LAUGHINGSTOCK:

A parody Twitter account created by a Pittsburgh-based paralegal is causing fresh headaches for the Senate campaign of Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The account, created earlier this month, mocks an April campaign video of the veteran TV host botching the name of a Redner's grocery store as it casts the candidate as out of touch with the Pennsylvania voters he's hoping to represent.

The campaign video shows the Republican walking through a Redner's market in Pennsylvania, where he mispronounces the name of the store as "Wegners" and complains about inflation and the soaring costs of vegetables needed to make a "crudites" platter, which is more commonly known as a vegetable platter. Oz told Newsmax in a recent interview that he got the name of the store wrong because he was exhausted after campaigning 18 hours a day. "I've gotten my kids names wrong as well. I don't think that's a measure of someone's ability to lead the commonwealth," he said.

Jon Romanishin, a paralegal from Pennsylvania, jumped on Oz's mispronunciation of the Redner's grocery store chain to launch the parody Twitter account Monday @grocerieswegner or Wegner's Groceries, which isn't a real store. The Twitter bio reads "The Crudité Capital of Central PA." [...]

Mary Anne Marsh, a veteran Democratic Party strategist, told CNBC that the account represents how the digital age has transformed campaigns and that sometimes, to give a boost to a candidate, all it takes is someone with a social media account. "Anyone with a social media account can now change a race as much as any ad, story or debate," she said. "That puts more political power in the hands of people and when used well it's good for democracy."

The Wegner's campaign account itself was so convincing that it had political strategists and celebrities seemingly convinced that either it was made by a member of Fetterman's social media team or that the Wegner's store was real.

"In future campaign trainings I facilitate I will be using the Oz Grocery video on what to not do when you want to relate to voters, but I will also contrast it with how on point the Fetterman digital campaign has been," Atima Omara, a party strategist, tweeted in response to the Wegner's account tweet. Ken Olin, an actor, said in response to the Wegner's account trolling Oz "Ooof. You know you're losing when a grocery store trolls you."

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