White House gate crasher Tareq Salahi to run for Virginia governor

Washington, April 26 (ANI): Tareq Salahi, who achieved notoriety for crashing a White House party, says he will run for governor of Virginia.

Salahi plans to run as a Republican. He would take on GOP candidate and state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who recently filed a lawsuit against Salahi for defrauding customers who signed up to take winery tours through Salahi's tourism company.

Salahi and his wife, Michaele breezed in uninvited to a White House state dinner in 2009, and were able to meet President Barack Obama. Their brazen exploit sparked concern about the Secret Service's effectiveness.

The notoriety also landed Michaele a role in the reality television series "Real Housewives of D.C.," which was canceled after one season. Later, she was kicked off another reality program, "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" when it became clear she was addicted to nothing more than publicity.

Salahi's declaration of candidacy is meaningless until Jan. 1, 2013. Virginia law prohibits the State Board of Elections from accepting the declarations until the year in which the elections are scheduled, said board senior official Chris Piper. The state's elections will be in November 2013, Fox News reported.

In more attention grabbing last year, Tareq Salahi reported that his wife had been abducted. But she had actually run off with Neal Schon, the lead guitarist for Journey. A 50 million-dollar lawsuit Tareq filed against Michaele over the breakup was dismissed. (ANI)