MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010


KLMNO POLITICS THE NATION & The true story of one ‘Real World’ alum PENNSYLVANIA


Reality star, prosecutor and lumberjack hopes to serve in the House


by Krissah Thompson


chippewa falls, wis. — Sean Duffy is what happens when real- ity TV meets congressional politics in the north woods of Wisconsin. He is a lumberjack athlete who has been both a county district attor- ney and a star of MTV’s “Real World.” Now he is trying hard to become the next Scott Brown. Like Brown, the Republican who stunned Democrats last year by winning the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat in Massachu- setts, Duffy is an upstart conserva- tive. He is running for the House seat of retiring Rep. David R. Obey, held by the powerful liberal Demo- crat for 41 years. In his rural district, Duffy is be- coming a kind of celebrity candi- date. One woman, who recently came to hear Duffy’s stump speech and pose for a photo with him, gig- gled and said she had fixed her hair for the occasion. Others are just catching wind of the tree-climbing 38-year-old’s nightclubbing, woman-chasing antics on the 1997 Boston season of “The Real World.” There’s a vid- eo of Duffy on YouTube dancing on a pool table in boxer shorts while drinking beer. “I was young,” he explained to voters recently at Ojibwa Golf and Bowl, a Chippewa Falls hangout. “They edit in things. I didn’t have any kids yet. If you want to know my character, look at the kids I’ve raised. All I can do is tell you this is what I’ve done. This is where I’ve been. This is where I stand.” Duffy’s explanations have be- come more crucial lately as more eyes turn to his campaign. His chances of winning were rated close to zilch when he entered the race last year to challenge Obey. Now, as the anti-incumbent wave continues to fuel the midterm elections, he is considered a con- tender for the open seat. He has at- tracted the kind of big money and big-name endorsements from na-


Against big odds, Duffy had a ASHLAND DAILY PRESS


Sean Duffy, left, a conservative Republican running for Congress, displays his lumberjack skills on the campaign trail in Ashland, Wis.


tional GOP figures that he did not expect at the start of the race. Duffy is expected to win a pri-


mary in September against Dan Mielke, a farmer and self-declared “tea party” candidate who had pre- viously challenged Obey and lost. Mielke is trying to make hay of the wilder Duffy moments caught on tape by MTV, saying they reflect “Hollywood” values. But political observers predict that Duffy, who has raised more than $600,000, will emerge from the primary to challenge state Sen. Julie Lassa, the expected Democratic nominee. Duffy would rather not get into


the details of the reality show, say- ing it doesn’t reflect who he is now. But he admits that “The Real World” played an important role in his life. Through MTV he met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a conservative Latina from Arizona who appeared on the third season of the series, in San Francisco, in 1994. Their courtship and canoo- dling — during their time on MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars” — was captured on camera. They continued their minor ce-


lebrity status after the show, ap- pearing in “The Wedding Video,” a movie-length spoof of reality tele- vision produced by another “Real World” alum. Joining in the low- budget mockumentary about two men getting married was a spur- of-the-moment decision that Duffy


tells Wisconsin voters that he wouldn’t make today. Yet, the complications of a life lived in “reality” television has had more pluses than minuses for the aspiring congressman. Duffy was cast on MTV as the handsome Midwestern conservative in a di- verse household of young adults. The partying came with the terri- tory. So did a cachet that has helped bring Duffy the attention and support of the National Re- publican Congressional Commit- tee, which can hardly hide its glee at the fresh face. Duffy minimizes the effect that


“The Real World” has had on his political career. On the campaign trail, he plays up the outlines of his life now, which is much more se- date. He is a champion lumber- jack, and at one point he held the world-record time for pole climb- ing. He and Rachel, who has been a recurring guest host of “The View” and recently wrote a book about being a happy stay-at-home mom, have six children. In the be- ginning, the run for Congress was a protest against big government and Washington excesses, he said. “Most people told me I was cra-


zy,” said Duffy, a self-described “pro-life, pro-traditional-marriage, pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment” candidate in a district that Presi- dent Obama won by 14 points and that has consistently backed Obey.


