# Clay Aiken's Campaign for North Carolina's Second Congressional District seat. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 13, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314 "2014-05-13T01:16:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/1 "2014-05-13T01:16:34Z")
Opponent dies while they were still counting the votes. That has to be a first. Aiken had a slim 369 vote lead. I would have expected a run off but the news hasn’t reported plans for one. Doesn’t matter now. Aiken still has a big battle against incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers. > **[Clay Aiken's Democratic rival dies suddenly](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/usanow/2014/05/12/clay-aiken-congress-democratic-rival-keith-crisco/9008951/)** > > Keith Crisco ran for the Democratic nomination against the "American Idol" singer. > [@](#): > > The entertainer led Crisco by 369 votes for the Democratic nod in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, but the race was too close to call and not finalized. The Democratic nominee will go on to face GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers in the fall. > > “He was a gentleman, a good and honorable man and an extraordinary public servant,” Aiken said in a statement. “I was honored to know him.” > > State elections officials have been counting all the absentee and provisional ballots from last week’s primary, and the nine counties in the district have until Tuesday to report their official canvass of votes. Brad Crone, a political strategist and longtime Crisco friend, told The News & Observer in Raleigh that Crisco was finalizing plans to concede to Aiken. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/2 "2014-05-13T01:38:22Z")
There’s already a related thread. All I can say is that I’ve met some Claymates and it wouldn’t surprise me if some were just crazy enough to want to make sure their candidate won. No, I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/3 "2014-05-13T02:02:39Z")
OTOH, I’ve seen some interviews with the candidate and found him much wiser, broader, and well-spoken than I expected, him being “show people.” But then I liked Gopher, for a Republican. Don’t know how nuts he is now, but in the 90s he didn’t piss me off much. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/4 "2014-05-22T00:16:25Z")
Well, isn’t Aiken actually an educator by training? He’s “school people” with a voice. I looked it up. Yeah, he worked in special education. ---
**Author:** ![MahFL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MahFL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MahFL)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/5 "2014-05-22T10:04:41Z")
People who do Special Ed deserve a medal, a lot of people get burnt out real quick doing that. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/6 "2014-05-22T11:40:42Z")
Aiken seems pretty shrewd. He knew his American Idol fame would last only so long. He released 6 albums. The first four did really well. The fifth slipped in the charts. The sixth tanked. He knew his 15 minutes of fame was jut about up. Time for a career change. He does seem to have a knack for politics. [Discography.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Aiken_discography#Albums) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/7 "2014-05-22T13:19:43Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Well, isn’t Aiken actually an educator by training? He’s “school people” with a voice. > > I looked it up. Yeah, he worked in special education. Og knows Congress could use some of **that!** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/8 "2014-05-22T13:22:54Z")
> [@MahFL](#): > > People who do Special Ed deserve a medal, a lot of people get burnt out real quick doing that. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/9 "2014-05-22T21:00:45Z")
I love teaching, and I know I sure couldn’t handle special ed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clay-aikens-campaign-for-north-carolinas-second-congressional-district-seat/688314/10 "2014-06-10T20:23:48Z")
As a Democrat, I wish him well, but… I dunno. It looks like he’s made of plastic.