I Was Tempted To Title This, "Democrats Gone Wild"

But this is a bit more tragic and serious than just a partisan jab.  One of the Democrats running in the Democratic primary to unseat Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), my Congresscritter, has some...problems.  From the March 17, 2012 Idaho Statesman:

Boise Police arrested Cynthia Clinkingbeard, 58, Boise, on Friday after she reportedly walked into a store at Eagle Road and Chinden Boulevard and threatened employees with a gun.

The website of the Idaho Secretary of State lists Clinkingbeard as a Democratic candidate in the May 15 primary race for the First District congressional seat.

Clinkingbeard was a doctor specializing in edocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, until the State of Idaho Board of Medicine revoked her license in 2005.

Aside from the unfortunate last name, the real tragedy here is that she is bipolar. Coverage on KTVB (one of our local TV stations) reports that she is adjunct faculty at College of Western Idaho and Boise State University, and her students have noticed that there was something wrong with her:

Her students say that her behavior over the past few months was, at times, strange.  Some students at CWI dropped her class because of what they called "erratic behavior".

Allan, Ruth, and Michael Burtcher all took Clinkingbeard's health and welness class at CWI this semester.  They, and other students, say she would often berrate students and criticize their political beliefs.  They also said she would make racially insensitive comments, shared each students' grades with the entire class, and made the class walk her dog around the building.

The Burtchers stopped going to the class and appealed their credits to the department chair.

It appears that the Idaho Board of Medicine revoked her license to practice medicine because of bipolar and narcissistic personality disorder, "was making her resistant to treatment."

One of the tragedies of bipolar disorder is that it generally afflicts very smart people.  The same mutations that cause schizophrenia also cause bipolar, and these are generally very creative, very intelligent people.  Many people suffering from bipolar disorder are not disabled by it.  Some suffer from a very mild form of it, and get through their lives not understanding why they spend long periods of time unaccountably depressed, and other long periods energetic, creative, and productive.  (Think Isaac Newton and Howard Hughes.)  But when things get out of hand--the results are often tragic.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/17/2040054/idaho-first-district-candidate.html#storylink=cpy