Sportscaster's Next Call: Congress

Oct. 15, 2010 -- After retiring from sports broadcasting in 2006, Harold Johnson suddenly found himself off the sports desk and on the sidelines as a spectator. No more highlight reels, no more television cameras and no more teleprompter.

In retirement, the four-time Emmy award winner grew restless as he watched Democrats in Washington exercise a grip on power through Congress and the White House. The former Marine spent his career in front of North Carolinians, but without an outlet to reach them, Johnson got the political itch and decided to come out of retirement to run for Congress.

"Leadership is void in Washington right now and it's making the entire country nervous," Johnson said in an interview with ABC News. "We have to get the confidence back again. Let America know, 'Look, we're behind you. We're going to be there to help get this engine moving again.'"

Johnson, who has never previously run for public office, is challenging freshman Democrat Rep. Larry Kissell, of Biscoe, N.C., and finds himself in one of this election cycle's most competitive House races. This week, election analysts moved the battle for 8th District of North Carolina from "toss-up" to "leans Republican."

"There's an arrogance in Washington right now that I've never ever seen," Johnson said. "Just look at the health care bill that was passed. Well over 50 percent of the American people said, 'No, we're happy with our health coverage.' Now we're finding out more and more about bill, and how catastrophic it's going to be to doctors.

"The America that I'm looking at now is vastly different than the one I served in when I was in the Marine Corps," Johnson said. "Opportunity right now, I think, is very limited by so much government control."