VP candidate for American Party (aka Independent American Party aka Utah Independent American Party) (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Diane Beall Templin (b. 1947)
Popular vote: 1,847 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Diane Templin was a candidate in search of a party in 1996. Templin, an attorney based in Escondido, Calif. had previously run for offices as an independent and Republican. In this election she sought the nomination of the Reform Party, and was apparently a contender for the US Taxpayers Party. In earlier elections Templin had expressed the view that land mines should be used at the border to stop illegal aliens and that the Bible be included as a document upon which all of our laws should be based.
She found a venue with two parties that year, gaining ballot access in Colorado with the American Party and in Utah with the Independent American Party. Her running-mate in both states was perennial candidate Gary Van Horn. There was brief period of time in the mid-1990s when the two parties were affiliated.
Templin felt the US troops should be recalled from Bosnia and instead used to control crime in urban areas and the border to protect Americans from "the invasion of illegal drugs, substances, diseases and aliens." She pushed for the elimination of the Federal Reserve and the IRS as well as the departments of Energy, Education, and Housing. She wanted to sell much of the federally owned lands. Templin supported ending all foreign relations with China. Van Horn told the media that the major two parties were "just different wings of the Socialist Party."
The Templin/Van Horn ticket finished 7 out of 14 in Utah with 1,290 (0.19%) and 11 out of 13 in Colorado with 557 (0.04%),
Election history:
1992 - Governor of Utah (American Party) - defeated
1994 - US Senate (Utah) (American Party) - defeated
1998 - US Senate (Utah) (Independent American) - defeated
1999 - Prohibition Party nomination for President - defeated
2000 - Utah State Senate (Independent American) - defeated
2004 - US Senate (Utah) (Constitution Party) - defeated
2006 - Utah State Senate (Constitution Party) - defeated
2010 - Utah State House of Representatives (Constitution Party) - defeated
Other occupations: rocket engineer, electronics engineer, sales, inventor
Buried: Manti Cemetery (Manti, Utah)
Notes:
Washington State trivia alert! Born in Spokane and raised in Bellingham.
Scuba diver.
Held several patents.
LDS Church.
Buried in the same cemetery as Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who I actually had a connection with as we shared the same publisher, Starhead Comix.
Moved to Utah in 1964.
One of his opponents in the 1992 race was Merrill Cook.
1994 opponents included Orrin Hatch (winner) and Lawrence Rey Topham.
Very nearly became the Prohibition Party nominee for President in 1999.
