Lorenzo Stephen Coffin, April 29, 1823 (Alton, NH) - January 17, 1915 (Fort Dodge, Iowa)
VP candidate for United Christian Party (1908)
Running mate with nominee: Daniel Braxton Turney (1848-1926)
Popular vote: 463 (0.0%)
Electoral vote: 0/483
The campaign:
The United Christian Party resurfaced in 1908 after we last saw them in 1900. They apparently skipped the 1904 election, either that or they ran stealth candidates.
1908 platform was short and to the point: "The platform of the united Christian party is based on the ten commandments and the golden rule and favors direct primary elections, the initiative, referendum, recall, uniform marriage and divorce laws, equal rights for men and women, government ownership of coal mines, oil wells and public utilities: the regulation of trusts and the election of the president and vice-president and senators of the United States by the direct vote of the people."
At age 85, Lorenzo S. Coffin is one of the oldest third party running mates. He was probably one of the last Civil War veterans to be on a third party ticket as well.
The UCP seems to have been on the ballot in at least two states with 400 votes in Illinois and 63 in Michigan.
Election history:
1906 - Governor of Iowa (Prohibition Party) - defeated
Other occupations: farmer, Union soldier (Iowa Infantry) during the Civil War, newspaper editor, grange activist, member of the Iowa Railroad Commission (1883-1888), instructor in Geauga Seminary
Buried: Willowledge Cemetery (Fort Dodge, Iowa)
Notes:
Attended Oberlin College
Moved to Iowa in 1854
Organized the Iowa Benevolent Association for ex-convicts and unwed mothers.
Started out as a Republican before joining the Prohibition Party.
During his time as an instructor in Geauga Seminary, James A. Garfield was one of his students.
His burial site is on the National Register of Historic Places.
