Considering Maher’s rhetoric this will probably help their campaigns.
Via Politico:
Liberal comic Bill Maher revealed Friday that the two congressman first nominated “by popular demand” for his “Flip a District” campaign are Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas).
Maher, who announced the first picks Friday during his HBO program “Real Time with Bill Maher,” has been urging viewers to take part in “Flip a District,” which aims to find the worst member of Congress. Viewers can nominate a representative, who is facing a competitive race, that they want to see voted out in 2014. For Maher’s part, once a lawmaker is picked, he’ll showcase examples of what he thinks is terrible work by the politician.
Grimm and Farenthold are the first two of Maher’s “Tweet Sixteen,” with 14 more lawmakers to be revealed. Displaying a NCAA-like bracket on the show, the eventual 16 nominations will be narrowed to one member, who Maher will then focus efforts on his or her race. Introducing Grimm and Farenthold, Maher called them the “first two public embarrassments.”
“He’s a guy who thrust himself into the running this year by threatening to throw a reporter off the balcony of the Capitol,” Maher said of Grimm. “He seems to be all of Staten Island distilled in one man and there is a lot of enthusiasm out there for making him go away.”