BUTLER TWP — The front counter and kitchen of Mac's Route 8 Cafe was bustling at 5 a.m. as voters piled into the business to catch a glimpse of the nationally-televised morning show “Fox & Friends.”

“It's exciting. It's nice to see these smiling faces so early in the morning,” said Donna Kuhns, the diner's manager.

Kuhns said the visit from “Fox & Friends,” with host Anna Kooiman at the helm of today's taping, brought well-known faces into the restaurant, where Fox News or CNN is usually on the television for customers.

Today the show wasn't just on the TV. Customers and waitresses stepped over cords and around camera equipment on their way to seats in Mac's dining room. A film crew decked out in backpacks of gear set up lighting and prepped scenes for filming — a job that seemed to take twice as long as the taped segments themselves. At one point the diner was rearranged to allow the show to film a roundtable discussion with voters about today's primary races.

Members of the show's crew said the Butler County taping was part of the network's team coverage of the Pennsylvania primary, with other crews spread out across the state in places the network believes will give viewers a representative, if small, view of how voters in the state are leaning.

Voters traveled from around the region to see the show's taping this morning with Christine Grenci of Pittsburgh and Justin Weigle of Harmony making the trip to Mac's for a front-row seat to a roundtable discussion with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler, Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson and a collection of voters and residents — nearly all of whom said they supported The Donald.

This morning's taping represents the home stretch for Kelly, who has been giving numerous interviews to television and radio shows in recent days on his opinions regarding the GOP's internal strife as well as Pennsylvania's primary rules. Kelly was expected to be back on a different Fox program this afternoon, but this time from Washington, D.C., where the House was scheduled to hold a series of votes.

A complete report appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.