Washington, May 26 (ANI): A Republican candidate in rural Idaho has been accused of plagiarizing one of President Barack Obama’s famous speeches.

Vaughn Ward, a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative who served in Iraq, is seeking the GOP Congressional nomination.

According to The Telegraph, his campaign biography states that he “spent most of his years on the family farm in Shoshone, Idaho” and had “developed his strong work ethic and learned the value of dependability” from that time.

But Lucas Baumbach, a local party activist, produced a YouTube video that suggested Ward derived greater influence from Obama, the Harvard-educated Democrat currently occupying the White House.

The video shows Obama addressing the 2004 Democratic National Convention with the words: “We stand on the crossroads of history. We can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.”

It then cuts to Ward speaking in January and saying: “As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that lay before us.”

There were several other close similarities between the two speeches.

A spokesman for Ward said the furore over the video was much ado about nothing. (ANI)