In the case of this episode life would imitate art as Jack Kelly would later serve a couple of terms as mayor of Huntington Beach, California.

Dick Wilson is best known as Mr. Whipple in the classic "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" commercials.

Cosgrove: Don't scoff, friend. The trust of the public is not to be taken lightly.
Bart: Just so long as the public isn't taken.

Bart: (about stopping the assassintion attempt) If I had stopped to think about it, I don't think I would have done it.

Bart: (to the undertaker about the dead assassin) Pretty sneaky way to shake up new business, Mr. Smythe.

Bart: (to the gamblers in the saloon) Looks like I'm never going to enjoy a game with you gentlemen.

Bart: I'm very flattered, Miss Greeley. Nonetheless, I do not choose to run.
Penelope: That remark will not go down in history.

Bart: I'm pretty good at spotting underhanded deals.

Bart: You mean I have to give up card playing?
Penelope: Well, of course not. There's always Solitaire and Old Maid.

Bart: (after Penelope takes away his cigar) That's an expensive, hand made Havana.
Penelope: That didn't seem to improve its smell.

Sheriff: Maverick, you turning in?
Bart: Yeah, unless you know where there's a floating tiddlywinks game.

Penelope: (to Bart) All right, so you were threatened. Are you going to let a little thing like that stand in the way of your civic duty?

Penelope: What about those men who fought for our freedom? Men like Nathan Hale.
Bart: You could think of a better example. They hanged him.

Nitpick: the female librarian tells Bart that she intends to vote for him in the upcoming election. At first glance, this appears to be a major blooper by the script writer because women were not given the vote across the entire United States until 1919 but in some states (primarily located in the West) women were allowed to vote.

The name of the political party on which Bart Maverick runs for the state senate in this episode is the Reform Party which is the same name as the party on whose ticket Ross Perot ran for president in 1996 and Pat Buchanan in 2000.

The People's Friend was probably Jack Kelly's best solo effort of the series If not the best it should at least rank in the top two or three. Kelly is at his best here when Bart is recruited by a pretty young damsel to take her father's place in a campaign for the state senate. There's only two problems: Bart's running on an anti-vice and anti-gambling ticket and there's an assassin out there trying to make sure that he loses the election. It all adds up to a helluva ride and a classic episode of a great series.