Congressman Clay Aiken (D-NC)?

North Carolina's second congressional district was carefully drawn to skirt Fayetteville in the south and Greensboro in the north and to stay clear of Chapel Hill and Raleigh. Democrats live in those cities and Art Pope's bought and paid for legislature was determined to make sure this Piedmont swing district would be safe territory for a conservative Republican who could vote for any unpopular, crackpot legislation Pope deemed important without worrying about reelection. Drastically altered, it went from a Republican-leaning district Democrats could win (R+3) to a solidly red hellhole (R+10). Obama won the old 2nd in 2008 and reelected conservative Democrat Bob Etheridge. In 2010 the new boundaries kicked in and a right-wing Tea Party activist Renee Ellmers eked out a narrow win-- 49.5-48.7%. In 2012 Obama lost to Romney 58-41% and Ellmers was reelected against Democrat Stephen Wilkins 56-41%. Although he beat her in Wake (300 votes) and Hoke counties, the margins she ran up in deep red Randolph and Harnett counties and in the other Republican areas gerrymandered into the district were insurmountable.

You may have read that popular American Idol star, Clay Aiken, is one of three Democrats in a primary battle to take on Ellmers this year. He hasn't officially declared yet, but the Raleigh native has been widely reported to be running. Aiken, 35, is an openly gay dad-- with a birth-mother who used to work at my company. He released a multiplatinum debut album, Measure of a Man and several very popular Christmas records-- and hosted a televised TV special, A Clay Aiken Christmas. He has been active in the fight against school bullying.

His May primary opponents are former NC Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco and Durham attorney Houston Barnes. Self-identified Christian-conservatives have a cultural affinity to Aiken that could possibly prove key in an election and do for him what that kind of transpartisan identification did for Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ran for governor of solidly blue California. This morning, The Hill reported that "local Democrats aren't thrilled, unhappy that they'll now have a primary in the difficult-to-win district and concerned about voters taking Aiken seriously… 'I'm disappointed to see what's probably going to be a primary now in what's already a really tough, conservative seat,' said one. 'There's a candidate already in the race who has a very solid resume. But I guess we're going to hash it out with a primary now. We're not real thrilled.'" Yeah, democracy is tough. Ellmers, widely seen as a teabagger who joined forces with Boehner to betray the lunatics and fruitcakes who elected her in the first place, has a stiff primary from one of the lunatics and fruit cakes, Hate Talk Radio host Frank Roche.

The DCCC doesn't seem to have taken a position on the primary yet but are rumored to prefer the more conservative Crisco while being aware that it would take a candidate like Aiken to win a red seat like this one. We'll keep an eye on the race-- and see if cultural identity can overcome determined Republican gerrymandering.