Singer Clay Aiken launches bid for Congress
Clay Aiken formally declared his bid for Congress, setting aside the singing career he launched on TV's American Idol to run as a Democrat for a North Carolina seat now held by a Republican.
In a video posted on You Tube, Aiken alluded to the "golden ticket" that got punched when he was the 2003 runner up on the reality singing show. He stressed his upbringing by a single mom and his days as a special education teacher in explaining that he wants to serve in Congress for people who don't have a voice.
"I'm not a politician. I don't ever want to be one, but I do want to help bring back — at least to my corner of North Carolina — the idea someone can go to Washington to represent all the people, whether they voted for you or not," Aiken said.
He is aiming to take on Rep. Renee Ellmers, chairwoman of the Republican Women's Policy Committee, who won a seat long held by a Democrat in 2010. In a radio interview last week, Ellmers dismissed Aiken's candidacy by noting, "As we know, he doesn't always fare that well. He was runner up."
Aiken, 35, will face at least two candidates in the Democratic primary including Keith Crisco, a former state Commerce Secretary.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/02/05/clay-aiken-congress-north-carolina-ellmers/5220477/
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Aiken, 35, says in a video posted by the Raleigh News & Observer that Washington “is dysfunctional.” Too many people, he says, go to Washington where they let the city and politics change them....
But, Ellmers’ campaign staff are already on the attack. In a statement, the campaign linked Aiken to “San Francisco” and said Ellmers, not Aiken, would be “fighting for families.”
“It speaks volumes to the state of the N.C. Democratic Party that the primary is shaping up to be a choice between the failed Perdue Administration’s Keith Crisco, a lawyer who doesn’t even live in the district, an activist who’s (sic) own party rejected her in the last democrat primary – and Aiken, a performer whose political views more closely resemble those of San Francisco than Sanford,” Ellmers spokeswoman Jessica Wood wrote in an email. “Renee best represents the values of the voters in the 2nd District and remains focused on fighting for their families.”
Aiken is concerned about rapid gentrification of neighborhoods by tech workers who commute to Silicon Valley?
Oh yes, I once had the opportunity to introduce him when he gave the keynote address at a disability conference in Honolulu a few years ago. He rocked the house!
