Michael Alan Steinberg, February 6, 1959 -
VP candidate for American Delta Party (aka Reform Party of the United States of America aka Non Affiliated aka Independent Democratic aka Independent aka Unaffiliated) (2016)
Running mate with nominee: Roque De La Fuente Guerra (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 33,136 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Michael Steinberg, an attorney in Florida, filed for President with the FEC on Nov. 13, 2013 as a Democrat. His webpage revealed a centrist approach to the issues. The FAQ section was the most interesting part--
Q. According to recent polls, Hillary Clinton is the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Why are you wasting your time?
A. Hillary Clinton has not even announced whether she is going to run yet. She will be 69 years old in 2016. She may decide that she does not want to run. If she does not run, who are the other choices? Joe Biden might run, but he will be 74 years old and he does not appear to have a huge base of support. There are other potential candidates, but none who are nationally recognized, except by people who avidly follow politics. If Hillary does not run, the race is wide open.
Q. But no one has heard of you. You are not even on the radar as a candidate. How do you expect anyone to vote for you?
A. In today's social media world, anything can happen. A video can go viral. The news media may focus on Social Security or Veterans Affairs, in which matters I have substantial experience. Sure it's a long shot, but if given the exposure, I believe I will be able to demonstrate that I am qualified.
Q. How do you plan on raising money?
A. Good question. First, I have to ask myself, why do I contribute money to candidates. If you go to the FEC.gov website and search my name, you will see that I have contributed a lot of money to political candidates and committees. If a candidate supports an issue about which I feel strongly, I will support his or her campaign, even if he or she is an underdog. This is because the candidate is voicing an opinion about this issue and bringing it to the attention of the public and media. While I have a broad range of experience and have studied most of the issues which might be raised in the 2016 election, the issues in which I have the most passion are the sustainability of the Social Security programs, healthcare, and Veterans benefits. There are attorneys and healthcare providers who might contribute to the campaign to insure that these issues are discussed and debated. Of course, I would have to have some notoriety, to expect contributions, as I doubt they would throw their money away on a complete unknown.
Q. So how do you propose to gain "notoriety"?
A. I have a few ideas, which I will share. If someone is reading this, they probably searched a web browser using words such as "2016 primary candidates" or "2016 primary elections". Last year I decided to purchase the URL www.2016primary.com. I figured that when people were searching for information about the 2016 primary elections, these are the words they would put in the search engine. When they saw " vote for Michael Steinberg in the Democratic Presidential primaries", out of curiosity, some might check out my website. My hunch was correct. My website usually comes up on the first page of a search for information about 2016 presidential primary candidates. My website has already been visited by many people, and I suspect, that as the primaries draw closer, more people will visit my website. Eventually, a reporter might do a story about lesser known candidates. If the opportunity arises, I am confident that I will be able to demonstrate that I am knowledgeable about the issues, and have the experience necessary to perform the job.
Q. Do you have any skeletons in your closet?
A. Not really. I never used drugs, I rarely drink, and never to excess, I have been married only once and am still married after 30 years. I have never been arrested, However, no one is perfect.
When I was young, I did stand-up comedy and have told inappropriate jokes. I also trained to be a professional wrestler. I missed a deadline on an appeal once and was admonished by the Florida Bar. About 20 years ago I, along with some friends, thought it would be funny to open a bagel store where the waitresses would wear lingerie outfits. That lasted about 6 months. Needless to say, that wasn't such a great idea. Many years ago I was late paying my income taxes and had a tax lien for a few days. That's about it.
Q. Your campaign sounds interesting. How can I help?
A. You can contribute a few dollars using the contribution page, You can volunteer to help collect petition signatures, and you can post a link to my website on your Facebook page.
I will soon have a youtube channel. You can subscribe to my channel and "like" my videos.
Meanwhile, San Diego businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra filed with the FEC as also as a Democrat for President on Oct. 1, 2015.
Considering there were over 50 Democratic candidates both De La Fuente and Steinberg didn't do too badly in terms of the popular vote in the primaries. De La Fuente ranked #5 (after Clinton, Sanders, Uncommitted, and O'Malley) and Steinberg was 10th.
Even though his address on his FEC form in early 2016 was still in San Diego, De La Fuente filed to run the Democratic primaries for US Senate in Florida in June, 2016. He would repeat this out-of-state tactic for the Senate in at least 9 states in 2018. Also around June 2016, he founded the American Delta Party as a vehicle to continue his Presidential run as a third party candidate.
De La Fuente was also nominated by the Reform Party and at some point Steinberg landed the VP spot no matter the party label. The American Third Party Report posted an interview with Reform Party Secretary Nicholas Hensley in Aug. 2016 and this backstory was included--
Question: The Reform Party chose Roque de la Fuente as its presidential candidate. Can you tell us why that decision was made, and how it came to be?
Answer: Turn out for minor party conventions are motivated by two factors. The first factor is a competitive presidential nomination. Up until two or three weeks before the convention, we had two candidates. We were sure of the final outcome.
The second factor is internal contention over office elections, platform planks, and bylaws. We knew how those votes were going to fall, and no one wished to contest the likely outcomes. These factors created a foreseeable low turnout convention.
About two or three weeks before the election, in a three day time span, Roque de la Fuente and Darcy Richardson announced their intentions to run. I wish those announcements happened six months ago, so we had more time to vet the campaigns, and learn more about them.
Both of the candidates were formidable, and both had great things going for them. This means we had to weigh the pro’s and con’s of the four candidates. Look at numerous factors, and figure out which candidate was the best fit.
Darcy Richardson and Ken Cross were the two safe choices. Both of them were going to have little exposure, run on the pre-existing Reform Party lines, and circle the wagons. We knew them as people, and understood the risks surrounding them. These were two “defensive investments”.
Both Lynn Kahn and Roque de la Fuente came with more risk. They were both new to the Reform Party, but were qualifying on more ballots. This created a risk versus reward scenario, and we had to weigh those measures. Due to these unknown risks and rewards, specifically on Roque de la Fuente’s side, we needed more time for research.
Of course Roque de la Fuente won out. Roque and the Reform Party were in agreement on ninety percent of the platform issues. Roque had deeper pockets and better fundraising abilities. He had more exposure, and he was able to assemble over twenty ballot lines. He also had a campaign staff, and better organizational structure. All of these were factors in the decision.
The ticket made the ballot in 20 states and were registered write-ins in a dozen more. In addition to the American Delta and Reform parties, they were sometimes listed as Democrats. They had a potential of 269 Electoral votes if they had carried every state, leaving them with a single vote left to take the White House.
Their best reported results: Alaska 0.39%, Vermont 0.33%, Montana 0.32%, Wyoming 0.27%, Nevada 0.23%, Idaho 0.20%, Tennessee 0.16%, Rhode Island 0.14%, North Dakota 0.11%, and Florida 0.10%. They finished in 8th place nationally.
Election history:
2002 - Florida State House of Representatives (Democratic) - defeated
2006 - US House of Representatives (Fla.) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
2010 - Florida State House of Representatives (Democratic) - defeated
2016 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
Other occupations: attorney
Notes:
Graduate of the University of Florida.