few good turns — including lots of national ink when Sarah Palin en- dorsed him on the anniversary of the passage of the $787 billion fed- eral stimulus package, of which Obey was the lead author. The lumberjack looked prescient rath- er than crazy when Obey decided last month not to run for reelec- tion, saying he was “bone tired.” Now Duffy finds himself in a race rated by political arbiters as a toss- up. “With Obey in the race, he basi- cally had no chance,” said Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madi- son. Now, he added, Duffy “is run- ning in a middle-of-the road Dem- ocratic district, but he has a shot.” The nature of reality television, with cameras trained on its sub- jects 24 hours a day, breeds a com- fort with the spotlight that seems to aid Duffy, who is telegenic and rugged. His campaign material shows him in a flannel lumberjack shirt holding one of his daughters. Other reality-TV celebs have similarly taken their turn at cam- paigning this cycle. Kevin Powell — from the first “Real World,” in 1992 — has twice lost elections in New York’s 10th District and is running again this year. Will Mega of CBS’s “Big Brother” lost in the Democratic primary for a seat in Pennsylvania’s state House. Duffy’s campaign is focused on themes familiar among the cadre of novice Republican candidates running this year — fiscal con- servatism and a disdain for Wash- ington. “Right now our govern- ment owes $13 trillion in national debt,” Duffy told nine tavern and bar owners at a meeting in a smoky bar on the banks of Chippe- wa River. “That’s $40,000 for every man, woman and child.” In fact, he sounds a lot like Brown in Massachusetts, who had his own history of celebrity — pos- ing nude in Cosmopolitan maga- zine in his youth. Duffy is hoping his own risque flirtation with fame won’t hold him back. “I never thought I would run for Congress,” he said at the bowling alley. “If you look back at a certain reality TV show, you know that.” thompsonk@washpost.com


Man charged with killing 4 in rampage


A man who served prison time for a 1992 murder was charged Sunday with fatally stabbing four people, including a woman de- scribed as his former girlfriend. Police charged Michael Eric Ballard, 36, with four counts of homicide for Saturday’s rampage in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Northampton, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia. Police alleged that Ballard killed Denise Merhi, 39, her fa- ther and her grandfather, along with a neighbor who rushed over to help when he heard screams. Northampton County District


Attorney John Morganelli said he will seek the death penalty. Confidants of Merhi told the


Associated Press that she and Bal- lard dated briefly about two years ago. Ballard told police he “mur- dered [his] girlfriend and her family and then the neighbor,” ac- cording to court documents. Ballard pleaded guilty to third- degree murder in 1992 and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, according to court rec- ords in Lehigh County. Ballard, then 18, was accused of stabbing


DIGEST


Donald Richard in December 1991 in Richard’s Allentown apartment, according to the Morning Call of Allentown. Police named the other victims


as Merhi’s father, Dennis Marsh, 62; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh Jr.; and her neighbor Steven Zernhelt, 53. Merhi had two chil- dren, but neither was home dur- ing the attack.


Prince Harry splits with horse in midair: Britain’s Prince Harry, 25, took a tumble Sunday before his defeat in a New York polo match against the world’s best-known player, Nacho Figueras. The prince fell off his polo pony in the first half of the 3rd Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic on Gover- nor’s Island. But he had a smile on his face as he got up and con- tinued the contest, which Figue- ras’s Black Watch team won 6 to 5 in overtime. At first, the prince’s Black Rock foursome was ahead, with Harry scoring an early 2 points, despite his fall. “I think his horse got spooked, or some- thing,” Figueras told the Associat- ed Press, adding, “It was a very tight match — right till the end, we didn’t know who was going to win so it was very exciting to play.”


—From news services


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DAVID GOLDMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Britain’s Prince Harry falls off his horse during a polo match on Sunday in New York. The event was held to benefit African children.


LET’S PASS ENERGYON TO THE NEXT GENERATION.


LET’S GO. The Yoshida children have a lot of energy. But the country they’re growing up in doesn’t. Japan, like many other countries, needs a reliable source of energy. That’s why Shell is helping to deliver natural gas to more countries than any other energy company. Not just for tonight’s bowl of warming noodles, but for years to come, when the children may have children of their own. Let’s build a better energy future. Let’s go. www.shell.us/letsgo


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