Just in case anyone still thinks otherwise: Clay Aiken was never a serious political candidate and never will be. It’s disappointing, too, because the guy in his YouTube campaign announcement video seemed really sincere. Aiken’s subsequent performance has to be a letdown for his supporters – not the diehard Claymates, but the serious folks who crave a new kind of politics that the Clay Aiken in the video seemed to offer.
Instead, it’s looking like the folks on Renee Ellmers’ communications team has had it right all along: his race was all about Clay Aiken, not the people of the 2nd district. While Aiken didn’t win, he got enough footage to produce a documentary mini-series about his race. This week, he went to promote it on the Howard Stern Show and said some rather unkind things about his former opponent. Among other things, he called Ellmers an “idiot” a “bitch”, a “condescending old snatch”, and added that “her self-esteem is just in the floor, under the floor.”
Now, to be fair, far worse things have been said about the congresswoman on the Daily Haymaker, but one wonders what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot and a Republican made such comments about a female Democrat. If I were Ellmers’ campaign team, I would be fundraising like mad off of Aiken’s comments, because she’s going to need it for the competitive GOP primary she’s going to face.
Aiken says he plans to run for political office again, but it’s hard to take him seriously. The whole Aiken for Congress thing was pretty odd from the start, actually. Why run in such a strongly Republican district to begin with? As a gay man? Perhaps Aiken is some kind of masochist (with his own self-esteem issues) who relishes being runner up, because it was clear from the beginning that he would come in second barring something extraordinary.
If Aiken is planning to run again, he’s hurt himself with his crass remarks about Ellmers. And he’ll face even greater skepticism in the future about how serious he is about getting elected. That’s the thing about celebrity candidates: they have to prove really, really hard that they’re not just doing it for a lark. Like Donald Trump before him, Clay Aiken has been completely discredited as a candidate for political office. It’s a shame. The guy in the announcement video looked like he had a lot of potential.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
Clay Aikin’s primary win was just another unfortunate consequence of the anti Amendment One, all consuming, effort. The Rs played us. The people of NC are most concerned about jobs. Kieth Crisco, with his history of economic development efforts was exactly the right candidate. The Democratic Party should be ashamed of itself for letting this travisty happen. I sincerely believe that Kieth had state wide, cross-party support, and would have replaced Ms Elmers.
Don’t fault the man for running. More choices (candidates) should lead to better government. Running for office is possibly the most effective way for a person to improve government. Even if the candidate loses, he or she has forced the incumbent to focus on the constituents & act in a way that is expected to be seen with approval.
What if a candidate came out swinging like that from the start? Any chance it’d work, if also backed up by a lot of great policy and a warm heart and good manners shown in all other facets of the election…like to the constituents?
Editor of this blog, Thomas Mills, was one of the debate advisers in The Runner Up, Clay Aiken’s docuseries on Esquire. hmmmmmmm. Interesting.
He did have good points on environment when I heard him speak.
After having went through the campaign with Clay and Renee and sitting in the same debates. His remarks are not far off the mark. To be honest you really didn’t follow the race very well did you? Having seen Mr Etheridge set up by the Brietbart crew and Renees inability to stay the hell off the airwaves and taking credit for all the daily happening in DC I am not impressed.She has still not found an issue to take a stand on.Until Clay ran we didn’t know what Renee looked like. We wanted to be sure she had a copy of Google maps to find the city of Sanford.She only lives 30 miles from here and to the best of my knowledge had never been here. I wasn’t really taken with your aricle.
I really disagree although I am not a resident of the district for this office up for “grabs.”
I do think Aikens was serious and is serious. Sorry he lowered himself with street language in regards to his former opponent. Such happens with many and should not be repeated.
So what if it is a conservative district, being gay is not a factor. Perhaps what someone mentioned is that he needs a stronger support team.
I think he would be an improvement in representation for the district and would not be beholden to a certain click.
How dare a gay man think he can run for office in a conservative county!
Perhaps his comments were unprofessional and misguided if he wants to run again, but Ellmers is an idiot, so he wasn’t incorrect there.
Astonishingly enough, I’m not a regular reader of the “Haymaker.” What do they say that’s worse than “condescending snatch”? It’d have to be pretty extreme…but I wouldn’t put it past them…
I’ll just say to Not Serious that I don’t take you seriously and agree with the George Fisher comment above. I especially love….”But, for Renee it took her two years to figure out Ft. Bragg was part of her district. Bless her heart.”
Clay’s campaign was a disaster because it was run by a DCCC kid who used to work on a Senate subcommittee who – when she got to NC – had a hard time fumbling with her GPS. If he had stuck with a traditional NC narrative styled campaign he would have done far better. But, for Renee, it took her two years to figure out Ft. Bragg was part of her district. Bless her heart.