TAMPA, FL -- It has not been a good couple of weeks for Tampa porn queen Stormy Daniels, who recently made news by announcing that she may run for the U.S. Senate. Daniels found herself slapped with a domestic violence charge, while her political adviser reported an apparent car bombing.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was arrested Saturday on a battery charge after she allegedly hit her husband during a fight over laundry and unpaid bills.
Two days earlier, her political adviser in Louisana, Brian Welsh, said his 1996 Audi may have been blown up outside his apartment in an upscale area of New Orleans.
"It's something out of The Sopranos," said Edward E. Chervenak, a professor of politics at the University of New Orleans. "Very weird."
In May, Daniels announced she was considering a run in 2010 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Louisana Republican David Vitter, whose family-values stance took a major hit in 2007 when his name was linked to a Washington prostitution ring.
Daniels was arrested Saturday afternoon after her husband, Michael Mosny, reported that Daniels struck him several times, according to a Tampa Police Department report.
Mosny told police that his wife was upset "about the way the clothes had been done" and then "got more upset about some bills that had not been paid," according to the report.
The report went on to say that Daniels "threw a potted plant at the kitchen sink," hit Mosny on the head several times and "threw their wedding album onto the floor and knocked candles off coffee table, breaking them."
Earlier in the week, her political adviser's car exploded in New Orleans while he and his wife were walking their dog nearby.
The FBI and the New Orleans police had no immediate comment.
Welsh said he can't come up with any suspects, but he believes someone bombed his car intentionally and was not certain if the incident had to do with his connection to Daniels.
"Clearly, if someone tried to blow up my car, it's cause for concern; it's not cause for me to stop doing my job, stop me from talking about the things that are important," Welsh said. "If anybody had been walking by when that car blew up, they would have been seriously injured or killed."
"I really wish this had not happened," Welsh said. "I need a car."
