Christopher Bennett, August 30, 1972 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) -
VP candidate for Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (aka Libertarian Party aka Boston Tea Party) (2008)
Running mate with nominee: George David Joseph Phillies (b. 1947)
Popular vote: 531 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
George Phillies of Massachusetts is a physics professor noted for his studies of light scattering, soaps, and polymer solutions. He is also an author of science fiction stories and is interested in game theory. In 1988 he left the Republican Party, "I am not a social conservative. When George Bush attached himself to the 'Christian Right' he took the Republican Party his way and I went my way." Phillies found a home with the Libertarian Party and by 2000 had already served as the State Director and ran for the US Senate and House as the LP nominee.
By the 2008 election season Phillies, after making several unsuccessful attempts to attain the office of the LP National Chair, shifted his efforts to winning the nomination for President. In the LP selecting the position of Vice-President is more autonomous than in the major parties which results in interesting potential alliances and proposed tickets being formed long before the convention. Such was the case when Phillies announced his VP choice was Karen Kwiatkowski. But that declaration was short-lived as Kwiatkowski reconsidered the situation and kept her options open.
Meanwhile, third parties are forced to file "stand-in" candidates for President in some states before the official party nominations in order to meet bureaucratic deadlines and get around laws that were designed to discourage those who do not adhere to the two-party system. Usually the "stand-in" will step aside after the party qualifies for the ballot and the official nominee is selected but in some cases the hosting state will not allow that change. Massachusetts and New Hampshire selected Phillies as their choice in the course of their LP primaries and his was naturally the name they filed. His running mate was Chris Bennett of Illinois, who was also the VP for stand-in Debra Aaron in his home state.
About two weeks prior to the LP convention, former Rep. Bob Barr announced he was running for the nomination. Barr had previously served as a Republican from Georgia in the US House and had joined the LP in 2006. His conservative voting credentials included a very un-Libertarian track record especially in regard to supporting the War on Drugs, he authored the anti-Gay Defense of Marriage Act, he voted for the Patriot Act, voted for the Iraq Resolution, and once attempted to ban Wiccans from the military. Although the candidate had claimed to have changed his stripes, many Libertarians were not convinced, considered him a carpetbagger, and decided to walk away after Barr obtained the nomination.
Phillies was out after the third ballot (and declined to endorse anyone), Barr was in after the sixth ballot. Some of the more purist LP refugees migrated to the newly formed Boston Tea Party, which in turn endorsed Phillies in New Hampshire where he already was grandfathered on the ballot as a "stand-in."
There are mixed messages in the news sources of the time about Phillies' attitude. The Aug. 9, 2008 Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported in part--
George D. J. Phillies is a reluctant candidate. Actually, he says he's not a candidate at all.
The Worcester man, a physics professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is so unwilling to stand for office in November's election that he is taking part in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts against Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office seeking to be removed from the ballot as the Libertarian Party's standard-bearer for president.
Mr. Phillies, 60, says that while his party's state committee chose him as its nominee here, he told state election officials in Mr. Galvin's office last spring that if he did not win the national nomination at the party's convention in Denver last May, he would want the winner to substitute for his place on the state ballot ...
After the May 25 convention, Mr. Phillies asked the Secretary of State's office if he could substitute the names of Mr. Barr and Mr. Barr's running mate, New York businessman Wayne A. Root, for his name. But in June, election division officials denied the request….
Mr. Phillies is not a big fan of Mr. Barr, even though he says he plans to vote for him and supports him as his party's nominee ...
But at the same time a Boston Tea Party press release stated--
With the disintegrating Libertarian Party conducting a lackluster campaign on behalf of national nominee Bob Barr, Phillies chose to continue running an active effort of his own.
'Freedom-lovers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire will not be deprived of the opportunity to support a libertarian presidential ticket so long as I have the ability to offer them that opportunity,' says Phillies, 61, of Worcester.
And the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire website merely stated: "There is some confusion regarding the Libertarian Presidential Candidate. George Phillies is the LPNH candidate chosen at convention in November of 2007. Bob Barr is the national LP candidate chosen at convention in May 2008."
Phillies' campaign website continued to represent him as an active candidate up to Election Day where he was identified as "New Hampshire Libertarian Presidential candidate George Phillies." Apparently the national party attempted and failed to remove Phillies from the New Hampshire ballot so the end result was that Granite State voters had two Libertarians to choose from.
In 2008 Chris Bennett, Phillies' VP, graduated as an older student from the University of Illinois Springfield with a BA in Economics and Political Science. In 2007 he expressed a desire to be the LP VP nominee. Bennett stood out in the LP for three distinct reasons: 1. He literally stood out due to his height, 6 ft. 9 in. ; 2. He was pro-life in a pro-choice party ; 3. He was African American in a very white party.
On Oct. 15, 2007 Bennett told the Springfield State Journal-Register how he converted from a Democrat to a Libertarian--
Bennett was soft-spoken as he explained in an interview how he realized, after working on Bill Clinton’s primary campaign in 1992, that he didn’t really believe in Clinton’s platform.
“I just didn’t like how he wanted more government in more stuff,” Bennett said. “I didn’t like government having more control over the health-care situation, as Hillary tried to do and she’s proposing to do now.”
So, Bennett said, “I went soul searching.”
“The Republicans didn’t feel right,” he said. “They never really do reach out to minorities or a lot of women. And the Democrats, it just seems like they were taking the black vote for granted. So I decided ‘I’m going to search for another party.’”
Bennett had seen a Libertarian Party convention on C-SPAN. The convention included an African-American candidate for the presidential nomination, Richard Boddie.
“He was saying stuff that I really agreed with,” said Bennett, who is black.
Bennett now has been a Libertarian activist for more than 15 years, including working as scheduling coordinator during the late Aaron Russo’s 2004 attempt to be the Libertarian nominee for president.
As a result of the Barr nomination Bennett left the LP. He subsequently made a failed bid for the VP position with the Boston Tea Party. In leaving the LP Bennett included in his statement--
Let's face it, there is a purge going on. Those in control of the LP want the party to be more conservative and less libertarian. You know leaving the party to rot isn't such a bad idea. If you want to run as a real libertarian, do it as an Independent or the Boston Tea Party. I will still support real Libertarian candidates. Stop supporting National! Without your funds they can't survive. If you really feel compelled to stay in the LP, do it within your state and local organizations. Don't let National run your ballot access drives and do not let them contribute a dime to those efforts.
Bennett was considering running for BTP National Chair, but in Oct. 2008 the Party basically imploded over a variety of issues. He released this statement on Oct. 20--
I hereby withdrawal my name from being a candidate for Chair and resign
my position on the NAT-COM. I hereby remove any affiliation from the
BTP, it's endorsed candidates and any other capacity hereon to this. I
feel friendships are more valuable than petty party politics and will do
better achieving my goals elsewhere. I also withdrawal my support of
the Jay/Knapp ticket. I realized that life was much better beforehand
and at 36 I have better things to do than to just bounce from party to
party to party searching for the right mix. Thanks for the wonderful
roller coaster ride! Can I puke now? [sic]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/btpnc-talk/message/217
The Phillies/Bennett ticket finished with 531 votes in New Hampshire (0.07%) as opposed to the Barr/Root tally of 2,217 votes (0.31%). Ron Paul's write-in votes added up to 1,092 (0.15%) in that state.
Election history:
2008 - Libertarian Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated
2008 - Boston Tea Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated
Other occupations: cook, campaign consultant
Notes:
Phillies "also has the largest collection of board war games in the world."
