Randy Credico for Senate 2010

Sen. Schumer challenged by comedian, a former addict (AP)

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/sen_schumer_challenged_by_come.html
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has represented New York state for more than a decade with little serious opposition, but a funny thing happened on the way to Election Day this year: He picked up a challenge from a comedian activist.
Randy Credico’s race against the formidable incumbent is already drawing celebrity intrigue, with “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David offering support for his fellow comic.
“I thought he was joking,” David said. “Charles Schumer is not going to be that comfortable with this. … It’s not a stunt.”

Credico has also had support from comic actor Charles Grodin, and “Land of the Lost” co-creator Marty Krofft. Credico hopes to take on Schumer in a primary for the Democratic line, but he’s also talking to officials in the Libertarian party.
He wouldn’t be the first comic in the Senate: “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Al Franken, a Democrat, is the junior senator from Minnesota.

“He just believes in his own principles,” said Krofft, creator of shows including “H.R. Pufnstuf,” with his brother, Sid. “If he would win, he would do great, because he has a great sense of humor and does impersonations of every big politician in the country. Randy Credico could do a debate with Schumer without Schumer being there.”
The senator from Brooklyn is a policy wonk, known for his dark suits, serious demeanor and Sunday press conferences. Schumer prides himself on visiting all the state’s 62 counties every year and has been described as one of the hardest-working politicians in Washington — and one of the most media-savvy.

Credico is a recovered cocaine addict who mines his drug years for jokes. He’s an impressionist and a political activist with a shaky grasp on the present, so what he says is more stream of consciousness than gospel.

That’s why he’s running. He’s trying to finish his memoir but has years of blank periods from drug use. He figures, what better way to get dirt dredged up on you than run for office? “If I get close to winning this thing, I’ll find out,” he joked.

Despite Credico’s uncommon schtick, and voters hungry for something different as shown in January’s U.S. Senate win by a Republican in Massachusetts, Schumer doesn’t have much to fear. First elected in 1998, Schumer won with 71 percent of the vote in his last election and has $19.3 million in campaign funds at the ready, according to the latest campaign finance records. Credico has filed reports saying he has just $2,235 in his coffers, but he says he’s raised about $20,000 plus $4,000 of his own money since the end of the last reporting period.

Schumer is “a very strong candidate, and a very strong incumbent,” said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist and former dean at SUNY New Paltz.
Credico said he doesn’t mind if Schumer doesn’t take him seriously because that will allow him to quietly build support.
“I think he would be more than a breath of fresh air,” David said. “He would be a tornado. Of fresh air.”