Tom Snyder interviews O'Leary
William Hay III
VP candidate for Surprise Party (1984)
Running mate with nominee: John O'Leary (b. ca1947)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Musician and writer John O'Leary of New Haven, Conn. announced his 1984 run for President in May 1980. That's right, before the Nov. 1980 election took place, making him probably the earliest Presidential candidate for 1984. His tongue-in-cheek campaign did have a point he said, "I think there is a possibility I won't be elected. But one thing I can do is attract people to the political process, particularly the cynics, people that are like I used to be."
He also told the press: "I want people to see how absurd the political process is. I don't think it's wrong, necessarily, just crazy." In 1980 he voted for Commoner/Harris of the Citizen's Party.
O'Leary's running mate was his friend William Hay III, a stockbroker in New York. They made an effort to be listed on the Connecticut ballot but apparently failed.
Under the banner of the Surprise Party (no relation to Gracie Allen's political party of the same name in 1940), O'Leary ran with the slogan: "Ask not what money can do for you; ask what you can do for money."
A music video with the same title of O'Leary's book, The Running Game, was produced for the election giving the candidate a chance to promote his writing and his music career.
On his blog in 2009 O'Leary reflected: "It began as a sociological experiment of sorts, to test the premise that any American citizen can—and has the right to—run for US President, even a rock musician. In fact, I immediately discovered that it doesn't cost a dime to run for national office. (It costs a tad more to win, however.)"
Meanwhile, William Hay III remains one of the more mysterious third party VP nominees for now.
Election history: none
Other occupations: stockbroker
Notes:
O'Leary can be found on Youtube singing a great song entitled When the Clown Becomes the King in 2019.
