Andre Verne Marrou, December 4, 1938 (Nixon, Tex.) -
VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent) (1988)
Running mate with nominee: Ronald Ernest Paul (b. 1935)
Popular vote: 431,750 (0.47%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Ron Paul interrupted his career as a Republican Congressman from Texas to detour for a few years as a member of the Libertarian Party before returning the major party fold. There were several candidates for the LP nomination at the 1987 convention in (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Seattle, but the main competitors were Rep. Paul and Indigenous American activist Russell Means, neither one being products of the LP. The media tried to simplify the differences between the two as Paul being the Ring-wing and Means being the Left-wing of the Party, or the Establishment conservative carpetbagger vs. the social justice Libertarian. In the end, Paul won the day.
VP nominee Andre Marrou who was in fact more of a LP stalwart than either Paul or Means had the distinction of being the very first member of the Libertarian Party to be elected to a state legislature. He served in the Alaska State House from 1985-1987. As a politico here in Washington at the time I recall how Marrou's election up north was a milestone which upset more Republicans than Democrats. Marrou's achievement represented how a significant number of Goldwater Republicans (like my father) were totally turned off by Reagan's embrace of the evangelicals and how the President's party allowed the deficit to skyrocket. Iran-Contra didn't help the Republican image either.
And speaking of the Iran-Contra scandal there was a double-edged question regarding President Reagan's involvement where either answer was probably impeachable. Either he knew about it, or, he was not minding the store and allowed criminal activities to take place under his watch through gross mismanagement and incompetence. Either way, it was bad. The same standard could be said for Ron Paul. Newsletters released under his name that contained racist and Right-wing conspiracy ideas during this same time period had to be addressed. And, like Reagan, Paul's involvement was a double-edged question with either answer being a negative one.
But on the positive side Paul, having been a Republican member of Congress, did bring a sense of legitimate federal experience which combined with Marrou's real-life actual election as a Libertarian presented a third party ticket with two people who had bonafide experience in elected public office. That is rare in American minor party politics and it a was a historic first for the Libertarian Party.
An in-house survey by David Nolan was sent to Ron Paul, Russell Means, and VP designate Marrou in 1987. The questions themselves are as revealing about the 1987-1988 Libertarian Party mindset as the answers. Here are some of the questions and answers between Nolan and Marrou.
Nolan: Every candidate has two or three "core issues" which he or she emphasizes in his or her campaign. What issues to you plan to stress, and how will you tie them together into a coherent package?
Marrou: I do not have any "core issues" other than the obscene size and cost of government, which leads to interference with private lives. Cutting government as much as possible, as quickly as possible, is my overwhelming concern.
Nolan: Do you have any disagreements with any planks in the LP platform? (Check to be sure!) If you do, what will you do when asked about your stand on these issues?
Marrou: So far as I know, I have no disagreement with the current national LP platform. A few years back, there was a plank on children's rights which lead to the silly conclusion that a four-year-old is qualified to do everything an adult can do. Although children should have their civil rights protected, the debate as to what constitutes an adult will, I'm sure, continue. As to abortion, I am pro-choice at least up to the point of natural viability--that is, where the fetus can live outside the womb naturally without artificial help. Government certainly should protect citizens of whatever age, but the point at which a fetus becomes a "citizen" will continue to be argued, since it a moral/religious issue. There may be some agreement that government should not be involved during the first six months of pregnancy, approximately the point of natural viability.
Nolan: As you may know, I [Nolan] have long advocated that our candidates for President and Vice-President abandon any pretense that they are "running to win," and instead use their campaigns to generate support for our Congressional candidates. What is your strategic vision for this campaign?
Marrou: As the LP's VP nominee, my main effort will go into building the LP nationwide. While the Presidential nominee is going to the big cities and being on TV, I plan to hit the smaller cities and towns, attending rallies and signing up members in addition to raising funds for my campaign and the local or state LP. In so doing, I would seek out the local press--printed and electronic--for interviews to spread the LP philosphy on a local level. Of course, I would participate in whatever available debates among the VP candidates may occur.
