On Thursday, September 18th, The Washington Post published an exciting article about Clay Aiken and his campaign for Congress.

The following are just a few paragraphs from this interesting article.  To read the entire article, visit POST

The Washington Post – ‘American Idol’ made Clay Aiken a star. But he knows it won’t make him a congressman.

By Ben Terris

LILLINGTON, N.C. — Clay Aiken was warned not to go into the pig barn.

“You won’t be able to get the stench off of you,” advised the farmer as the former “American Idol” runner-up squelched through the mud.

But Aiken, now a Democratic congressional candidate, was resolute. Earlier this year, he made the decision to trade whatever glamour remained from his singing days for the town halls and farm tours of the campaign trail.

Nearing the barn, Aiken gently kicks dirt off his laceless wingtips. “Oh, I’m smelling it now,” he says….

….After coming in second on two reality shows, Aiken, now 35, likes to say the third time’s the charm. But this contest may be the most difficult of the three. The 2nd District of North Carolina is an amorphous, gerrymandered blob of mostly Republican voters west of Raleigh that gave just 41 percent of the vote to President Obama in 2012. By all accounts, Aiken’s got an uphill climb.

The challenge is to figure out the best way to harness his famous name while also finding a way to be taken seriously as a congressional candidate. One of the great ironies in the life of Clay Aiken is that when he first auditioned for “American Idol,” the judges weren’t sure about sending him through because the beanpole with Coke-bottle glasses didn’t look like a pop star. And now that he’s running for Congress, he has to deal with the fact that for many people, a pop star is all they’ll ever see…

I hope you will read the entire article.  It includes 15 wonderful pictures of Clay on the road.

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You will notice that I have NO pictures or graphics.  Here I am in Raleigh and my photobucket account is not working.  I saved some great pictures today, but I can’t get them up.  I am so sorry!  I will contact photobucket tomorrow and find out what is going on!!

I hope you will check in later to see if I posted them!!