John Edwards had scarcely left the University of Maine’s Orono campus on Wednesday when he showed up again that night – this time portrayed by an actor – singing and gyrating to “I’m So Pretty” from “West Side Story.” It devolved into: “I’m so skinny. That’s from chasing every ambulance.”

It was one of many comical acts in a two-hour-plus show at the Maine Center for the Arts by the Capitol Steps, the Washington-based musical comedy group that rewrites popular songs to fit the day’s headlines. The skit about Edwards suggested that he is so attractive, it’s a pity he’s not presidential material. But then Capitol Steps challenges presidential potential in anyone who dares to step into the top stories in the news.

More than three dozen characters from contemporary politics were depicted by the five-person troupe: the Bush family, John Ashcroft, Rush Limbaugh, Condoleezza Rice, Gen. Wesley Clark, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martha Stewart, the Kerrys. It was a bipartisan sendup. Tripartisan if you count Ralph Nader.

Even Yassar Arafat and Ariel Sharon had a meeting to exchange the duet “You Don’t Send Me Flowers Anymore.” The song was so funny that the actor playing Arafat turned to the Sharon character and said, “You’re killing me.” To which Sharon responded: “I’m trying to.” It ended with Sharon hoisting Arafat into his arms lovingly and walking offstage.

Whether it was a bit with a Sunni and Cher singing “I’ve Got You Babe” – with the line “You don’t know Shinola from Shiite” – or an airport security screener searching a nun and letting terrorists sail through, the show was tremendously popular with the full house at MCA. The audience members were just as eager to laugh about John Ashcroft singing from “The Phantom of the Opera” – “Now that I’m attorney general, I might give power to the loonies on the Right” – as about Limbaugh singing (to the tune of “Dixie”): “Oh I wish I was on OxyContin. Hard times then would be forgotten.”

One of the most popular skits featured Bill and Hillary Clinton. “He’ll be in my way,” Hillary sang to “I Did It My Way.” And the former president assured the audience that he was fine after his recent heart surgery: “To think all this time I’ve been operating with a decreased blood flow.”

Capitol Steps specializes in a form of spooneristic jibberish the group calls “Lirty Dies,” in which first letters of words are switched around to create wildly entertaining stories. Mike Tilford treated the audience to two such monologues, one about George Bush and Iraq. (He called the war Awk and Shaw, a mix-up of Shock and Awe.) He also did a riff about the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church.

With satirical zingers flying for the entire night, Capitol Steps – Tilford, Kevin Corbett (whose mimicry of Clinton is about perfect), Ann Schmitt, Mike Caruthers and Bari Biern, with pianist Marc Irwin – proved that smart humor that takes shots at all sides has a certain democratic appeal. “I’m proud to be an American whose car get 5 mpg. God bless my SUV” is a line that might not be so funny in other circumstances. And Little Orphan Annie, predicting the October surprise in music: “Osama come out tomorrow,” might not be so hilarious if it were in print. But onstage with the Capitol Steps, it was a comedy presentation of presidential proportions.

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.