The Washington Times reports on “drama and intrigue” in NC’s CD-8:
A union-backed effort to start a third party in the state to punish conservative Democrats has stalled, but Wendell Fant, an Iraq War veteran and former member of Mr. Kissell’s staff, is being wooed by the state’s labor movement who want to back his independent run for the seat . . .
Mr. Fant may be getting support from North Carolina First, an alliance of the Service Employees International Union and local affiliate State Employees Association of North Carolina. The union groups originally announced plans to form a third party to challenge three House Democrats who opposed President Obama’s health care law – Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Mr. Kissell.
But organizers of the proposed North Carolina First party failed to collect roughly 85,000 signatures by May 17 needed to establish a new political party. Still, the campaign has not given up on recruiting independent candidates to take on targeted incumbents.
North Carolina First must collect about 17,000 signatures by June 25 to put an independent candidate on the November ballot.
The most bizarre details reported in this race deal with Republican candidate Tim D’Annunzio, who won the primary, but not by a large enough margin to avoid a runoff election:
Mr. D’Annunzio’s wife said in 1995 that he had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile-high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona.
A doctor’s evaluation the following month said Mr. D’Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple of times as a teenager.Mr. D’Annunzio, who outpolled Mr. Johnson in the primary but did not reach the threshold to avoid a runoff, responded Wednesday by canceling a previously scheduled debate with his Republican rival.