Joel Demos is a Republican from Minnesota running a long-shot campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. House. To raise cash, Demos hand-pulled a monster truck. The truck's name? Jesus.
Demos, a bank employee from St. Louis Park, Minn., has little money and no political experience. But he does have access to some pro-quality video editing and the gumption to ask the question "Can I pull a monster truck on a flat grade in dress shoes?"
That's not just any monster truck giving Demos righteous pit sweat. That's the 1988 USA-1, one of the early machines that sparked the monster truck wave of the late 1980s. It was a stalwart of Chevy truck ads of the time and a key part of a TNT race series against Bigfoot, Clydesdale and other comers into the 1990s, where it spent a significant part of the track time downside-up.
But after 16 years of trying, owner Everett Jasmer decided to quit the racing scene in 2003 and put USA-1 up for sale. A year later, some friends gave him a different idea: Use USA-1 to promote Christianity instead of Chevy. USA-1 was repainted with Christian themes such as "America Needs The Spirit of Christ," and now crushes most of its undertire victims in sedate demonstrations around church parking lots. (You can see the flag-draped cross on the rear fender at the end of Demos' ad.)
Think a Christian-themed monster truck just happened to be the only one available for an ad against a Muslim Democrat? In his spare time, Demos is a Pentecostal pastor.
[votedemos.com, via Mediaite]