When we last saw seven-term Congressman Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, he was helping a young man with a video camera understand that American voters must be prepared to explain themselves to elected officials before asking questions of them in public. The fact that he helped the young man understand this by jacking him up by the collar caused a certain amount of controversy, and Etheridge later apologized for the heavy-handed civics lesson. (Video of the incident, here.)
The tussle and ensuing bad press created an opportunity for Renee Ellmers, a nurse* from Dunn to become a townhall-protester-turned-competitive-candidate. There’s not much polling in the district, but a poll done in June showed Ellmers in a dead heat with Etheridge in the immediate aftermath of Etheridge’s run-in with the college student. (*This is corrected to reflect that Ellmers is a nurse, not a nurse-turned-doctor. I simply misread her bio. Her husband is a doctor.)
