The 2010 midterms should go down as the election that brought the fringe to the fore and gave an angry nation an Aqua Buddha and the “Rent Is Too Damn High” political party.
With just over a week to go, the real race is on for the season’s strangest election vignette.
Contenders include Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell’s musings on witchcraft and masturbation, New York Republican Carl Paladino brawling with a journalist, and a late entrant to the field, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defending his “manhood” on cable.
“People in Nevada know me. From the street to the ring to the Senate chambers, I’ve never had to prove my manhood to anyone,” Reid told MSNBC.
Last week, a Republican House candidate from Dallas suggested on television that an armed overthrow of the government shouldn’t be ruled out. He was not the first to do so.
“Our nation was founded on violence,” Stephen Broden, a Dallas minister, told WFAA-TV. “The option is on the table.”
Sharron Angle, Reid’s Tea Party-backed opponent in Nevada, earlier called for “Second Amendment remedies” to deal with Congress, adding “the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” She didn’t mean on a date.
“Americans are deeply unhappy about this economy and when people are unhappy, they are willing to roll the dice and sometimes vote for people who are just loopy, because the feeling is let’s stick it to the system,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
In Ohio, Republican House candidate Rich Iott had to answer for dressing like a Nazi. Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes suggested a municipal bicycle-sharing program was part of a larger United Nations plot against America.
“It’s definitely more nuts this year,” said Cindy Rugeley, a political scientist at Texas Tech University. “People are so mad, they are just picking the candidate that is not the common denominator and putting them on the ballot.”
Jack Conway, a Kentucky Democrat running for Senate, ran an ad against Republican Rand Paul citing allegations from Rand’s college days that he tied up a female classmate and ordered her to smoke pot and worship the “Aqua Buddha.”
“Have you no decency?” an irate Rand asked Conway when the two met soon after for a debate. The incident electrified the Senate race — and bought the trailing Conway a few extra percentage points.
It was revealed last week that Jimmy McMillan, an eccentric New York gubernatorial candidate who claimed to be from the “Rent Is Too Damn High” party, is actually a Democrat who doesn’t pay rent under a special deal with his landlord, according to NY1.
Also in New York, Republican gubernatorial nominee Paladino sent racist and pornographic e-mails to friends and reporters, and accused Democratic opponent Andrew Cuomo of cheating on his ex-wife with “paramours.”
Challenged by a journalist to substantiate the claims, Paladino lashed back saying, “I’ll take you out, buddy.”
He was angry over press coverage of his former mistress and their love child.
