Congressional candidate Jason Plummer, 30, has emerged as a credible Republican candidate in southwestern Illinois, and House Speaker is headlining a fundraiser for him tomorrow.
But Plummer has a goofier side, as evidenced by photos from his Facebook page that show him playing at being president in spaces that look like the Oval Office and on Air Force One.
The photos, sent to BuzzFeed by a Democratic source but no longer available on Plummer's Facebook, show Plummer striking a Nixon-esque pose on the steps of what looks to be Air Force One and pretending to talk on the phone in an office that looks like the Oval. The context of the photos wasn't immediately clear.
Plummer was the Republican nominee in 2010 for Illinois Lieutenant Governor, and is an executive at his family's lumber company. Plummer was criticized during his 2010 campaign for fluffing parts of his resume, like jobs with Sen. Peter Fitzgerald and the Heritage Foundation — both turned out to have been internships.
Boehner is expected to appear on behalf of Plummer at a fundraiser in Fairview Heights, Illinois on Monday morning.
A spokesman for Plummer's campaign didn't respond to a request for comment about the photos.
Update: Kenyon College student David McCabe notes that the photos look as though they were taken at the Reagan Library:
@RosieGray It's the Reagan Library.
@RosieGray It's the Reagan Library.-- David McCabe
@RosieGray The photos were likely taken there, I mean. I think it's the only place with an AF1 indoors and a fake Oval Office like that.
@RosieGray The photos were likely taken there, I mean. I think it's the only place with an AF1 indoors and a fake Oval Office like that.-- David McCabe
Update II, 12:10 a.m.: Philip Lasseigne, spokesman for Plummer's campaign, got back to explain the provenance of the photos: the 2008 Republican National Convention.
"Jason, along with thousands of visitors and volunteers, posed for photos with the various political backdrops at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis," Lasseigne said.