Public service beckons people from all walks of life and that is a guiding principal of democracy. Adult film actress Stormy Daniels was considering a run for the Senate in Louisiana in 2009 after Republican incumbent David Vitter, a stanch defender of "family values," and a client of the infamous “D.C. Madam” in 2007 was caught in a prostitution ring. Then Stormy Daniels looked into entering the race against him. Bayou Brief:
Around February, speculation began circulating about the candidacy of Daniels, amid a “Draft Stormy” movement launched by a few overzealous political science students looking for an adult entertainer to run against Vitter. Their strategy was that Daniels’ mere presence in the race would draw more attention to the Senator’s extramarital activities.
Daniels flattered by the attention, began speaking publicly to reporters, while the Louisiana Democratic Party began publicly distancing themselves from the efforts. Daniels for her part, maintained that she wanted Hustler publisher Larry Flynt to manage her campaign.
Stormy Daniels was accused of creating a publicity stunt rather than making a political statement. Newsweek:
FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver declared her candidacy “something to keep an eye on,” but Daniels decided not to run, saying she had [like Governor Palin as she later compared herself to] "become a target of the cynical stalwarts of the status quo.”
“Simply because I did not fit in their mold of what an independent working woman should be, the media and political elite have sought to relegate my sense of civic responsibility to mere sideshow antics," she added. "They did this not simply for the sake of expediency but because to have a woman of my background challenge the core conscripts of our political and social culture is simply too much for a system that holds that only lawyers and insurance salesmen are qualified to lead.” [...]
Daniels also did not run from her time in porn while contemplating her candidacy, telling reporters her campaign slogan would be “Screwing People Honestly.”
Daniels had a platform back in the day and she went on tour in Louisiana and said she was serious about her run for the Senate. Washington Post:
“I’m not here to talk about my movies or my physical attributes or go on television and act like an air head,” Daniels told a New Orleans TV station. “I take my country and my government extremely seriously.”
Her platform promoted sexual health education, opposition to the Obama administration’s stimulus package, abolishing the federal income tax, and an end to the Iraq War. Vitter was also a major topic.
“I’m not one to judge someone’s sexual activity, but what annoys me is that he’s so hardcore ‘family values,’ and he puts his wife and kids out there, saying he’s a Christian family man. Then he’s caught up in a prostitution scandal. He’s a hypocrite,” Daniels told Marie Claire. “I have nothing to hide. A sex tape of me isn’t going to pop up and shame me. There are 150 of them at the video store.”
Daniels has no problem in the sex scandal area, but she had a scandal derail her bid for the Senate nonetheless. In July, 2009 she was arrested in Tampa, Florida for domestic abuse. She and her husband had a disagreement about how the laundry was done, which escalated when she found out various household bills remained unpaid and she struck her husband in the head with her hands. Charges were dropped and in early 2010, Daniels declared herself as a Republican candidate. In June, 2010 she dropped out of the race, saying that “Like Governor Palin, I have become a target of the cynical stalwarts of the status quo.”