From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Ohio Congressman James Trafficking took to the airwaves this week as guest host for a local radio call-in show.

His appearance, which was also broadcast on C-SPAN, drew the criticism that

it could taint the Cleveland jury pool for his upcoming trial for bribery and racketeering.

Traffic can face similar accusations in 1983 in a high-profile trial. From NPR member station WCPN,

David C. Barnett reports on how this master of the soundbite has used the media to maintain a folk hero status in his district.

A minivan pulls up in front of the Youngstown federal courthouse, and a flock of journalists and photographers surrounds the man who steps out.

Congressman James Trafficant smiles as a reporter asks him how he feels.

Most people have problems with a fly on their face.

I have an elephant eating my ass.

The scribes chuckle.

This is vintage Jim Trafficant, short and sweet, rude and crude.

For nearly 20 years, Ohio's 17th District

Congressman has flaunted convention, much to the pleasure of his constituents. Sporting a

70s vintage polyester suit and a gray hairdo that's been compared to a bird's nest, Jim Trafficant gives

off the image of a guy who doesn't care if you're offended by the way he

talks or looks. All he says he's interested in is helping the people of his district. United

Church of Christ Minister Werner Lang says that Trafficant's strong local following has roots back in the

days when he was county sheriff. When the steel mills were shut down here in the late 1970s,

there was a lot of foreclosures, people being thrown out of their homes. One such family was

...