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Whenever he notices Rod Webber in the audience, Jeb Bush asks him to join in prayer

"Ideologically speaking, we don't exactly see eye to eye," Webber says

Merrimack, New Hampshire CNN  — 

Jeb Bush has a tradition at the end of his town halls.

Whenever he notices Rod Webber in the audience, the presidential candidate saves a few minutes at the end to invite the top hat-wearing peace activist to stand with him and say a prayer.

“Flower boy, come up here,” Bush said, gesturing to Webber to join him two weeks ago at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

“If you’ve gone to our town hall meetings, you’ve met a friend of mine, a brother from another mother,” Bush told the audience.

The former Florida governor pulled out a piece of paper, saying he had something special for Webber this time – a prayer written by George Washington – and the two bowed their heads as Bush read it aloud.

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For the audience, it was a playful but puzzling moment. Here was Bush, a suit-sporting Republican calling for greater U.S. military engagement in the world, standing next to a bearded, sleeveless activist carrying flowers and wanting nothing more than less military involvement.

“It blows my mind on a continual basis, mainly because you take a look at me. You take a look at him. And ideologically speaking, we don’t exactly see eye to eye,” Webber said in an interview, talking about his relationship with Bush.

But Webber, who goes to events with all the presidential candidates and offers his “flowers for peace,” said Bush is his favorite Republican to be around because he’s the most “kind and cordial.”

When Webber prayed with Bush at the last town hall, the activist, who makes films and documentaries for his day job, also threw some shade at one of the other candidates, saying he had tried handing a flower to someone whose last name rhymes with “mump.”

“But I can’t get to him,” Webber said, drawing laughs from the audience. “He’s not a nice sort of guy like you are.”

“Well,” Bush said, with his arm clasped around Webber, “thank you, brother.”

Webber told CNN he had recently traveled to Michigan to try and hand Donald Trump a flower, but when he saw the GOP front-runner in the hallway, Trump brushed him off and didn’t accept it.

He’s also had interactions with other candidates but Webber said no one has quite embraced him like Bush, with the exception of one of the other more hawkish candidates, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Webber said he first met Bush at a Fourth of July parade in Amherst, New Hampshire, when he offered him a flower and asked Bush what he would do for peace. Bush promised to pray.

“And so the next time I saw him, I told him, ‘Hey man, how about I give you 20 flowers and you give me 20 prayers for peace.’ And so he did,” Webber explained in the interview, as a wilted flower stuck out from the side of his dark beard.

Another flower was sticking out from the chest pocket of his black vest, which he was wearing over a green sleeveless shirt.

Webber’s unique presence on the campaign trail has become a well-documented story in political media. But it’s his curious relationship with Bush that’s gaining more traction.

After their first interaction in July, Webber followed Bush to Iowa, and it’s “evolved from there,” he said.

He has since become a campaign favorite for the Bush staff. Last week, Webber bought the crew some pizza, and he helped put up chairs after the town hall was over. He couldn’t find an open flower shop, so he asked a nearby restaurant if he could purchase some flowers growing in the garden on their property.

Webber says he’s been to 45 out of the 50 states to promote his peace-seeking agenda, and he’s making a self-funded documentary about it along the way. He’s also raising awareness for legislation that would take leftover produce that normally goes to waste and give it to the hungry or veterans instead.

“Real action in the real world is the best way to affect change, even if it’s only making someone smile by offering them a flower,” he said.

His top hat had a piece of paper with the name of the bill that he thinks can enact change, and safety-pinned to his vest was a handwritten message: “#FIGHTINGHUNGER.”

Also on his vest last two weeks ago: A circle-shaped sticker that read “Jeb!”