Basil Marceaux Loses Tennessee Governor Race But Wins Online Popularity Contest

Have you heard of Basil Marceaux – the Tennessean that lost the state’s recent gubernatorial race but, in the process, became a hugely popular Internet sensation? In his campaign, Basil Marceaux said he would fine people for not carrying guns, grant immunity from all state crimes to anyone that voted for him, get rid of all flags with gold fringe and murder everyone that has ever killed anyone. Unfortunately, Marceaux received less than 1% of the vote in the election, so Tennessee has to look forward to a Basil-free regime in the future. However, in the grand scheme of things Marceaux won a much bigger race for the hearts of online viewers everywhere.

Marceaux’s rollercoaster ride to fame began a few weeks ago with a simple YouTube video. The video, which is a clip from NBC Channel 4 in Tennessee, showcases Marceaux talking about where he stands on various political topics. The video took off for a few reasons. For one, Marceaux’s political platforms are a little bit out there. However, the more than likely top reason for Marceaux’s success on YouTube is that he just doesn’t seem anything like the stereotypical politician or likely candidate for a political race. Watch the video below to see what I mean. This guy is, well, let’s just say a little “different.”

The viral news video, which has over 1 million views to date, wasn’t Marceaux’s only online effort. He also had his own website, which he let people know about as often as possible, often introducing himself as BasilMarceaux.com, rather than simply Basil Marceaux. His website lets constituents know about such things as the fact that for Marceaux, one of the key issues in education is “school violents.” Marceaux also had an official YouTube page, where he posted videos about his stances on various issues, as well as debates. Sadly, he posted a video with a recording of his concession speech six days ago.

It looks as though Marceaux also had a presence on Twitter, as Twitter user @marceaux2010 is promoted in a number of his YouTube videos and seemed to genuinely support Marceaux and provided information about the campaign, with 616 followers to date. Don’t mistake Twitter user @BasilMarceaux as the real Basil Marceaux, though he has posted some funny stuff and has more than 800 followers.

Marceaux became even more of a hit after appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live just a few days before the election. You can check out the video below, if you haven’t seen it already, and decide for yourself what you think about “Basil Marceaux Dot Com” and his political platforms.

The good news for Basil is, although he lost the election he has made a name for himself. He may never win a political election, but he now has a huge soapbox for himself to stand on and tell the world about all of his very strong and interesting opinions. Would you have voted for Basil Marceaux? What do you think about this guy running for political office and how do you think YouTube and Internet fame will effect his future?

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.