If I live to be 100, I don't think I will ever see such a promising congressional candidate screw up so badly on such a simple task. Wilson's a freaking state senator, and he can't get 50 valid signatures from residents of the district? All he had to do was talk to a Steubenville union leader and get 500 signatures by the next day; even if 90% of them were illegal he'd still get the 50 he needed.
As I posted last week, Wilson can either run as a write-in in the RAT primary or as an independent in the general. If he runs as an independent, it will ensure a GOP victory in a district that gave President Bush 51%, since even if the Democrat primary winner drops out he'll still get like 10% from stupid voters due to the D next to his name. So Wilson will probably run as a write-in in the RAT primary. While winning a primary as a write-in is not impossible (especially with an easy name to spell and remember such as Charlie Wilson and with such lackluster opponents), Wilson will have to spend quite a bit of time and money on a nomination that everyone thought he had sewn up. All I know is, what looked like a 50-50 chance at a GOP pickup now looks like a 75-25 chance, since if either of the two nobodies running in the RAT primary wins, he'll lose in the general.
Oh, and wouldn't it be sweet if the incompetent Wilson forgets to tell the election board that he will be running as a write-in under the names Charles Wilson *and* Charlie Wilson and thus Charles Wilson finishes second, followed by Charlie Wilson? Wilson would sue saying that Charles Wilson and Charlie Wilson are one and the same, and the GOP would find some other guy named Charlie Wilson saying that he's the real Charlie Wilson, and even if Wilson ends up winning in court he'd be meat in the general election for being such an ass.
"If I live to be 100, I don't think I will ever see such a promising congressional candidate screw up so badly on such a simple task."
Nobody remembers this now, but in 1994, Indiana state Auditor Ann Devore was a strong candidate for Congress. But she forgot to turn in the proper paperwork, even though her own office was in the same hallway as the Secretary of State's office.
But this comes very close.
This is terrific stuff. How can you possibly f--- up getting just 50 signatures????