Written by  EDWARD J. LAKSO  DIirected by  R. G. SPRINGSTEEN  Guest Cast ROBERT F. SIMON as Sen. John Sparks CHARLES GRAY as Tom Davis  JON LOCKE as Giles. MIKE RAGAN as Hawks MICKEY FINN as Pat Brannigan I. STANFORD JOLLEY as Jarvis CHUCK COURTNEY as Pete  HAL NEEDHAM as Cole GIL PERKINS by Will Brannigan

Senator Sparks is due on the morning stage with Captain Parmalee.  Reese wants to impress him.  Chad & Joe talk him out of painting the office with red paint bought for the stable, persuading him to stake Chad in an all-night poker game with the Brannigan brothers.  The profits will finance a party for the senator.  Meanwhile, the stage carrying the senator & the Captain is held up, leaving them to walk to Laredo.  Just as they arrive in town, the Brannigans accuse Chad of cheating and start a brawl which spills out of the saloon to the senator’s feet.  To make up for this bad first impression, the boys clean the barracks for inspection & arrange a special breakfast.   When the Brannigans disrupt the breakfast, the senator ends up with egg on his face, literally.  He storms out of Laredo threatening to cut Ranger funding.  The boys then come up with a truly stupid plan.  Reese hires a group of barflies to pose as the Davis gang to kidnap the senator so the Rangers can save him.  When a member of the real gang reports the plan to Tom Davis, he kidnaps the senator himself to discredit the Rangers.  Chad & Joe get the stuffing beaten out of them by the real gang because they think the fight will be a fake.  Although they rescue the senator in the end, the Captain discovers the plan & assigns them a lengthy list of onerous chores.

NiteOwl Review:  Although there are a few nice moments in this episode, the plan they carry out is so obviously dangerous and asinine, the necessary suspension of disbelief is an onerous task.  Not in our top ten.