NC-02: It looks like we ARE getting our sing-off

Wow.  Here in the second district, our two big choices on the November ballot look like they’re going to be Thom Tillis or Kay Hagan AND Clay Aiken or Renee Ellmers.   Some *great* options there. Let’s see.  Do I want to be stabbed or shot? Do I want my feet OR my hands amputated? Hmmm ….

I don’t know about you, but just the thought of it all makes me want to go ahead and camp outside my polling place in anticipation of November.

Clay Aiken is running a great school board race.  We need to do more for the children.  We’ve predestined our kids and grandkids to a lifetime of unmanageable debt.  We’ve been dumping money into the social welfare state for half a century and things are getting worse.  How much money is enough? How much more needs to be squeezed out of us?

Democrats don’t realize it, but they peed away a great opportunity to snatch this district from the GOP.  Ellmers is a miserable shrew whose two re-nominations have really defied logic.  Avoid your constituents, curse at the ones who find you, stay away from your district, cheerlead for amnesty and raising the debt ceiling, make a fool out of yourself on a national radio show, try to sabotage the referendum on the state marriage amendment, and STILL get renominated twice by the GOP with nearly 60 percent of the vote!

EVERYONE knows Bob Etheridge’s famous video was the only thing that got her elected in 2010.

Keith Crisco — on the other hand — is a well-respected resident of Randolph County, a key pocket of votes in the district.  A registered Democrat, he founded a successful business and served as state commerce secretary.  He has supported plenty of local GOP candidates, and has been begged for years to switch parties.  Crisco could have peeled conservative voters in this district away from Ellmers.  Down the road, he could have finally been talked into switching over to the GOP.  

Following the returns for the GOP’s US Senate and US House district 2 primaries,  I was convinced election day was dominated by the uninformed.  Clay Aiken’s narrow win over Crisco confirmed that belief.  The archives of the tabloid media are full of stories about juvenile behavior and alleged raunchy gay sex-capades by Aiken.  How is THAT going to play among the church-going crowd that dominates this district? 

I am not a big fan of dipping into the gay area to criticize Aiken.  Debauchery is bad regardless of your orientation.  Bill Clinton, John Edwards and Ted Kennedy are all great examples of straight dirt-bags who didn’t earn my respect or vote. 

Clay doesn’t have much of a message.  He offers boiler-plate platitudes about taking care of “the children.”  I think he’s gotten this far due to his celebrity.  I’ll never forget an election day post from one of my Facebook friends who was ga-ga over the fact that she saw Clay at a convenience store in her neighborhood.  No mention of whether she went to vote or even knew he was on the ballot that day.  I overheard one low-info coworker telling me she was going to vote FOR Clay Aiken and NOT that “awful” Thom Tillis.  (I know, I know.  Different parties. Different races. But it proves a point.) 

Republicans tried the celebrity route in 1994 when they ran Richard Petty for secretary of state.  There was an initial buzz of excitement, but the Petty political phenomenon eventually flamed out.

Is Clay destined for the same fate?  Who knows.  But this campaign will be different from Petty’s 1994 run.  Clay will be facing an opponent whose behavior over the last four years has her almost begging to be sent home from DC.