Delaware’s Tea Party darling and former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has declined an invitation to join the next cast of “Dancing with the Stars.” In an official statement on her ChristinePAC website, O’Donnell said she would have joined the cast if she weren’t writing a book about the 2010 election cycle and in the midst of getting her new Political Action Committee (PAC) off the ground.
“I’m honored to have been invited to participate in one of the few uplifting TV shows out there,” O’Donnell said. “The physical challenge made it all the more appealing. Meeting challenges head-on makes us stronger. Yet, for now, I have another challenge before me; to complete a book that tells the story of the 2010 election cycle with the dignity and respect it deserves.”
O’Donnell said her book will “serve as a clarion call” to her “fellow citizen activists by taking the reader beyond petitions and protests and articulating not just what we should do, but why we must do it.” O’Donnell lost to now-Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, in the 2010 general election after defeating then-Rep. Mike Castle, Delaware Republican, in an surprise upset in the GOP primary.
“Many referred to the 2010 elections, and all the activity leading up to them, as the start of the Second American Revolution,” O’Donnell said. “This is because so many everyday Americans found themselves engaged in the civic process for the very first time. It’s humbling to have an opportunity to write a book that tells their story.”
The show has had political figures compete previously, with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin being the most recent. O’Donnell said if it weren’t for her book and PAC, she’d be on stage competing with the best of them.
“My goal is for the book and the new PAC I’m starting to serve as resources to activate and motivate those in this middle-class movement who worked so hard to launch the new revolution,” she said. “If either of these projects were further along, I would be lacing up my dancing shoes right now.”