Elliot Israel Greenspan, June 1, 1949 -
VP candidate for Six Million Jobs (1992)
Running mate with nominee: Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019)
Popular vote: 2,095 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In 1992 Lyndon LaRouche joined the ranks of Presidential candidates running for the office from behind bars. It was his fifth run for the White House. His followers called him a political prisoner, but the courts convicted him of fraud and income tax evasion. For awhile he shared a cell with another convicted fraud, televangelist Jim Bakker. Bakker would later reflect, "To say that Lyndon was slightly paranoid would be like saying the Titanic had a bit of a leak." Even though LaRouche was incarcerated in Minnesota at the Federal Medical Center, Rochester (FMC Rochester) serving a 15 year term starting in 1989, he listed his residence as Round Hill, Va. for the ballot.
Although Wikipedia says LaRouche's run "was only the second-ever campaign for president from prison," that is inaccurate. By 1992 there had already been several Presidential campaigns by prisoners, although all of them including Eugene Debs had lacked the financial resources of the LaRouche organization.
As per his M.O., LaRouche initially ran in the Democratic primaries and then moved to an independent campaign.
LaRouche's official running-mate in 1992 was James Bevel. The one exception to Bevel sharing the ballot was in New Jersey, where Elliot I. Greenspan was listed as LaRouche's VP under the banner of Six Million Jobs.
Greenspan was an early LaRouche loyalist dating back to the US Labor Party days. News accounts of Greenspan's campaigns in the 1970s mention occasional shouting matches, physical attacks, and being escorted off premises.
A frequent candidate for public office, he was a running in the Democratic primary for US Congress in New Jersey when he became a person of interest along with others during an investigation that ultimately resulted with LaRouche's prison sentence. Greenspan actually had a little jail time in the course of those events.
The LaRouche/Greenspan ticket placed 8th out of 13 in New Jersey with 0.06% of the popular vote.
Election history:
1975 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1976 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (US Labor Party) - defeated
1977 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1978 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (US Labor Party) - defeated
1979 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1983 - New Jersey State Senate (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1984 - US Senate (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1985 - Governor of New Jersey (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1986 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1990 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
2001 - Governor of New Jersey (Democratic) - primary - defeated
Other occupations: teacher, activist for LaRouche organization
Notes:
Winner of the 1984 race was Bill Bradley.
Winner of the 2001 race was Jim McGreevey.
Still a LaRouche activist to the present day.
