Courtesy Charlotte Observer

(December 7, 2009) For more than a quarter-century, thousands of Charlotte-area viewers watched Harold Johnson broadcast nightly sports news with an outsize personality and a ringmaster's zeal. Now "The Big Guy" will put his energy into politics.

Johnson, 68, announced Friday that he'll run as a Republican for the 8th District seat held by Democrat Larry Kissell of Montgomery County.

"If you ever watched me on the air you know I speak from the heart," he told the Observer. "What I'm seeing here in Washington, this isn't the America I know ... You can sit back and shake your head or stand up and say, 'This is not right.'"

Filing for office doesn't start until February. Johnson, a former Marine, is the fourth Republican to express interest in the seat. He joins Hal Jordan of Charlotte, Lou Huddleston of Fayetteville and Tim D'Annunzio of Raeford.

Johnson, a New Jersey native who has lived in Statesville since he was 10, said he plans to move to the 8th District and Cabarrus County.

"I said if I'm going to represent the district, I'll live in the district," he said.

Johnson, who has never run for office, faces tough hurdles. Campaign reports filed in October showed that D'Annunzio, who jump-started his campaign with $300,000 of his own money, had a bigger war chest than Kissell.

But for 26 years Johnson was a fixture on WSOC-TV, whose signal reaches far into the district that runs from Charlotte to Fayetteville. He retired in 2006.

Johnson said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has led her party "off a cliff."

Kissell, who has voted with his party about 96 percent of the time, bucked Pelosi in November when he voted against a Democratic health care bill. That prompted critics within the party to talk of a primary challenge.

Asked about Kissell, Johnson said, "I don't say negative things about people."

"But the bottom line," he said, "when you look at the unemployment rate in the district and the empty plants, somebody's not working hard enough."

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