It is Tuesday morning and Clay Aiken made a short visit to The Today Show this morning. Did you see him?
This quick visit has already sparked lots of articles about Clay and his win in the primary democratic election in North Carolina.
Today News – Clay Aiken, candidate: People need to ‘see me in a different light’
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Former “American Idol” contestant Clay Aiken, who narrowly won a Democratic primary election in North Carolina, agreed Tuesday that his celebrity status has been both a blessing and a curse to his congressional campaign.
“It’s both. We have to get people to see me in a different light,” he told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie. “It’s a blessing in the fact that it gets me in a room, but I have to overcome the fact that people see me in one way and not the other.”
Aiken was declared the Democratic winner last week in a three-way race, narrowly defeating his main rival, Keith Crisco. But the victory was marred after Crisco suffered a fall at his home and died.
Aiken is running in one of North Carolina’s most conservative districts and now faces off against incumbent Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, who mocked him earlier this year in a radio interview by saying he was only running because he was bored and his “performing career isn’t going so well.”
Aiken acknowledged that he continues to prove himself to voters.
“I’m not naïve to that fact that this is a challenge that I have to overcome,” he said. “It’s a mountain to climb but we’ve had quite a bit of success thus far in the past three months in climbing it.”….
You can read the entire article at TODAY The site also shared the video of the show:
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BroadwayWorld.com – Clay Aiken on New Political Career: ‘People Need to See Me in a Different Light’
Former “American Idol” contestant Clay Aiken, who recently won the Democratic primary election in North Carolina, stopped by this morning’s TODAY on NBC and shared that he believes his celebrity status has been both a blessing and a curse in his run for Congress.
“It’s both. We have to get people to see me in a different light,” he told TODAY‘s Savannah Guthrie. “It’s a blessing in the fact that it gets me in a room, but I have to overcome the fact that people see me in one way and not the other.”
Aiken was declared the Democratic winner last week in a close three-way race, ultimately defeating his main rival, Keith Crisco, who tragically suffered a fall at his home and died before the election results were announced.
About Clay Aiken:
Clay Aiken became a household name while appearing on the second season of American Idol, turning millions of viewers into instant fans. Following American Idol, his debut album Measure of a Manskyrocketed to multi-platinum status. Mr. Aiken has launched ten national concert tours, authored a New York Times best-selling memoir, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, and released several albums including, Merry Christmas with Love, A Thousand Different Ways and On My Way Here, all of which debuted in the top five on the Billboard chart. Mr. AiKen Starred in a televised Christmas special, A Clay Aiken Christmas and a live concert special in 2010 onPBS Tried & True Live! He has appeared on many popular television shows including Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva, Scrubs,30 Rock and Saturday Night Live.
A frequent talk show guest, particularly on The Tonight Show andJimmy Kimmel Live!, he recently competed in the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice. Mr. Aiken garnered broad critical acclaim for his Broadway debut as Sir Robin in the Tony Award winning production of Spamalot in 2008 and 2009.
You can see the entire article at BROADWAYWORLD
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USA TODAY Politics: Clay Aiken: Celebrity status is ‘mountain to climb’ in Congress race
Democrat Clay Aiken says his celebrity from American Idol is a double-edged sword as he runs for Congress in North Carolina.
“We have to get people to see me in a different light,” Aiken said Tuesday in an interview with NBC’s Today show, explaining how his fame from the TV show is both a blessing and a curse.
The former American Idol runner-up is back to campaigning, after hitting the “pause” button following the death of Democratic rival Keith Crisco. Crisco, a former North Carolina Commerce secretary who was trailing Aiken after primary voting, died the day before final election results in North Carolina’s 2nd District were reported.
When he travels the district, Aiken said he doesn’t hear as much about partisan politics from the people he meets. He’s also hoping a strong contingent of independent voters will help him in November.
Aiken acknowledged he has an uphill fight in the general election against GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers, in a district that Mitt Romney easily won in the 2012 presidential race and John McCain carried in 2008. Ellmers has taken a swipe at Aiken, saying he was “bored” with the status of his entertaining career and that’s why he’s running.
“I’m not naive to that fact that this is a challenge that I have to overcome,” Aiken said about proving himself as a candidate. “It’s a mountain to climb but we’ve had quite a bit of success thus far in the past three months climbing it.”
Asked whether American Idol or politics is harder, Aiken didn’t miss a beat with his response: “Politics.”
You can read this article at USATODAY
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CNN Politics –Aiken: People need ‘to see me in a different light’
Clay Aiken says his “American Idol” fame is both a blessing and a curse as he runs for Congress in his native North Carolina.
“It’s both. You know, you’ve got to get people to see me in a different light. Getting the opportunity to talk to people about the issues that are affecting them and talk about how I want to help people, gets people to see me in a different light. It’s a blessing in the fact that it gets me in the room, but I have to overcome the fact that people see me in one way and not the other,” Aiken said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.
Aiken is the Democratic nominee in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District. He’ll face off in November in an uphill fight against Republican Renee Elmers. The two-term incumbent representative earlier this year took a swipe at Aiken, saying that his performing career wasn’t going well and that he was bored.
Asked about those comments, Aiken said “of course. I’m not naive to the fact that this a challenge that I have to overcome. It’s a mountain to climb, but we’ve had quite a bit of success in the past three months in climbing it and we’ll continue to do that the next six.”….
You can read the entire article at CNN
There are so many other articles so check out Clay Aiken on Google. You will see some wonderful articles and some that have already twisted the news…ah…I guess it’s part of politics today!
Check back…I will add news as it becomes available!
It is amazing that Clay still gets so much press. I love it. He just was on the show for less than 5 minutes and the press is all over the place.
I am so proud to be a fan of Clay Aiken!!
I feel bad that he cannot really show himself to happy about his win. (because of Keith Crisco's death). He is kind of damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
I too am proud to be a "claymate"
For that 5 minute bit on NBC, he's already been slammed from the left and the right. One slight left slam does include the transcript, so it's useful. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2014/05… Washington Beacon completely distorts his statement on VA scandal to make it look as if he is uninformed. Boo!
Enjoying Political Clay very much. 😀 would love to see more interviews 🙂
Once again I am stunned at the people are ripping this interview apart!!! Clay SAID "I'm not going to comment on " because he WASN'T at the hearings to make an opinion. Of course some are saying he said he wasn't paying to much attention to it. Gay marriage?? He has already stated where he stands on this subject and will not be up to vote on this election. I am so frustrated by the media, I can barely watch it. Also I don't feel Savannah's questions were tough for Clay.