Nikolai Volkoff Update.

If there is any justice in this world, former pro wrestling great Nikolai Volkoff will soon be elected to the Maryland House of Delegates.

Baltimore Sun: Candidates in state 7th ready to go to the mat

Josip Peruzovic likes to tell the one about picking up Hulk Hogan for a body slam. It was back in the 1980s, and Peruzovic - you might remember him as Cold War-era bad guy Nikolai Volkoff - says he kicked a whiskey bottle out of the way before dropping pro wrestling's golden boy to the mat.

Now he's on the ballot in the 7th Legislative District, running for the House of Delegates under his stage name. And he's not the only one in the race who has shown that he won't walk away from a scuffle - incumbent Republican Dels. Richard K. Impallaria and Patrick L. McDonough clashed with lobbyists for Hispanics two years ago after a legislative hearing in Annapolis.

In all, more than a dozen candidates - five Republicans, including the third incumbent, J.B. Jennings, seven Democrats and one Green Party member - are seeking the three seats representing a district that stretches from Middle River to Cockeysville to parts of Harford County. And some shots are coming across party lines, even as the GOP race has spawned a round of interparty finger-pointing.Call it a political battle royale - though McDonough says, "I don't think that hitting someone over the head with a chair qualifies someone for office."

Neither does being a smartass, you lamebrain.

Due to time constraints, we now move to further action.

The other Republican is Peruzovic, 59, a Glen Arm resident and code enforcement inspector with the Baltimore County government. In an interview last month, he said he had posted signs and knocked on doors but had not been campaigning heavily. Peruzovic, who emigrated from Yugoslavia in the 1960s, said that as a legislator he would tackle high gasoline and energy prices, and take a look at taxes.

"I don't think even the left wing would write in a script that would have this sort of juxtaposition," said Donald Murphy, the former county GOP chairman and a lobbyist in Annapolis. "Come on - that Rick Impallaria and Pat McDonough, both of whom are one-note Johnnies on immigration, would be challenged by a guy who came from the Soviet bloc."

The top three vote-getters in each party advance to the general election.