VP candidate for Unaffiliated (2016)
Running mate with nominee: Edward Michael Tonsing (b. 1965)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Ed Tonsing of Louisburg, Kan. filed as an Unaffiliated candidate for President with the FEC on Aug. 23, 2015.
Inspired, like hundreds of others, by the ease of filing as demonstrated by an Iowa teenager using the name "Deez Nuts," the auto mechanic and bassist for a Rock group called Last Nights Regret did not run a very aggressive campaign. "I signed up initially to just see how easy it was, you know, sort of on a lark. But you know what, I might just take it a bit more serious just to show America that anyone can throw their hat into the race," he told reporter Justin Wingerter.
Tonsing's stand on the issues--
--"I chose to run ‘unaffiliated,’ and most people perceive me to be heavily conservative but I have moved more toward libertarianism as of late."
--Legalize marijuana.
--Institute a flat tax.
--Replace Social Security with a trust fund of $300,000 for Americans upon turning age 18.
--"Our tax structure, combined with heavy regulation, has driven us away from making our own iron, steel, food, toys, clothes, etc. Government interference has literally choked us out of the manufacturing business."
--Abortion: "It is neither my business nor the government’s business to contribute to or deride morally or financially that decision."
--On personal politics: "The music world is filled with all the ranges of politics, and yet we get along regardless of our political differences because we have music in common. I have jammed with the most liberal of liberals and the most conservative of conservatives with often great results and with rarely more than a heated discussion or two ... Being in the music world gives one experience dealing with sensitive people that tend to have thin skin and can be easily offended. You either learn to walk on eggshells with confidence or you don’t stay in a band for very long ... I don’t want to hurt peoples’ feelings, but sometimes a toe does need stepped on."
His running-mate was described in Wingerter's article in one cryptic sentence: "Tonsing’s choice for vice president would be a longtime friend and gay man whom he describes as 'more conservative than most self-proclaimed conservatives.'"
Election history: ?
Other occupations: ?
Notes:
Another mystery third party VP.
