routines: broken Christmas tree lights, a damaged case of Gatorade, 50 “Pat Paulsen on Wine” videos and one of his presidential campaign jackets.

The comedian, a quadrennial tongue-in-cheek presidential candidate, said the thief is “probably a junk dealer.”

Paulsen’s daughter, Terri, had been using the car when the theft occurred last week. She said Tuesday she had been keeping the “kind of ripped and torn” Pat Paulsen presidential campaign jacket for sentimental reasons. Her father has new ones made each year for his comedy bits.

“Someday it might be worth $5,” she said of the missing jacket.

“They are going to be in for a surprise when they try to open the Gatorade,” Ms. Paulsen said, because the case had been in a car involved in a traffic accident and some bottles appeared to be cracked. “They saved us the trouble of figuring what to do with it.”