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The campaign for the Wisconsin 7th District House seat being vacated by retiring Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey took a strange turn on Friday as the state Democratic Party claimed to have obtained a copy of Republican candidate Sean Duffy's as yet unannounced economic plan.

"The Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Thursday got its hands on Sean Duffy's economic plan in advance of its planned release next week and found that, in it, Duffy has applied his life lessons of getting drunk on television and being a mediocre political appointee," the Wisconsin Democrats' press release said.

Considered a longshot when he entered the race, Duffy, a former cast member on MTV's The Real World, is now locked in a tight battle against Democratic state Senator Julie Lassa.

The Duffy campaign said that it does plan to make an announcement next week, but it will not be to highlight a new economic plan. Duffy communications director Wendy Riemann was clearly skeptical of the state Democratic Party's claim.

"I hope Julie Lassa studies the advanced copy of our plan she obtained and learns from it so that her campaign will soon realize 7th District residents are concerned about employment, their financial future and the direction of our country," Riemann said. "She clearly needs to read her advanced copy of our plan again, or visit Sean's website, if she doesn't understand Sean Duffy is flat out against privatizing Social Security and completely in support of bringing more jobs to and keeping more jobs in Wisconsin."

Wisconsin Democratic Party Communications Director Graeme Zielinski declined to forward to RealClearPolitics the Duffy economic plan that he said he was in possession of, but he was effusive in describing what he claimed was in the Duffy plan.

"It's just as absent of thought and ideas as he is," Zielinski said "His whole campaign's reason for being is that he went and had sex on TV and got drunk on TV. And without that, he wouldn't have been appointed DA and been shopped to Tea Party folks as a candidate to Congress."

Duffy was appointed Ashland County District Attorney in 2002 and worked in that position until resigning in June to focus on his House campaign. But it was the Republicans' role on 1997's The Real World: Boston and subsequent appearances on MTV's Road Rules: All Stars that Zielinsky kept returning to.

"He was on some D-list show for a couple seasons, which no one watched really," Zielinski said. "Carrot Top has more substantial entertainment chops than this guy, and I'm not joking with you."

The Lassa campaign declined to comment on the Wisconsin Democrats' claim and instead highlighted Lassa's record of fighting wasteful spending and accused Duffy of wanting to privatize Social Security, a charge the Duffy campaign denies.

"Given the extent of outside special interest influence doing Duffy's dirty work in this election already, it's clear he's been making his priorities known to corporate special interests even if he hasn't been in touch with Wisconsin families," Lassa Communications Director Haley Morris said.

Duffy and Lassa are each expected to win their September 14th primaries before going head-to-head in November. The race is a potential Republican pickup in a seat that Obey has held since 1969.