On Thursday, the news media was full of stories that talked about Clay Aiken, his campaign for the U.S. House of Representative, and his opponent, Renee Ellmers.

The Stanly News and Press : Aiken Campaigns in Asheboro

by Larry Penkava

Clay Aiken slipped into an Asheboro restaurant virtually unnoticed while campaigning in the city last Thursday.

The former American Idol runner-up who is running as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers for the District 2 Congressional seat, took time before his food arrived to talk about his campaign and what he hopes to accomplish if elected.

“It’s going well,” Aiken said. “I’ve got an opponent who is tone deaf.”

He then referred to an Ellmers quote from a recent panel discussion about how Republicans should reach out to women: “Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level,” and that male Republicans need to “bring it down to a woman’s level.”

“We’ve not done a good job reaching out in either party,” Aiken said. “People are tired of politicians going to Washington” for personal reasons. “I’m going because I see a lot of people ignored — everybody in the Second District is ignored.”…

…“People who have been in politics for years are frustrated … that they can’t get anything done,” he said. “When I was growing up, that’s how things were done. (President Bill) Clinton and (Speaker of the House Newt) Gingrich didn’t get along but they worked together to balance the budget.”

Aiken said he thinks people, including Republicans, are tired of Congress not doing anything. “You can’t cater to (House Speaker) John Boehner and expect to get things done for Asheboro,” he said. “Ellmers is not doing what she’s supposed to be doing.

“The same goes for me,” he said. “If in two years I’m not doing what I’m supposed to, get rid of me.”

You can read the entire article at STANLYNEWS

The following message and pictures was posted at Clay For North Carolina’s Facebook Page:

The next picture was on Team Clay’s Instagram

A big Thank You to all who are donating their time to help Clay and his campaign.  

They do it because they believe in Clay and know that he will make a wonderful Representative!

timesunion.com: Renee Ellmers v. Clay Aiken

by Roger Green

Earlier this month, reporter Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner wrote “an article about the GOP’s poor messaging on the ‘war on women’ narrative. I posted some comments from Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., who said GOP men need to bring their messages ‘down to a woman’s level.’

“Ellmers called me a ‘liberal woman reporter’ and said I had taken her quote ‘completely out of context.’

“Below are her full comments from the event…, along with the audio of her segment. I have bolded the comments I used in my original post.” Having looked at the link, I feel Ellmers was treated fairly.

This story is still interesting to me because:
1) it IS the GOP war on women, being propagated by a woman
2) it is a classic “blame the press” ploy, which might work on a few, but not to anyone who bothered to read the transcript

Let me express my inherent bias here: all things being equal – and all things are NEVER equal, I’d be inclined to support a female candidate over a male candidate. In this case, though, if I were able to vote in the Congressional race for North Carolina’s Second District, I would support the male candidate.

That guy, BTW, is Clay Aiken, best known to me as the second-place contestant on an early season of American Idol; we even own one of his albums. You may have also seen him – I did not – on Celebrity Apprentice, where, I am told, he presented himself well….

….It’ll be interesting to see what type of representative NC-2 wants, a two-term woman who appears to be over her head in Congress, or an openly gay man with a bit of entertainment fame. Last time out Ellmers won with 56% of the vote. As noted, my rooting interests are with the singer.

You can read the entire article at TIMESUNION  

The article does have a picture of Clay included in it, but I have chosen a different one to post.

HuffPost Politics – The Blog: Déjà Vu All Over Again: From Akin to Ellmers to Aiken

The following are a few quotes from the article:

… North Carolina Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, who is running against Clay Aiken this November, urged the Republican Party, especially men in the party, to bring policy discussion “down to a woman’s level.”…

…Clearly, Ellmers hasn’t been paying attention to the negative reactions other politicians have incurred when they trivialized rape and reinforced gender stereotypes? Is she so naïve to believe that just because she was talking at a Republican gathering the Internet wouldn’t let the world in on her statements? Doesn’t she know there are women astronauts now and cabinet members, that women run Fortune 500 companies, that, in fact, women are presidents in a number of countries… maybe our own before too long. Not that we don’t have a long way to go before full equality…

…As my friend Gloria Steinem wisely put it, “If Clay Aiken said women can’t read pie charts, it might lose him the election. It should lose it for Renee Ellmers, too.”…

You can read the entire article at HUFFPOST

And…just a reminder… On July 30th, a really fun event is planned to help Clay and his campaign raise money.

Please pass the word.  It would be wonderful to sell out the event!!

I heard a recording of the Red CLAY Ramblers a few days ago and they were fabulous!!

Thank you again for your support of CANN!