
(CNN) – Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell says she tried "every other kind of religion," including witchcraft and Buddhism but became a Christian because of her love of Italian food.
"I would have become a Hare Krishna, but I didn't want to become a vegetarian," O'Donnell said in an interview with Bill Maher in 1999. "And that is honestly the reason why, because I'm Italian and I love meatballs."
The clip originally aired on Maher's show "Politically Incorrect" on July 9, 1999, and ran again Friday on "Real Time with Bill Maher." It is the third clip Maher has aired of O'Donnell since she won the GOP's Senate nomination in Delaware last month. O'Donnell appeared on "Politically Incorrect" 22 times in the 1990s.
O'Donnell has been in the national spotlight the past few weeks for her controversial comments on religion, sex and witchcraft.
The most recent CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll of likely voters in Delaware released September 22nd had O'Donnell trailing her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons by 16 points.
The winner of the November election will fill the remaining four years of Vice President Joe Biden's Senate term. Former Biden aide Ted Kaufman is currently the interim replacement.
The O'Donnell campaign did not return a CNN request for comment.
Bill Maher will be on CNN's John King, USA every night next week at 7 p.m. ET.


Please keep rolling out these clips Bill! At least one right wing nut won't get in this year! ERRR, I HOPE!
The people in Deleware have to ask themselves if they want the boot on their throat of harry reid and Pelosi with a democrat rubber stamp or if they want to break free ? The democrats with members like former klansmen Byrd or Kenedy drive off a bridge drunk and kill someone are you more interested in personal attacks or policy?
O'Donnell is a whack job. No pun intended.
Thanks alot Teaparty. What the what?
Yeah...Jesus was "Italian"! What a screwball!
The woman is a nutcase - kinda like the octomom.
The depth and breadth of this woman's intellect is staggering. Who could even consider voting against her?
Shame on Bill Maher. He should have put this stuff out there before the primary. Then this whack job would not have a chance to be elected.
Did she ever hear of Swedish meatballs. Even Chinese people have meat in the consistency of meatballs. This caliber of person is running for public office. It is pretty clear that American schools need improvement; of course, maybe she didn't graduate from any high school, maybe not even intermediate school.
"...but became a Christian because of her love of Italian food."
This is so delightfully absurd!
I've never understood why people clutter up their minds with religion–it seems like such a profound waste of time and effort–but at least an appreciation for meatballs is something to which I can relate.
She loves meatballs..oh eyah...giggidy giggidy
Oh yeah, and I would have become a Republican, if only I could believe in them!
If I told my parents the reason why I became a Christian was because I love meatballs I would still be seeing a head doctor. Parents please don't expose your children to O'Donnell's becoming a Christian philosophy, they deserve better.
"... but became a Christian because of her love of Italian food."
Gads. I hate to see how her mental processes work on issues of any real importance to the electorate. Maybe she'd vote on critical issues based on her favorite color, or the color of the sky, or ...
Liberal hypocracy. Mahar and liberals advocate killing a fetus but sparing a murderer.
Liberalism really is an unbalance state of mind.
Christine O'Donnell claims that God is running her campaign. If she loses, will she claim immaculate misconceptions?
I'm never running for office, cause if someone pulls something I said in 1999, I would be screwed!
This woman is a fraud. She lied about her education (she NEVER attended Oxford, and one of the universities she has claimed to have attended has no record of her ever being there)...like the rest of the tea party nitwits, she's a liar and a fraud.
Clearly this is just a silly statement and she's not being serious here. The big problem is that her "serious" statements don't really sound any different.
So Mahar, a has-been comic, is the voice of liberalism. Liberalism has really reached the bottom rung of the intellectual ladder.
Meatballs is as meatballs does.
She's right on the issues and that's what is important. What someone said on a talk show for entertainment is just that.
Lying about her education is a much bigger deal.
The tea party folk who have called "RINO" Republicans un-American for the last 12 months and who threaten "second amendment remedies" against their fellow Americans make very unsympathetic victims.
Republicans seem to be imploding as election nears.