Guy walks into the South Carolina state Demrat office, lays down a check for $10,400 to file for the senate primary, doesn’t campaign or anything — hell, he lives with his parents — and wins.

After which everyone learns he has a past:

South Carolina’s surprise Democratic nominee to challenge U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint is facing a pending felony charge.

Court records show 32-year-old Alvin Greene was arrested in November and charged with showing obscene Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student. The felony charge carries up to five years in prison.

Greene said he had no comment when asked about the charge Wednesday and hung up on a reporter.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you South Carolina: Just when you think they’ve exhausted their crazy, they just keep getting better.

Surprise SC Senate candidate has charge pending [AP]

This is Real Fishy [TPM]

Who Is Alvin Greene? [Mother Jones]

“Karenna Gore Schiff, the oldest daughter of former Vice President Al Gore and Tipper Gore, has separated from her husband, Dr. Andrew Schiff, after 13 years of marriage, two sources close to the former vice president tell CNN.”

While we’re drowning our sorrows over Orly’s loss in California, it turns out — there’s another:

The peculiar ideology of Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada, is perhaps no better illustrated than by her embrace of the patriot group Oath Keepers, whose membership of uniformed soldiers and police take an oath to refuse orders they see as unconstitutional — including enforcement of gun laws, violations of states’ sovereignty, and “any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.”

Read more »

On behalf of a nation of bloggers, thank you Flying Spag—

Hold on… What? Who?

Former NFL player Damon Dunn has won the Republican nomination for California secretary of state.

Dunn defeated Orange County lawyer Orly Taitz in Tuesday’s primary, and will face incumbent Democrat Debra Bowen in the general election in November.

Dunn is a self-described “recovering nonvoter” who hadn’t cast a ballot in an election until 2009. He had said his failure to vote would help him reach out to other nonvoters and inspire them to get involved.

Well, folks, this is what it’s come to: Any other year, we’d be creaming our jeans for a candidate like that.

Dunn to face Bowen for Calif secretary of state [AP/San Jose Mercury-News]

It’s a big Primary night across the country, with twelve states vying for Keith & Rachel’s attention, including Nevada (chickens!) and California (sheep!). We don’t think there will be any surprises, but just in case, we’re keeping our asses covered with this Open Thread/Shearing Party.

Your Closing Times nationwide:

7 pm: South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia
8 pm: Maine, New Jersey
8:30 pm: Arkansas
9 pm: North Dakota, South Dakota
10 pm: Iowa, Montana, Nevada
11 pm: California

We apologize for not having any drinking games to suggest, although Hemlock is always in style.

Read more »

“A decade ago, U.S. government regulators warned that a major deepwater oil spill could start with a fire on a drilling rig, prove hard to stop and cause extensive damage to fish eggs and wetlands because there were few good ways to capture oil underwater.” Oh, but that was Shell, not BP. And it was 2000, before Cheney. Never mind. [McClatchy]

It’s a new era in, um, target marketing:

At the Blackwater Pro Shops in Fayetteville, North Carolina and Salem, Connecticut, you can “purchase clothing and equipment emblazoned with the logo,” the Solider Systems blog explains. “If that doesn’t get your blood pumping you can also try out your new firearms at their indoor range.”

Customer tip: Avoid the Genius Bar.

Retail Guns-for-Hire: Blackwater Opens Storefronts [Wired]

Blackwater Pro Shop

Update: Next time you drop by the Blackwater Pro Shop, you might want to make an offer on Blackwater itself.

Sayonara: Blackwater puts itself up for sale [AP/Raw Story]