Vacant
VP candidate for Independent (aka No Party Affiliation aka Modern Whig Party) (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Terrance James O'Hara (b. 1952)
Popular vote: 1 (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. (aka Angry Grandpa) jumped into the race as an Independent and declared, "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!!!"
Green was not the only one that year to disdain a running-mate. Terrance James "T.J." O'Hara a corporate turnaround specialist from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. filed with the FEC for President Nov. 30, 2011 with party given as "none."
Perhaps anticipating the results of the 2016 election, O'Hara said in his campaign announcement, "We live in an age when politicians have become celebrities and celebrities have become politicians. The Presidency shouldn't be treated as if it were a personal or political trophy. Instead, it should be recognized for what it is: the ultimate position of civil service. I appreciate that distinction and will bring the commitment, respect, and depth of leadership experience it deserves."
O'Hara had apparently attempted to gain the nomination of the ill-fated Americans Elect project. He was endorsed or nominated (sources differ) by the Modern Whig Party. His platform was fairly centrist ("Extreme views lead to extreme failures"), but his real focus was on form rather than content. He was offering to find an alternative to party politics and have public policy achieved by what he viewed as rational, collaborative processes.
On Oct. 4, 2012, O'Hara's campaign issued the following press release--
Presidential candidate, T.J. O'Hara, announces his unique choice for V.P.
Washington, D.C., (PRBuzz.com) October 8, 2012 -- Leading independent Presidential candidate, T.J. O'Hara, has made history again. Last month, he became the first Presidential candidate to earn the endorsement of the Modern Whig Party since 1852. Now, he is actually going to allow the Constitution to decide who his Vice President will be if he is elected."It's perfectly consistent with my approach," O'Hara said. "One of the fundamental purposes of my campaign is to create a more informed electorate, and most people are unaware of the actual process that determines who serves as President and Vice President."
O'Hara continued, "The Twelfth Amendment states that there shall be two separate ballots: one for President and one for Vice President. Then, without getting too technical, the electors of each state cast a vote for each specific office. The Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates with the greatest number of votes, assuming that each represents a majority of the appointed electors, are declared President and Vice President , respectively."
He is correct. With respect to Vice President, Amendment XII states: "The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed..." This Amendment was ratified in 1804. Prior to that time, all candidates essentially ran for President. The candidate who received the greatest number of votes (with a majority) became President, and the candidate with the second highest number of votes became Vice President.
O'Hara said, "Most citizens are unaware of the actual process. They have been conditioned to believe that they have to vote for a party ticket that pairs Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the same party. That simply isn't true. You can vote for whomever you choose for President and Vice President regardless of party affiliation. The Democrats and Republicans would just prefer that you didn't know that."
When asked why he chose not to follow tradition and name a Vice Presidential running mate, O'Hara stated, "Why should I? I'm totally non-partisan. It makes no difference to me whether my Vice President is an independent, a Democrat, a Republican, or a member of any other party. I know that I ultimately have to demonstrate the ability to work with elected officials of all persuasions. Part of the problem in Washington, D.C., is that a party President is tied to his or her party and inherently treats anyone outside of that party as an opponent. That has to change. So, I'm comfortable accepting whoever the Constitution determines should be my Vice President."
O'Hara's candidacy has been distinguished by its character and logic. Once again, he proves it's hard to argue with the Constitution.
O'Hara was a registered write-in in at least four states: Idaho, Maryland, Montana, and Washington. Maryland reported a single vote.
Election history: none
Other occupations: none
Notes:
"My mother and father were first generation Americans. My maternal grandparents came to this country from Italy, and my paternal grandparents came from Ireland. My mother was Protestant, and my father was Catholic; and my mother was a Democrat, and my father was a Republican. If that isn’t diversity, I don’t know what is."--T.J. O'Hara.
