Fla. House hopeful challenges Obama to hoops contest

Florida House candidate Curt Clawson, a former Purdue basketball star who played on the university’s 1984 Big Ten Championship team, is challenging President Obama to a hoops contest in a new ad.

Clawson (R), who’s running in the special election to replace resigned Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.), shoots free throws in the ad — and sinks every one.

{mosads}“I’m Curt Clawson. I’m challenging President Obama to a three-point contest. I wanna take on Obama in Congress, so why not start on the court?” he says.

He adds that “Obama’s been missing a lot of shots lately, and not just in basketball,” as clips play of Obama missing multiple free-throws.

Obama’s love of basketball as a stress-reliever is well-known, but his many misses on the court are well-documented. His skills drew scrutiny after a shootout during last year’s White House Easter Egg Roll where he sank only two out of 24 shots.

At the end of the ad, Clawson turns to the camera and asks: “My house or yours?”

The ad will get a big platform atypical for a House race: Clawson’s campaign is running it in the district during the Super Bowl, once before the game, twice during the game, and once during halftime, and will continue airing it for two weeks after that.

Clawson is facing one other Republican, former state Rep. Paige Kreegel, in the primary, though more are expected to announce bids in the coming weeks.

The race will be for the Republican nomination; Mitt Romney won Radel’s district in 2012 with more than 60 percent of the vote, and the seat hasn’t been held by a Democrat in decades.