Vaughn Ward: the dumb and paste Republican candidate

What a week it has been for the Republican hopefuls backed by the ultimate Republican hopeful hereself, Sarah Palin. Palin's endorsement is seen as something of great value among Republicans. But the string of unfortunate events that occurred not long after Palin has given her support makes one wonder if there isn't a "reverse Midas touch" effect: that rather than turning things to gold, Palin instead turns everything she touches into ... well, the opposite of gold.

In the last seven days we've had Rand Paul, endorsed by Palin when other party elders were backing his rival. Paul won but his subsequent implosion in a TV interview put the party in a bad light. Then there's Nikki Haley in South Carolina, publically backed by Palin, who now has a local blogger claiming they had a "physical relationship".

And just last Friday Palin stopped off in beautiful Idaho to voice her support for red-meat Republican congressional hopeful Vaughn Ward. And guess what? Now we discover that not only is Ward remarkably stupid – he doesn't appear to know that Puerto Rico is part of the United States – but he's also being accused of plagiarism, with good reason. Which is a great combination.

How stupid? Dumb enough to appear to plagiarise the most famous speech in US politics in the last decade: Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic convention speech, the one that made his name and started him on the path to the White House. Steal from the best is an old motto, but try not to make it so obvious:

Here's what Obama said in 2004: "As we stand at the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us. If you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, then I have no doubt the people will rise up in November and this country will reclaim its promise and out of this long political darkness, a brighter day will come."

And here's what Ward said in January: "As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choice and meet the challenges that lay before us. If you feel the same urgency and the same passion that I do, then I have no doubt that our voices will be heard in November. And our country will reclaim its promise and out of this darkness, a better day is on the horizon."

At stake is the Republican nomination to take on the Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick, who is facing a tough fight to hold on to his congressional seat in a strongly Republican state.

Local newspaper the Spokesman-Review had earlier revealed that Ward's website had large sections cut and pasted from other Republican candidates' policies, such as:

Half of his statement on health care matches a Jan 7, 2009 Wall Street Journal article by US Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia. And his entire statement on "Definition of Marriage/Family Issues" matches a statement posted on the website of US Sen Jim DeMint, R-SC, with such minor changes as substituting "I believe" for "Sen Jim DeMint believes."

In response Ward fired his campaign manager and denied knowledge of his website content.

More recently, Ward found himself confused about the status of Puerto Rico, where his opponent Raul Labrador was born. During a debate between the two, Ward appeared to describe the territory – part of the US – as a "foreign nation".

Anyway, it's primary day in Idaho today, so we won't have long to wait to see if Ward is the Republican nominee.

• Idaho
• Richard Adams's blog
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• US midterm elections 2010
• Plagiarism
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