Gail Katherine Lightfoot, September 18, 1937 (Santa Monica, Calif.) -
VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent Republican) (2008)
Running mate with nominee: Ronald Ernest Paul (b. 1935)
Popular vote: 17,006 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In 2008 Ron Paul was still a sitting member of the US House of Representatives for his district in Texas. Although he had indeed been a member of the Libertarian Party and was even their Presidential nominee in 1988, he always operated as a card-carrying Republican when holding public office, albeit somewhat as an outlier.
Rep. Paul had been running for President in the Republican primaries in 2008, usually standing out in the debates as being the most vocal candidate to oppose the foreign military adventures that had been initiated by the George W. Bush administration. By June 2008 it was obvious lightning wasn't going to strike and Paul dropped out of the race with not enough delegates to really make an impact.
Some call him conservative, or a libertarian Republican, but I have always thought of Ron Paul as a political party unto himself beyond conventional classification not unlike Ralph Nader. Paul enjoys a base of support that some commentators describe as a personality cult. Many of his followers refused to allow his campaign to die in 2008 and by November he was either a certified write-in or actually on the ballot in a couple states. Paul's role in all of this seemed to be mostly passive.
The Draft Paul movement resulted in write-in votes from five states: California (with VP Gail Lightfoot), Illinois, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In California his name was associated with both the Republican and Libertarian parties, but in the other write-ins he was merely a Republican. He was also on the ballot in two states. In Montana he was listed under the Constitution Party with Michael Peroutka as his VP and in Louisiana under the Louisiana Taxpayers Party with Barry Goldwater Jr. as the running-mate. Paul earned a combined total of 42,426 reported popular votes (0.03%) in 2008.
Perennial Libertarian candidate and former California state chair Gail Lightfoot was able to round up enough disgruntled Party members in 2008 to fill the Elector positions and help register Ron Paul as an official write-in in The Golden State. And in the process she became the running-mate.
"I may get more votes as Ron Paul's running mate than I did as a Libertarian candidate. And a lot of Libertarians are going to be upset with me," she was quoted.
The Paul/Lightfoot ticket finished with 0.13% of the vote in California. In the end, Rep. Paul endorsed Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party for President.
Lightfoot made more news after the election than during it when she joined the "birther" conspiracy theorists and became part of the legal case Lightfoot v. Bowen, California lawsuit, Obama not eligible, Dr. Orly Taitz, Petition for Extraordinary Writ for Mandamus for Stay, Gail Lightfoot, Vice Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, co-Plaintiffs, Electors, Constitution Party, December 3, 2008 alleging that "the swearing of Mr. Obama is null and void due to the fact that he was sworn in on a name that is not legally his name and he is a foreign subject from birth and now and never qualified as a Natural Born US Citizen."
In a video of that time period she is shown identifying herself to an apparent "Tea Party Patriot" rally as a "Three Percenter" descendant. This is based on the claim that only three percent of American colonists fought in the Revolution to oppose British autocracy.
Election history:
1983 - Bonita Unified School District Board (Calif.) (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1984 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1988 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1990 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1996 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1998 - California Secretary of State (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2000 - Libertarian Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated
2000 - US Senate (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2002 - California Secretary of State (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2004 - US Senate (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2006 - California Secretary of State (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2008 - Libertarian Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated
2010 - US Senate (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2012 - US Senate (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2014 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2016 - US Senate (Calif.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2018 - California Secretary of State (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
Other occupations: nurse, public access TV producer
Notes:
2000 US Senate opponents included Diane Feinstein (winner) and Diane Beall Templin.
2010 opponents included Barbara Boxer (winner), Carly Fiorina, Marsha Feinland, James E. Harris, and Jerry Carroll.
2012 opponents included Diane Feinstein (winner) and Marsha Feinland.
Winner of the 2014 election was Kevin McCarthy.
Winner of the 2016 race was Kamala Harris.
Former Member, Young Republicans and campaigned for Goldwater in 1964, joined Libertarian Party in 1972.
