"As we know" means an aide was feeding her lines

Kate Steiger at TPM:

Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) apparently doesn't think much of the possibility of former American Idol star Clay Aiken running against her: "As we know he doesn't always fare all that well. He was runner up." 

Thanks also to Ian Millhiser's take on the two contests above.

Ellmers, who might find Aiken as her opponent, is the congresscritter who was, then wasn't going to take a paycheck when she helped shut down the government back when.