Political campaigns are gearing up for next year's elections. So, too, are political pranksters. As IPR'S Brian Mackey reports, Congressman Rodney Davis has lately found himself being shadowed by a giant duck.
Technically it's a woman in a duck suit.
"Uh, yes, it is very warm in the duck costume."
This is Nafia Khan. She and a handful of other activists are on the State Fairgrounds, holding signs that accuse Congressman Davis of "ducking" constituents. They say he's not holding any town hall meetings.
"(If) he wants to come back and report back to us what he's specifically doing in Congress, we'd love that, and we can engage with him further."
Davis is a Republican from Taylorville, and the duck protesters are backed by the national Democratic Congressional organization. A Davis spokesman dismisses it as "political funny season," and says the congressman has been meeting with constituents one-on-one. At a state Republican meeting in Springfield last week, he took the duck as a badge of honor.
"Who else brought protesters to this event today?"
Davis, in his first term in Congress, isn't only the target of Democratic operatives. He's also facing a primary challenge from lawyer and former Miss America Erika Harold.