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February 9, 2006Candidate Carr causing confusionHe was mistaken for a former congressmanTRAVERSE CITY - Historic train aficionado and former Traverse City congressional candidate Bob Carr has rattled Eastern Ohio's Democratic machine in his latest bid for office.On Feb. 2, a Youngstown newspaper, the Vindicator, quoted the head of the local Democratic Party and reported that former Michigan Congressman Bob Carr, a Democrat who represented the Lansing area for 18 years, was running for Congress. Carr ran for Congress as a Republican in Traverse City, but said he filed nominating petitions as a Democrat in Wellsville, Ohio, about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. "I never told anyone I was the former congressman," Carr said. "How they could come up with that theory is beyond me." The story was picked up by at least two Washington news services. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Carr, now a Washington lobbyist, was flooded with messages, he told Congressional Quarterly. Neither Carr was amused. "They ran that story without ever talking to me or asking me who I was," the Ohio Carr said. "The other Bob Carr lost his race for the U.S. Senate to Spencer Abraham, a Republican, in a Democratic state. That's not a Bob Carr I want to run around saying I was." The Ohio Carr said he's told people he won a federal election in Michigan and beat former Gov. John Engler's hand-picked candidate. Carr won the 1996 Republican Primary over Dean Altobelli for the 1st Congressional District in an upset over his well-funded opponent. With almost zero financial support from the Republican Party after his primary victory, Carr was crushed in the general election by incumbent Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee. It also became known during the campaign that Carr was being sued by a number of past business associates for unpaid bills and had filed for bankruptcy. Traverse City officials filed a lawsuit against Carr to remove a derelict train car. That case is pending. Ohio Democratic Party officials - who've endorsed local state Sen. Charlie Wilson in the Democratic primary - continue to accuse Carr of lying, a charge he rejects. "I was told by them not to get in the race, that they already hand-picked somebody," Carr said. "It sounds just like the Republicans in Michigan." Carr said Wilson thinks he is going to win easily. "I've heard that one before," he said.
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