Around a dozen Hillary supporters crashed a McCain press conference at Grand Central Station today. They all brought signs, and four of them held up a huge banner. They got booed, and some McCain staffers tried to start a chant of “John McCain,” but it didn’t catch on. The crowd that had gathered behind the rope line was mostly made up of curious onlookers, not McCain supporters, although one foreign couple took some McCain stickers the campaign was handing out and put them on their foreheads for a laugh.

That’s not to say there weren’t any McCain supporters there. About 20 or 30 standing near the front of the rope line tried to hold their McCain signs high to block out the Hillary signs in back, but nothing could completely block out the giant “Hillary” banner. Eventually some campaign staffers resorted to handing out signs taped to umbrellas, to help supporters hold their signs even higher.

The Hillary supporters pushed forward, trying to get their signs right behind the podium at which the press had pointed dozens of cameras. This created a tense border with the McCain supporters, and tempers flared. I witnessed a near-altercation when two giggling hipsters holding Hillary signs bumped into a square-jawed McCain supporter, who turned around and told them to back up or he’d “punch their teeth in.”

After this had been going on for about 10 minutes, one man holding a small Obama sign took up a position near the back of the crowd. I asked him if he was there to protest McCain or the Hillary supporters. He told me his name was Steve Ferguson, a volunteer for the Obama campaign in New York City, and that he had been campaigning for Obama in the area when Obama HQ called him and told him to head to Grand Central and hold up a sign. Upon arriving, he said, he saw that he was outnumbered by both camps, so he decided to hang out near the back. “I campaigned for Barack in New Hampshire,” he told me. “Politics is much more civilized up there.”

McCain and his entourage showed up about 45 minutes after the press conference was scheduled to start. He was joined by former New York governor George Pataki, Rep. Pete King from Long Island, Sen. Joe Lieberman, former U.S. senator from New York Al D’Amato, and Rudy Giuliani. The clear message was that New York’s Republican establishment supports McCain. Rudy tried to convince the crowd that McCain could put New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in play for the Republicans. “If Romney or Huckabee wins,” he said, “the next day you won’t see any political commercials in New York.” (Is that supposed to convince us not to vote for them?)

The Hillary protesters were mostly well-behaved during the press conference, quietly holding their signs at the back of the crowd. In fact, after the press conference ended, they got downright friendly. As the politicians were working the rope line, two of the Hillary supporters approached the spot where Pataki was shaking hands. “Hey governor,” one said. “Even though we’re with Hill, we’re big fans of yours.” Pataki nodded uncomfortably and walked off.