And it’s an evil twin who apparently answers Jerry Cannon’s cell phone. Confused? Yeah, well, so is everybody else:

Something funny seems to be going on in a Michigan congressional race. Either a Democratic candidate with national-party backing, challenging Republican incumbent Dan Benishek, has an impersonator with access to his cell phone, or his campaign is pressuring a local paper to edit his quotes.

NRO goes onto say “It’s very weird.” And it is. Basically, a reporter interviewed the likely Democratic candidate against Benishek and was given a number to call if he had any further questions or needed a clarification. Perfectly normal, as was the reporter requesting a clarification on Cannon’s views on Obamacare, as it didn’t come up in the interview*. But when the reporter asked Cannon, Cannon/his impersonator replied “I don’t like Obamacare. It’s been a disaster for me. I want to go back to the way it was before.”

:pause:

This is a perfectly rational sentiment; alas, it is one that you might expect to hear from the Republican candidate, not the Democratic one.

As you might imagine, hi-jinks then ensued. The Cannon campaign is claiming that in between the time between the first interview and the follow-up call (one day) Cannon’s cell phone was turned off and the number reassigned to a person (presumably a Republican or a practical joker) who sounded just like Jerry Cannon. The paper (either colluding with the campaign or throwing up their hands, depending on how you feel about local media**) replaced the story with one where the Cannon campaign’s claim of a doppelganger was noted without editorial comment. And so here we are.

Look, I’m not going to pretend that I believe the Democrats on this; it’s enough of a concession that I’ll admit that their story does not require a handy violation of the laws of physics in order to operate. And the Democrats have no reason to demand that I have to believe them, either, given that it’d still be an absurd story even if it was true. I will, however, note that the DCCC seems to yet again have backed the wrong horse in this race; they’ve picked one that shies at the first sign of the unexpected. So, um, thanks for that? I always appreciate it when people make my life easier.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Dan Benishek’s campaign website is here.

*This is not necessarily nefarious: even with notes I sometimes forget to ask a specific question in an interview. It happens. Note that the reporter did call Jeff Cannon later to get his views.

**They’re usually fairer than the national ones.