Basil Marceaux

Political candidacies Before his 2010 candidacies for Governor and the U.S. House, Marceaux had previously run as a candidate for the Tennessee State Senate three times, the United States Senate once and the Governor of Tennessee in three separate elections.

His official campaign website on freesitenow.com states "VOTE FOR ME AND IF I WIN I WILL IMMUNE YOU FROM ALL STATE CRIMES FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE!" His campaign video became a viral hit in late July 2010, The Soup on television, as well as on the Bubba the Love Sponge, Paul and Young Ron, Keith and the Girl and The Monsters in the Morning radio shows. He was later invited onto Jimmy Kimmel Live! and interviewed on The Opie & Anthony Show.

Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report discussed Marceaux's candidacy at length in three segments, and urged all his Tennessee viewers to vote for "Basil Marceaux-dot-com" (as Marceaux had repeatedly introduced himself in campaign videos) in the primary election, and told them to visit his website, "presumably, Basil Marceaux-dot-com-dot-com."

He was also interviewed on the Toucher and Rich show on 98.5 Sports Hub in Boston, where he said that, "If you kill someone you get murdered" and that "Once you're found guilty of murder we'll bury you under the prison for 50 years, and then put you up on Boot Hill."

A Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll, taken before the popularity of Marceaux's video became widespread, predicted that Marceaux would receive one percent of the vote in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

The day before the August 2010 primary, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on Marceaux's record in criminal court, which consisted primarily of misdemeanor traffic violations, including seven cases in which Marceaux was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2005.

Marceaux faced Bill Haslam, Zach Wamp, Ron Ramsey and Joe Kirkpatrick in the Republican gubernatorial primary election on August 5, 2010. He finished fifth, receiving 3,505 votes (0.5% of the total).

In the 3rd congressional district Republican primary that same day, Marceaux received 655 votes (about 1% of the total), placing ninth in a field of eleven candidates. Chuck Fleischmann won the primary, edging out second-place finisher Robin Smith.

A Public Policy Polling poll showed that Marceaux would lose to President Barack Obama by 25 points if he were a candidate in the 2012 presidential election.

Song and video Marceaux created a Christmas song titled "Come Christmas" in December 2010 coupled with a music video, both of which soon went viral. Marceaux released the song to iTunes.