Meet the Candidate Whose Name Is Trouble on the Stump
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David Greedy/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — “Iowa is not going to vote for Bill Braley and vote for him a third time, that’s for sure,” Mitt Romney proclaimed at a campaign event Sunday.
He’s right: Iowa won’t vote for Bill Braley this November. They might vote for Bruce Braley, Iowa’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee. Trouble is, nobody can seem to get his name right.
Romney, who was stumping for Braley’s Republican opponent, Joni Ernst, isn’t the first surrogate to flub Braley’s name.
Surrounded by signs touting “Bruce Braley for U.S. Senate,” first lady Michelle Obama mistakenly referred to the candidate as “Bruce Bailey” at least seven times last Friday.
“I am beyond thrilled to be here today to support your next senator from Iowa, our friend, Bruce Bailey,” she told a crowd of more than 1,200.
“You can go to Vote.BruceBailey.com. That’s Vote.BruceBailey.com,” Mrs. Obama said, before the crowd finally corrected her.
“Braley! What did I say?” she said with a laugh. “I’m losing it. I’m getting old. I’ve been traveling too much.”
The first lady also mistakenly referred to Braley as a Marine Corps veteran.
The Ernst campaign pounced, snapping up a variant of the website Mrs. Obama mentioned: www.votebrucebailey.com now redirects to Ernst’s website.
Last month, Bill Clinton also misstated Braley’s last name, calling him “Bruce Bailey” at a steak fry thrown by retiring Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.
“You know what you ought to do to honor the Harkin legacy, and that is to elect Bruce Bailey,” the former president said.
Both the Braley campaign and the Iowa Democratic Party declined to comment.
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