Sao Paulo Voters Elect Clown to Equivalent of U.S. House of Representatives

In a bizarre turn of events, a clown will take office in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, similar to the United States House of Representatives, after winning over 1 million votes from citizens of Sao Paulo. The BBC reports that Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, known as Tiririca, or "Grumpy," won his office with help from social media sites like YouTube and Twitter. His memorable quotes, such as "It can't get any worse" and "What does a federal deputy do? Truly, I don't know. But vote for me and I will find out for you," hit home with voters already dissatisfied with corruption in Brazil.

American politics has also had its fair share of fringe candidates. In recent years, we've elected an actor and professional wrestler as governors, and another actor became president. Candidates have run for other offices promising to disband their office if elected. Others have had past, and potentially present, issues with drug abuse and crime. However, the top three fringe candidates in American politics would have to be: a socialist, Victor L. Berger; an insane asylum resident, Charles A. Boutelle; and a dead guy, Mel Carnahan.

Will the real socialist please stand up? According to the US Senate Historical Minutes, Victor Luitpold Berger was an organizer of the Socialist Party in America and won numerous local elections in Wisconsin before being elected to the United States House of Representatives as a representative of the Socialist Party in 1910. As the first elected congressional Socialist, he was already stirring up controversy in Congress, but one of his first acts was to introduce an amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Senate!

This amendment failed, but was indicative of the fervor that Socialists had for changing the status quo. After World War I, when he won office again in 1919, Congress refused to seat him, over his views that the United States should have stayed out of the war. He was found guilty of the Espionage Act and sentenced to 20 years in prison, although this was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1921. The Socialist Congressman, Victor Berger eventually won three additional terms in the United States House of Representatives.

You've got to be crazy to run for office. Charles A. Boutelle, a long-time United States Representative for Maine, was experiencing the effects of advanced aging. After serving 16 years in Congress, he took ill in early 1900 and was placed in psychiatric care in an insane asylum, History Buff writes, as was the practice in that day. Although reported to be unable to speak or think clearly, the Maine Republican Party nominated him to be on their ticket, and the people of Maine elected Boutelle to a ninth term in office by over 10,000 votes ahead of his Democratic rival.

Please, for the love of God, anyone but John Ashcroft! In 2000, Congress saw another fringe candidate win office. That year, Mel Carnahan, the Democratic governor of Missouri, entered the race for Missouri's Senate seat against incumbent Republican John Ashcroft. A few days prior to election day, Carnahan's plane crashed and he was killed. Because there was no time to replace him on the ballot, officials in the Democratic Party pressed on with his election and the Democratic governor of Missouri promised to appoint Mel's wife, Jean Carnahan, to his seat if Carnahan proved to be the victor in the race, says Matt Bai in the New York Times. He did, and Jean was appointed to his seat. Even death was no obstacle to winning an American election!

Outsiders, misfits, or fringe candidates - call them what you will, but they make for interesting anecdotes for American history, too!

Sources:

BBC News. (2010). "No Joke as Brazil Clown Tops Votes for Congress".

United States Senate. (2010). "House Member Introduces Resolution to Abolish the Senate".

History Buff. (2010). "Insane Man Elected to Congress".

Bai, Matt. (2002). "The Accidental Senator".