James Harlan Boren, December 10, 1925 (Wheatland, Okla.) - April 24, 2010 (Tahlequah, Okla.)
VP candidate for any political party (1980)
Running mate with nominee: anyone
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
James H. Boren, an academic with a career and background in government had run a mock campaign for US President in 1972 under the Bureaucratic Party label partly to promote his newly published book, When in Doubt Mumble: A Bureaucrat's Handbook (1972). Around this time he also formed the International Association of Professional Bureaucrats which had the improbable acronym of INATAPROBU according to Boren. Unfortunately, I was unable to identify any running mate with Boren for the 1972 effort.
In 1980 he was back, but this time he had no pretensions of running for President. He wanted the job of Vice-President as he was attracted to "the promise of good food, world travel, the opportunity to meet many nice people, and no heavy lifting." [In 1976 Bob Dole said he accepted the position of running mate with Ford because the VP job was "inside work, no heavy lifting."]
He didn't care who was elected President, he could work with whoever. "I have been around Washington long enough that I no longer have any political philosophy, and I could parrot any official line of any president of any party." He said was not Left or Right wing, but "a neutral gray. You tell me what you're for, and I'll take that position."
His qualifications? "I have done nothing for years, but I have done it with style." And "I have done nothing for so long that I think I am qualified for this particular job."
His platform, such as it was, included the motto "I am from Washington, so I have all the answers."
--Inflation: "Every three months, we should adjust the salaries of all the Washington policymakers downward the same percentage inflation has gone up."
--The population explosion: "Double the human gestation period from nine to 18 months."
--Streamlining government: "Reorganization is no threat. It's an opportunity to put new layers on old layers."
--Committees: "If you study a problem long enough, it may go away."
--Jimmy Carter: "Any president who sets foot in this town without a full briefing on dynamic inaction, decision-postponement patterns and creative status quo cannot go very far."
--Political promises: He was "ready to tell the public what they want to hear-- whatever that may be. Money in every pocket, gas in every tank and a promise in every sentence." "Each voter deserves her or his own set of promises."
--Policy decision-making: "When a bureaucrat makes a mistake and continues to make it, it usually becomes policy."
--Cutting red tape: "Bureaucrats are not opposed to cutting red tape, as long as it is cut lengthwise."
--Health care: "I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for."
As the final three months as the campaign season heated up, Boren's media coverage declined. Voting for a President/Vice-Presidential combined ticket is a matter of custom which is not mandated in the Constitution. In an ideal situation, voters would have the opportunity to vote for the VP in a separate ballot line.
Election history:
1972 - US President (Bureaucratic Party) - defeated
1984 - US President (Bureaucratic Party) - defeated
1986 - US House of Representatives (Va.) (Democratic) - defeated
1992 - US President (Apathy Party) - defeated
1996 - US Senate (Okla.) (Democratic) - defeated
Other occupations: US Navy (WWII), Chief of Staff for US Sen. Ralph Yarborough (D-Tex.), Deputy Director of the U.S. Economic Mission to Peru, President of Development Services International, author, lecturer
Buried: Fort Gibson National Cemetery (Fort Gibson, Okla.)
Notes:
Cousin of Sen. David Boren (D-Okla.)
