Community | September 27, 2010 | 1 comment

From accused murderer to member of Congress? - War Room - Salon.com

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An ex-Marine who killed two unarmed Iraqis and embraces Islamophobia could wind up in Congress

In a race that has largely been flying under the national radar, a former Marine who killed two unarmed Iraqi prisoners in 2004 and who has made the threat of Islam and the "ground zero mosque" centerpieces of his campaign has a real shot at being elected to Congress.

Republican Ilario Pantano, 39, is taking on incumbent Mike McIntyre(http://www.mikeworksforme.com/), a seven-term conservative Democrat, in North Carolina's 7th District, which takes in the state's southeast corner. If Pantano wins, he would surely be one of the most compelling -- and right-wing -- members of Congress. He told Salon in an interview Friday, for example, that he welcomes the endorsement of the far-right blogger and anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller(http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zero_mosque_origin...).

Though there haven't been recent polls on the race, two local political analysts told Salon that Pantano has a real shot, and the National Republican Congressional Committee recently started buying ads(http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/09/nrcc-ads-bocher-and-mcintyre-t.htm...) in the race after naming Pantano one of its top-tier "Young Guns." While McIntyre has represented it since 1997, the 7th District actually voted for John McCain by 5 points in 2008.

Pantano's biography has made him an irresistible subject for newspaper and magazine profiles even before this campaign (see, for example, this New York magazine cover story(http://nymag.com/print/?/nymetro/news/people/features/11774/)) and would almost certainly make him a darling of the neoconservative wing of the GOP if he is elected.
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