I'll take the bait

I have always considered politics to be part entertainment. We have seen actors elected to high office such as President Reagan or Governor Arnold and we have Lynn Swann trying to defeat Ed Rendell. But this guy is something else.

His name is Raj Peter Bhakta and he is running against Allyson Schwartz for the PA-13 Congressional seat. I had never heard of him until I started reading that he was going into politics after he got his 15 minutes of fame on The Apprentice.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa.-The bow-tied Bhakta was fired from the program after a home renovation project went awry. Now, two years later, he is trying his hand at politics, challenging Democratic freshman Rep. Allyson Schwartz for her seat in the state's 13th Congressional District.
Yet the cameras still follow him. A production crew is filming a documentary about his campaign.

I have never watched The Apprentice so I don't know what he did wrong plus he is trying to live down 2 DUI's and has no money. After leaving a very unflattering comment about him at LVDem's site (he ripped him a new one) I received a couple of emails from his campaign.

The first was a blogger outreach that was poorly worded and the second showed an ignorance of how things work.

The first:

Dear Gort,

I am contacting you on behalf of Raj Bhakta for Congress. I am writing because this campaign respects your impressive website which showcases your immense talent.

Blogs are underutilized in politics. This campaign is interested in developing a strong relationship with you, so that your blog may reach it's maximum potential. Please contact upon receiving this e-mail, as I would like future communication.

Sincerely,
Raymond Smalley
Raj for Congress
www.rajforcongress.com

Huh? If these guys have a way for this blog to "reach it's maximum potential" I'm all ears. I replied and asked what they ment by that and if I get an answer I'll let you know. The second one had a misleading title:

Allyson Schwartz's Indefensible Action

Republican congressional candidate Raj Bhakta is describing as "indefensible" the cut in funding Pennsylvania received from the federal government to address terrorism threats.

The state's share dropped from $81.9 million last year to $49 million this year. Philadelphia's portion went from $22.8 million to $19.5 million.
Bhakta, who is challenging Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.), noted that the Philadelphia area is large and has a busy port, military installations and a nuclear power plant. "If Philadelphia is not at risk, I don't know who is," he said.

What did Allyson Schwartz do to bring about this funding cut? The Department of Homeland Security decided how much the states and cities are going to get. A Republican administration interpreting a law passed by a Republican Congress is responsible for these funding cuts not Allyson Schwartz.

As usual, LV hits it on the head: "It only looks like this guy is in constant need of a TV audience and instead looks more like a TV show contestant than a legitimate candidate for Congress. He sounds like Rick Santorum... and we all know how much I don't like Rick Santorum."

I'm looking forward to the TV show. He wants to being rich and famous and maybe he will be. I've always said I'll take the rich and skip the famous.