The soap opera continued this weekend in North Carolina, where a sexual harassment complaint forced the resignation of the state Democratic Party chair just three months before the national Democratic convention in Charlotte.  Or did it?  David Parker tried to resign, but the party that tried to push him out immediately suddenly won’t let him leave:

The embattled chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party says he’s staying on the job after party activists meeting in Greensboro rejected his resignation.

Chairman David Parker returned late Saturday to the state Executive Committee meeting, where he said he won’t leave. Earlier, he had submitted his resignation, but committee members voted 269-203 to reject it.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and others had wanted Parker to step down because they said he was a distraction in the wake of sexual harassment allegations at party headquarters. Parker’s allies didn’t want him to leave.

Just a few weeks ago, the DNC considered Parker a “man without a party,” the Daily Caller reports. They kicked Parker off of the convention committee and did their best to distance themselves from the chair that brought them to Charlotte in the first place.  Parker, as it turns out, has a party, and the DNC has considerable egg on its face:

With the acting chair repeatedly telling people they were “out of order,” people talking over one another, and people saying they were confused, multiple votes were taken on whether to reject or accept Parker’s resignation.

In the afternoon, the committee voted 269-203 to reject Parker’s resignation. About five hours after he resigned, Parker came back to reclaim his title.

“Well, you crazy people,” Parker told the crowd. “Is this the Democratic Party or what?”

Parker told reporters he had left Greensboro with his wife and was in Elon headed to Raleigh when he got the call that his resignation was not accepted. He said he turned around and went back to Greensboro where he told the Executive Committee he’ll stay on as chair.

Parker is optimistic that “this party will come back together within two or three days.” With unions balking at paying for a convention in a right-to-work state, a sexual harassment claim still in the works, and the DNC throwing Parker under the bus only to see him take charge all over again, I’d call that wishful thinking. Instead of putting this story to bed, the NC Democratic Party has just ensured that the soap opera runs all the way through to the convention, and probably to the election as well.

Pass the popcorn!