Christmas revelers better think twice about voting against Republican candidate Kerry Bentivolio in his bid to replace former Rep. Thad McCotter in Michigan’s 11th congressional district; they might end up on his naughty list.

The Detroit Free Press documented Bentivolio’s extensive career as a Santa Claus impersonator, offering up such ornamental details like the names of two of his live reindeer — Rumples and Aurora — that are responsible for pulling his sled. Bentivolio’s Santa fixation crosses over from quirky to troubling, however. A lawsuit he filed against a former client of his bankrupt housing business revealed that Bentivolio has trouble differentiating between himself and his Santa Clause alter ego:

“I have a problem figuring out which one I really am, Santa Claus or Kerry Bentivolio,” he said in his deposition. “All my life I have been told I’m Kerry Bentivolio, and now, I am a Santa Claus, so now I prefer to be Santa Claus.”

His days as Santa almost got off to a promising start when he received an invite to appear as Saint Nick at the White House. But after he called a news conference to announce his good fortune, a former vendor who was owed money by Bentivolio called the White House to complain, and his trip to the nation’s capital was nixed. He sued the vendor, her husband and two newspapers who covered the whole debacle for $1 million, hoping to strike gold.

During the trial, Bentivolio took to referring to himself as “we” instead of “I,” until the court asked him to stop.

His campaign did not return requests for comment, but this may prove to be quite the gift to Bentivolio’s Democratic challenger Syed Taj.

Between Mitt Romney’s claim that 47 percent of the country “believe they are entitled to” government assistance to afford food and Paul Ryan’s assertion that people on food stamps are “takers, the entire Romney campaign has cemented the impression that they are “not concerned about the very poor.”

Ryan might have topped any previous callousness though, when he and his staff apparently “ramrodded their way” into a soup kitchen last week for a photo opportunity without even actually volunteering.

President of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, Brian J. Antal, told the Washington Post that he had no interest in making his organization a political talking point: “we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations… It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors… The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”

Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon has kept up in the polls with her Democratic opponent, Chris Murphy, largely by trying to paint herself as a pro-choice moderate in blue Connecticut. McMahon eagerly denounced Mitt Romney’s comments that 47 percent of the country will never “take personal responsibility,” claimed Todd Akin’s dismissal of “legitimate rape” pregnancies was “reprehensible,” and reversed herself by suddenly supporting a national law for same-sex marriage. In an editorial board meeting with the Hartford Courant on Friday, however, McMahon undermined her purportedly moderate image with a decidedly anti-choice position.

When presented with a hypothetical in which a rape victim is denied emergency contraception in a Catholic hospital, McMahon asserted that hospital should be allowed to deny the medication, even if it receives federal funds:

COURANT: So a rape victim, in a hospital. And it’s a hospital that is run by a Catholic institution. Emergency contraception, should that be—should she be sent to another hospital in the middle of the night when she’s in dire distress?

MCMAHON: I don’t think that the government should overreach. I mean it’s a separation of church and state in my view, and I think that a religious institution has the right to decide what its policies would be in that, in that case.

COURANT: Yeah and I respect that, I just wonder if that institution, gets a certain, a majority of it’s money from the government, if it’s mostly federally funded, does that play a role in your thinking?

MCMAHON: Well I just think again, that it is an issue of separation of church and state, and that institution should decide what its role would be, and what it’s comfortable with doing in that instance.

Watch it:

McMahon claims she is pro-choice, even though she supported the failed Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed any employer to refuse any kind of health care on moral grounds. The Murphy campaign has also pointed out in attack ads that McMahon built her fortune on the World Wrestling Entertainment network’s sexualized spectacles glorifying violence against women and rape. So far, women continue to favor Murphy over McMahon, and women’s rights advocates have condemned the Republican for her plan to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.

Fox News’ Medical A-Team delved into psychoanalysis of the vice presidential debate on Sunday, speculating that Vice President Joe Biden was either demented or drunk during his performance. Fox regular Dr. Keith Ablow declared, “from a physicianly perspective,” that Biden’s energetic demeanor suggested dementia. When another member of the A-Team pointed out that Biden actually had strong command of the statistics and facts, Ablow suggested instead that “you’d want his alcohol level”:

I did not evaluate Joe Biden, but if someone said to me, we want you to do what’s really required to know what happened there, you have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis. You have to say, bizarre laughter, interrupting. If this were your dad or your grandfather, wouldn’t you say if you brought him to me, Keith, you’ve got to tell me, is he suffering with dementia? Because he can’t seem to listen, he’s laughing inappropriately.
[...]
I’m not diagnosing him. I haven’t evaluated him, but psychological testing is anybody’s guess what it would show. Not knowing every fact isn’t required to diagnose dementia and I’m not saying he has it. I’m saying you put it on the differential. Impulsivity, that’s part of it, and command of the facts…I’m speaking as a psychiatrist today, you didn’t call me in as a political strategist. So, you’d want his alcohol level. Why? Because he was that bizarre.

Watch it:

As the Fox News A-Team is well aware, Biden is a strict teetotaler whose family has struggled with alcoholism. Ablow’s quack psychiatry has also led him to claim Newt Gingrich’s three marriages would make him a better president. Even Fox News’ Megyn Kelly attacked the doctor over his claim that a transgender Dancing With The Stars contestant would make children uncomfortable with their genders.

As fringe as he is, Ablow is hardly the only conservative offering outlandish theories to negate Biden’s strong debate performance. Mike Huckabee, also on Fox News, claimed Biden acted like “an obnoxious drunk,” while Sean Hannity suggested Biden had sampled bourbon before going onstage.