Ralph Nader, February 27, 1934 (Winsted, Conn.) -
VP candidate for Independent (1976)
Running mate with nominee: Regis Jeremiah Anthony Goldbach (1910-1979)
Popular vote: 5 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Regis Jeremiah Anthony Goldbach, known as John, was serving a life term in prison in San Luis Obispo, Calif. for the 1971 murder of his wife's sister-in-law and the attempted murder of his wife. Housed in a unit for psychotic prisoners, he applied to the California Secretary of State and was granted the status of a certified write-in candidate. He had been entirely truthful on his application listing his inmate number, correct address, and occupation as "inmate jail lawyer." As a felon he could not vote for himself but there was no law preventing him from running for office.
Besides, several other Presidential candidates have campaigned from behind prison bars, Eugene Debs being one of the most famous. Even so, the California Secretary of State confessed their office did not initially recognize Goldbach's address as a prison.
Most recently from Lancaster, Calif., he had been in prison since March 1972. If elected, some mused he would have the power to pardon himself although Goldbach himself said he would have to govern from his prison cell.
A reporter visited Goldbach in the prison visiting room during the campaign. The candidate said he was inspired by a vision "in which he saw himself as the next President." Goldbach chose Ralph Nader as his Vice-President and Cesar Chavez as his Secretary of Agriculture. Raising his hand, he looked at the reporter and declared, "Luke 1:38. 'With God nothing shall be impossible.'"
Goldbach received five write-in votes in California.
If the Goldbach/Nader ticket had been elected, Ralph Nader would have become President upon the death of Goldbach on Jan. 2, 1979 according to the California Death Index. The Social Security Death Index says Goldbach died in Dec. 1978. He was born in Pittsburgh, Dec. 14, 1910.
Election history:
1992 - US President (None of the Above) - primary - defeated
1996 - US President (Green Party) - defeated
2000 - US President (Green Party) - defeated
2004 - US President (Independent/Reform Party) - defeated
2008 - US President (Independent/Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
Other occupations: soldier (US Army), author, consumer advocate, attorney, consultant to Assistant Sec. of Labor, lecturer
Notes:
Nader quotes--
--"Once you don't vote your ideals ... that has serious undermining affects. It erodes the moral basis of our democracy."
--"The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference."
--"I once said to my father, when I was a boy, 'Dad we need a third political party.' He said to me, 'I'll settle for a second.'"
--"Up against the corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers. The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust."
--"The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun."
