I don’t know much but I do know this: This guy is now the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination.

Or he would be if not for the bit below about saving a dolphin, which is a little cuckish for modern Republican populists.

I love gimmicky political ads but I’ve seen enough of them by now to know that they usually mean the star is headed for defeat. You don’t need to do something bold to grab voters’ interest if you already have it, after all. Steve Ferrara has an impressive resume — not just a physician and a veteran but distinguished in both fields. He was an innovator in battlefield surgery and rose to become Chief Medical Officer of the Navy. And he loves his home state of Arizona, I assume, unlike the person who currently occupies the seat he’s running for.

If he were running in either of the last two midterms I think he’d be a favorite to win. Arizona’s Ninth District leans a bit left — it elected Kyrsten Sinema three times — but only a bit. His problem is that he’s running in 2018, when a blue wave is shaping up in the House, and he’s facing former Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton, a man who surely enjoys much higher name recognition than he does. (Hence the ad, the whole point of which is to introduce Ferrara and make his name stick in your brain.) Stanton won both of his mayoral elections easily and has something of a home-field advantage in that Arizona’s Ninth encompasses southern Phoenix.

Also, Ferrara’s persona also seems to be low-key: In August the Arizona Republic endorsed him in the Republican primary by noting that he “may not be the most charismatic candidate, but he has the temperament and seems reasonable enough to reach out to political opponents to get things done.” How do you counter perceptions that you’re a little dull? Why, with a STEVE FERRARA, AMERICAN BADASS ad, of course.

Long story short, he’s probably headed for defeat. No worries, though. It’ll give him more time to prepare for his successful 2024 presidential primary campaign.

Americans for Bad Asses in Congress with perhaps the most insane ad of the cycle as they seek to portray @steveferraramd as President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho pic.twitter.com/SCWbl1hn9V

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) October 12, 2018