Oh no not Salahi again

I thought maybe it was a joke: Style Weekly reported that none other than Tareq Salahi was jumping into the VA 7 race against Brat and Trammell. Salahi, you may remember, is the businessman and wanna-be politician most famous for crashing a White House dinner with his then-wife, reality star Michaele Salahi.

But no joke: Salahi has apparently gathered enough signatures and even gave himself some money from his failed gubernatorial campaign.

Just in case you're wondering: no, it doesn't appear that Salahi lives in the Virginia 7th. The Constitution requires residency in the STATE, but not necessarily the district. (The idea was low barriers to entry for the house closest to the people; one of the few times our founding fathers were friendly to anyone but elites.) Still, being called out for carpetbagging seems to be the least of Salahi's problems.

Salahi is, of course, not a serious threat to challenge Dave Brat or even Jack Trammell in the district. But his presence does threaten to turn the race from what some had hoped would be a high-minded exchange of ideas (ahem) into a circus. And it may make it harder for media to continue ignoring the weirdo pseudo-candidate Mike Dickinson.

For those looking for a serious alternative to the inter-collegiate #Brammell contest, however, you could do worse than James Carr, the libertarian candidate who has definitely made it onto the ballot. The Salahi news is a mixed bag for Carr - it might bring attention to candidates outside the two parties, but Carr may get lumped in with Salahi as non-serious challengers. Stay tuned.