Vacant
VP candidate for Independent (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Charles Marvin Green Jr. (1950-2017)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Every now and then I run across Presidential nominees who deliberately do not select a Vice Presidential running-mate and if I find their reasons to be of interest I'll include them here. In 1940 Gracie Allen of the Surprise Party did not have a Vice-President because her administration would not abide any vice. Jean Pierre, an independent in 1972, said she considered a VP position to be "unnecessary" and refused to name a running-mate.
Jim Berg and Tim Nyberg, brothers-in-law in Minnesota, are humorists, authors, and performers who have operated under the name of The Duct Tape Guys since 1993. In four consecutive elections, 1996-2008, they ran for President as a marketing gimmick. Their 1996 run was apparently sort of under the radar compared to their later efforts from what I can glean. It was their stated intention to share the Presidency, "The Office of President is too big a position for any one person, therefore, Jim and Tim will share the Presidency. The Vice President really doesn't do that much anyway, and we can use the extra office to warehouse extra duct tape rolls."
Robert Bryant Winn, who ran for President 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 was quite pointed in not including a running-mate.
In 2012 a gentleman named Charles Marvin Green Jr. jumped into the race as an Independent. Green, a resident of South Carolina, was a popular Internet/Youtube personality known as Angry Grandpa, frequently posting his opinions and slices of life on his channel GrandPas Corner. His entry for Sept. 11, 2012 shows him driving on the freeway as he cusses out other drivers in between expressing his disgust with the major political parties and asking viewers to write him in on Election Day as an alternative.
Angry Grandpa's 2012 platform included legalization of recreational marijuana (which was already on the verge of happening in my state of Washington and in Colorado), increasing the military budget, and "making this a one-religion country-- Grandpa Religion!" As for VP, "Who's gonna be my Vice-President? Hell, I don't need one!!! I'll do it all by my Goddamn self!!! Vote for Grandpa!!! Vote for Grandpa!!!" In the end Green discourages his viewers from voting at all unless it is for him.
Angry Grandpa For President merchandise joined the already large catalog of Angry Grandpa franchise items. Some of the material was still being sold during the 2016 election season, but it appears he did not officially declare his candidacy that year.
Election history: none
Other occupations: none
Notes:
If Green had emerged victorious on Election Day, it would have been up to the US Senate to fill the VP vacancy. Now there's an interesting "what if?" scenario.