Nolan: ... To what extent will you "clear" your campaign material through the party's Review Committee to make sure it conforms with the party's official positions?
Marrou: I was not aware that the national LP required or even suggested that my campaign material be "cleared" through the Review Committee. That smacks of the fealty oaths so beloved by the Republicans. Although I have nothing to hide, and consider myself as "pure" a Libertarian as anybody, nonetheless submitting my material to someone else is distasteful. In fact, in 1984 I refused $1,000 from the LP of Anchorage because they wanted control of my advertising. This holier-than-thou attitude is destructive and somewhat adolescent, amounting to one of the self-wrought plagues of the LP. If anyone should be passing upon the "libertarianness" of any material, it should be me, since I have explained and defended the philosophy under the most adverse circumstances during the last two years in the Alaska Legislature. In addition, I served on the Platform Committee of the Alaska LP for three years, including one year as Chairman. I know the LP philosophy upside-down and backwards. It is natural to me-- I don't have to memorize the platform.
Nolan: Some people have suggested that our candidates might find it appropriate to endorse other parties' candidates for lower offices in cases where no Libertarian is running, and another party's candidate is substantially in agreement with our positions. Under what circumstances, if any, would you make such endorsements?
Marrou: Under no circumstances should the LP endorse candidates of another party, regardless of the situation. If these other candidates are "substantially" libertarian, then they should run as Libertarians. In fact, the By-Laws of the Alaska LP prohibit such endorsements, and the national LP by-laws should too, if they don't already.
In Oct. 1987 Morrou told a reporter he estimated the ticket would receive between 2 million to 12 million votes.
Some electioneering quotes from Morrou according to the newspapers--
From our standpoint, we'd do best if Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson are the nominees because I don't think people want to see a preacher in the White House.
Most people are Libertarians and they just don't know it. They want lower taxes, less government interference and more freedom. Democrats and Republicans offer the opposite. It's just a matter of time before our ideas catch on.
Generally, with the exception of the coastal states, the further west you go in the U.S., things get better and better. We have the Old West tradition-- taking care of yourself.
If Jefferson were alive today, standing here, he'd be telling you exactly what I'm telling you.
For all intents and purposes the Democrats are left-wing socialists and the Republicans are right-wing socialists.
Some journalists seemed more obsessed with Marrou's French surname and his facial hair than they were with his policies.
Although their national finish of 0.47% seems minuscule, their result was nearly the total of all the other third parties combined. It was also their second highest percentage of their five Presidential elections up to that point. On the ballot in 46 states + DC they continued to be seen as a party of the Far West with their strongest percentages in: Alaska 2.74%, Montana 1.38%, Idaho 1.30%, Kansas 1.26%, Oregon 1.23%, Utah 1.16%, Wyoming 1.15%, Arizona 1.14%, Colorado 1.13%, Nevada 1.01%, and New Hampshire 1.00%.
In Washington State, where Dukakis barely won, one could make an argument that the Paul/Marrou ticket were the spoilers. Their 2.74% result in Alaska would be the last time the Libertarians cracked 2.00% in a state Presidential vote until 2012.
By the next election in 1992 Paul endorsed Republican Pat Buchanan in the primaries. Marrou would go on to be the Presidential nominee for the LP and generate his own controversies which I will cover when I profile his VP running-mate.
Election history:
1982 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1985-1987 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party)
1986 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1987 - Libertarian Party nomination for US President - defeated
1992 - US President (Libertarian Party) - defeated
Other occupations: real estate
Notes:
"Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your
Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult."--Andre Marrou
"Republicans don't want anyone having more fun than they do, and the Democrats don't want anyone
making more money than they do. Libertarians want you to make money and have fun."--Andre
Marrou
Grandparents came from France.
Moved to Nevada after his 1986 defeat in Alaska.
