Congressman Clay Aiken – what are the chances?

North Carolina is determined to make you look.

The state is not merely content to give observers whiplash by turning from a narrow vote for Barack Obama in 2008 to installing a Republican-controlled legislature in 2010 whose laws over the past year – on everything from voting restrictions to education cuts — have protesters marching.

Now a sprinkling of show business has added razzle-dazzle to the political mix.

Last week, the big news was a report that well-known 2003 “American Idol” runner-up and North Carolinian Clay Aiken, 35, is considering a run for  Congress. Compared to that headline, the Indian Trail (N.C.) Town Council member who wrote portions of his resignation letter in “Klingon” was just a distraction.