That’s Wacky Wayne “Curt” Weldon, who’s now accusing his Democratic challenger of being part of a CIA plot against him. Oh, Curt, if only people could take you that seriously:

Veteran Rep. Curt Weldon has a proclivity for calling out shady government doings that have him in mind as a principal target. A year ago, for example, after the No. 2 Republican on the House Armed Services Committee published “Countdown to Terror,” a frontal assault on the CIA’s track record before Sept. 11, he claimed that Clinton administration veterans with ties to the agency were out to get him.

So it’s not surprising that as Weldon girds for the most difficult re-election bid during his two decades representing the Philadelphia suburbs, his campaign is alleging that the CIA is probably abetting the opposition. Last month, his campaign manager Michael Puppio Jr. announced that Weldon’s expected Democratic opponent, Joe Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral, had taken campaign contributions from Mary McCarthy, the CIA operative recently fired for allegedly leaking secret information to the media. McCarthy, who was specifically accused of being a source for The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize-winning story on secret CIA prisons overseas, has denied that charge through her lawyer.

The media also has raised suspicions in the Weldon camp. The reporter on the Post article, Dana Priest, wrote a piece last year about Weldon’s book that the congressman viewed as critical.

It’s just a question of following the money, says Puppio. “What’s a CIA analyst doing giving money to a partisan political candidate?” he asks. “I’m not sure she violated any laws, but then when that analyst is alleged to have leaked information to a reporter who in turn is extremely critical of Curt Weldon, that raises some big questions.”

So far Sestak is mounting one of the stronger challenges among the military veterans recruited by the Democrats this year.

Clinton-era officials, including onetime National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and CIA Director John Deutch, have lent fundraising assistance to Sestak, who had worked with them when he did a tour on the National Security Council staff.

The race is off to a nasty start. Last month, Weldon tried to make an issue of the medical treatment for the challenger’s 4-year-old daughter, Alexandra Sestak, who suffers from brain cancer. Her dad should have taken her to a Pennsylvania or Delaware hospital instead of one in Washington, Weldon said. Puppio says the comment was misinterpreted.

Sestak spokeswoman Allison Price says her candidate just wants to get back to issues important to the voters. “We have repeatedly urged Curt to address the issues of the campaign,” she says. “We don’t get the conspiracy issues with him. We don’t understand what goes on in Curt’s mind.”