Wyclef Jean's Presidential Bid Is Already a Political Junkie's Dream

(Aug. 5 ) -- Putting an end to the will-he-or-won't-he speculation, Wyclef Jean officially filed paperwork in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday for a bid to become the next president of the earthquake-ravaged country of his birth.

Surge Desk has been reporting on Jean's potential candidacy for the past few days and can't help but notice that though the Haitian-born musician has never held political office, he already brings with him several attributes that many Americans associate with seasoned politicians. A rundown of the the items that come standard with Jean's run for office:

1. Charisma!
As all presidential candidates must be, Jean is good in front of an audience. As a member of the hip-hop hybrid group the Fugees, he became a global pop-culture fixture in the mid- to late 1990s. His solo projects brought heightened fame, as did his charitable work on behalf of Haiti both before and after the Jan. 12 quake that leveled much of the country and that wound up casting him as something of a spokesman for his homeland.

2. Intrigue!
Just as Barack Obama himself experienced in the election of 2008, many of Jean's countrymen are claiming that he is not eligible to run for president. As Surge Desk's Jordan Carr reported earlier today, Article 135(e) of Haiti's constitution states:

To be elected president of the Republic of Haiti, a candidate "must have resided in the country for five consecutive years before the date of the elections."

Mr. Jean's work as a "goodwill ambassador" on behalf of the country may be enough to have this requirement waived, but that's not yet clear.

3. Dodgy Finances!
Charges of fiscal mismanagement of Jean's Yele Haiti charity have been persistent over the past year, with accusations ranging from shoddy organizational oversight to outright misappropriation of funds. Via The Associated Press:

He has used Yele Haiti to pay his mistress a six-figure salary, charged it hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal performance fees for fundraisers, and seen his own employees quit in disgust over what they describe as Jean's "sense of entitlement" and "lack of financial commitment" to the charity.

Mr. Jean has resigned from Yele Haiti so as to be able to devote himself to running for office.

4. Philandering!
Rumors abound that Jean, who is married, engaged in a romantic relationship with Zakiya Khatou-Chevassus in 2008, when she was Jean's personal assistant at Yele Haiti. Khatou-Chevassus has since been promoted to vice president of the charity, and Jean has declared that he and his wife, Marie Claudinette, have an open relationship. John Edwards should have been so lucky.

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Jean makes his candidacy official

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