Below: A. Peter Crane
Connie Chandler, February 20, 1935 - October 4, 2008 (Utah)
VP candidate for Independent Party of Utah (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Alma Petersen Crane (1924-2002)
Popular vote: 1,101 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Utah businessman Merrill Cook was one of the prime organizers of the Independent Party of Utah in 1988. Chiefly an anti-taxation effort occupied by mostly former Republicans, the Party ran a slate of candidates in the Beehive State in the 1990s. Cook himself ran for Governor and US Congress under the IPU banner, spending a few million of his own dollars in the process, and did quite well for a third party. In 1992 for Governor he placed 2nd with 33.54%, ahead of the Democrat.
But by 1995 Cook had given up on the IPU and rejoined the Republican Party. He told the press, "I put a lot of time, energy, and money into it. But unlike five years ago, when I thought it could make it, now I don't think a third party can succeed in Utah." In that year he ran for US Congress as a Republican and won a seat he held until 2001.
Meanwhile, those remaining in the IPU had been flirting with the idea of merging with a larger independent national party. They aligned themselves with the short-lived Patriot Party until that organization became absorbed into Ross Perot's Reform Party. The Patriot Party was seen by many as too heavily influenced by leaders of the former New Alliance Party, although the platform was much more centrist and included privatization of Social Security and a flat tax.
The Independent Party of Utah apparently did not want to endorse the Reform Party, and so their 1996 convention, which was reported to have less than a dozen participants, nominated semi-retired physician A. Peter Crane of Murray, Utah for President and Connie Chandler of Ogden as VP. Crane's letters to the editor and public statements of that era could be characterized as states' rights, pro-term limits, and a conservative interpretation of strict Constitutionalism. He was also ran a 1992 campaign for US Congress as a IPU candidate.
The Crane/Chandler ticket placed 8th out of 12 on the ballot in the Beehive State, with 0.17% of the popular vote. The Independent Party of Utah dissolved after the 1998 elections. Although many of their views are parallel, the Independent Party of Utah should not be confused with the Utah Independent American Party, which coexisted with them in the 1990s.
Given the IPU's seriousness about the Constitution, surely they must have known that in the event of victory that document would have presented a complication with both people on the ticket being residents of the same state.
Election history: none
Other occupations: court reporter
Buried: ?
Notes:
Loved tap dancing.
Described herself in 1988 "as a non-Mormon living in the heart of Mormondom ..."
