The Curse Of Rand Paul: Christine O’Donnell Cancels Appearances On Sunday News Shows

Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has made a splash on the national political scene mostly because of a series of hilarious decades-old television appearances about her private life, with little help from the actual Christine O’Donnell, in 2010. Despite her relatively tame appearances on mostly every major morning news program (except Morning Joe), she has canceled her Sunday show appearances this week. Let the speculation begin.

The first news to break was of O’Donnell canceling her appearance on Face the Nation, which Politico suggests may have something to do with “extreme comments she has made in the past about issues ranging from condom usage to human brains being inserted into mice.” Her campaign has, however, suggested that she reschedule, not that she cancel altogether. Then there is the fact that she canceled on Fox News Sunday, also, which many predict would be much safer territory for a Tea Party candidate. And a dejected-sounding Greta van Susteren writes on her blog that O’Donnell’s campaign canceled on her, too! She considers it an overbooking issue: “I assumed it was because so many news outlets were there to try and get an interview and that she did not have time for everybody and she did not want to alienate any news organization by giving only one interview.”

Is this a Rand Paul-esque journalistic shutdown on the part of her campaign? Seems unlikely, as there was no watershed moment on Maddow or particularly outstanding comment that would have done it (though it’s hard for a comment to stand out in this pool). Instead, it seems a simple case of overbooking and, perhaps, exhaustion. Little more than a week ago, did anyone really know who Christine O’Donnell was, or cared? No, Bill Maher doesn’t count. That type of jarring life change can tire any candidate, and with the awareness that she now has the national spotlight on her, the team probably felt it was a good time to reconvene and plan for the next stage of the campaign.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.