Last week, an enticing email rolled into my inbox: "Hughes to Submerge Himself in Underwater Home."

"Now that's a publicity stunt!" I thought. Hughes would be underwater inside an underwater home for 92 minutes, one second for every 2,000 homeowners with an "underwater" mortgage!! I skimmed the rest of the release—people would talk, it was about home finance reform, blah blah blah...

I was also fascinated by who would own a submerged home, or who would be gracious enough to let him take their mobile home into the Puget Sound.

Imagine my surprise as I arrived:

The Underwater Home
  • The Underwater Home

Today's event consisted of Andrew spending 92 minutes underwater... in a dunk tank... wearing SCUBA gear... outside of a (possibly soon to be) foreclosed home. The event, which drew about 10 attendees (mainly staffers and interns of the Hughes campaign), was co-sponsored by OUR Washington, a PAC that advocates for low-income families.

But Hughes didn't stay under for the full 90 minutes. About 45 minutes into his dive—wearing a button up shirt and tie—he popped up to make a statement:

Why hello there, Andrew
  • Why hello there, Andrew

"Home ownership needs to be about security and stability," he said, "not about fear and intimidation."

Of course, Hughes went after where he sees a weakness from McDermott, saying that Jim "hasn't been speaking to the issues," and has instead been "speaking around them."

His concern was echoed by Marliza Melzer, who's home Hughes had been diving in front of. She has recently been in negotiations with Bank of America about her underwater mortgage, and went to a "Meet your Congressman" event at Cupcake Royale. When she asked McDermott about the mortgage crisis, he simply said (according to Melzer) that it is a "difficult issue."

Then, Hughes went back under.