Richard John Santorum, May 10, 1958 (Winchester, Va.) -
VP candidate for Independent Republican (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Barbara Ann Marie Prokopich (b. 1943)
Popular vote: 35 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Barb Prokopich of (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Elk, Wash. in Spokane County ran for US President in 2012 as a registered write-in in nine states apparently feeling that the Republican Party was not conservative enough. On Nov. 1, 2012 the Spokesman-Review reported she "doesn't agree with Romney's policies although she would've picked Paul Ryan as a running mate." Ryan was already called for but as it turns out she had at least three VP choices on record-- Allen R. "Al" Farnham, Rick Santorum, and Scott Brown.
Al Farnum appears to be Prokopich's son, who lived in nearby Chattaroy, Wash. In 1992 the Looking Back Party ran Isabell Masters with Walter Ray Master, which I believe is the first mother-son ticket. 1996 saw Daniel Steven Burkhardt, an Independent, with his mother Georgia Loyce Burkhardt as the VP, the first son-mother ticket that I can ascertain. The family relationship between Prokopich and Farnham would not be an issue with the Constitution, but the fact they were residents of the same state would certainly have been an issue.
Prokopich told a reporter, "I can do a whole lot better. We don't have to have the same kind of game rules, we don't have to be run by the government and we can be run together, as a family and a team. An American team," and added, "If a poor person can learn to spend with less, then why can't the top of the brass do the same?"
Exactly how and why former US Sen. Rick Santorum came to be Prokopich's write-in running mate only in the State of Minnesota is sort of a mystery to me. Oddly, Al Farnham, her VP in some other states, served as an Elector but not as the running-mate in Minnesota. One wonders if Santorum was aware he was honored with this nomination. In 2012 the self-described Christian Conservative Culture Warrior Santorum was busy attempting to secure the Republican nomination for President but ended as the runner-up to Mitt Romney.
One of the problems with researching a political campaign that took place in Century 21 is if the candidate used social media like Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook, and then deleted most everything after the election as Prokopich appears to have done, that information vanishes forever. Future historians are going to find it quite maddening when they try to make sense of our era.
Prokopich received 41 recorded write-in votes total. Vice Presidents were not reported in Idaho, Illinois (4 votes), Maryland (2 votes), Washington, and West Virginia. We know she intended Brown to be her running mate in Maryland but cannot guess who would be in the others. Farnham was the VP in Alaska, Kentucky, and Montana, with zero votes reported for all three. Santorum was the VP in Minnesota with 35 votes, her best result in any state.
Election history:
1991-1995 - US House of Representatives (Penn.) (Republican)
1995-2007 - US Senate (Penn.) (Republican)
2006 - US Senate (Penn.) (Republican) - defeated
2012 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
2016 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
Other occupations: attorney, state senator aide, author, TV pundit, consultant, movie producer
Notes:
His father was an immigrant from Italy.
Endorsed Rubio, then Trump in 2016.
Brush with Fame. The younger brother of a friend went to school with Santorum in Butler, Penn.
