Milton Gordon

 

                                                                       Daugherty

Milton Gordon, ca1959 (Alexandria, La.) -

VP candidate for National Write In Party (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Jerry W. Wilson (b. 1968)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Jerry W. Wilson announced his Presidential campaign thusly--

put God in control elect me president in 2012
January 17, 2011
im 42 years old bornin 1968 i am a church of god preacher and i am crippled and in a nursing home. I would like to get to know each of u. and if elected president i will do everything by the bible with much prayer and supplication. i have been a member of the now defunct america 1st party and the reform party and i know have my own party ...

Apparently based in Dayton, Tenn., Jerry Wilson's 2012 Presidential campaign website has been ravaged by time, but a few phrases still survive--

oboma talks of promises well mr oboma we the people are tired of your broken promises and lies

its time to elect a new leader and Put God Control of AMERICA

Email:orionstar@rock.com TO put an end to the evil partys running this country and Put God in control of america

NO MR OBOMA YOU ARE NOT JESUS CHRIST YOU MIGHT BE THE ANTI CHRIST

abortion-im opposed to abortion of any kind because its murder plain and simple.
if ppl dont want kids then they shouldnt have sex or they should use protection plus there is adoption
 
GUN Control-we should totally checkout any ones background to see if they have a criminal past before they are allowed to purchase guns.

economy-we should tax every step to improve our economy and be more enemy effecient.

taxes-taxes should be paid by those who can afford it most the wealthiest ppl and not the middle class or poor

Goverment spending-goverment spending should be examined to where the only ones to get help from the goverment are the disabled and elderly. not women who lay up with different men and have babys for more help. or those who are able to work and are drunks or druggies

 others not listed-legalize marijuana and make adultry illegal with up to 12 years in prison for those who commit it. put prayer back in control and let Jesus be in charge and end seperation of church and state

1 term each for congressmen and senators

retired goverment officials must draw social security no paid retirement

balance national budget by 2015 start paying off the national debt by paying 1%  toward paying off the oldest debt first in 2016

equal ballot access for all political partys and candidates

All candidates running will be included in all debates

Put prayer back in school

more security for elected goverment officials

energy-america should seek to be as energy effecient as possible

foreign affairs-america shouldnt involve itself where it doesnt belong. let other countries fight thier own wars insteads of losing millions of dollars and the lives of our military men and women

Death penalty-the death penalty should be ended instead give those who deserve it life in prison without parole

immigration policies-illegal immigrats who come here illegally should be sent back where they came from.

He had started an entity called the National Write In Party and hosted a webpage with the purpose of "THIS is the 1st party for write in candidates supporting all write in candidates in 2010 and from now on if you are a write in candidate come join the NWIP and vote for an equal and justified america and against the corrupt partys. if you are a write in candidate or wish to run in the future come join the nwip."

Wilson claimed that baseball player "tony cloninger is my 3rd cousin and woodrow wilson is my great great grandfather." Since Wilson had no sons it is difficult to figure how the surname would have been passed down.

It appears Wilson went through at least three choices before a final running-mate was settled. Although the chronology is hazy, it looks like his first VP was Amy Williams Wilson, no doubt a spouse or relative. Pastor Lisa Daugherty of the Free to Worship Revival Center in Soddy Daisy, Tenn. was announced as the VP in Feb. 2011 after being chosen in an online poll which consisted of a total of "2 votes to 1." But in a Mar. 2012 Youtube, Wilson said, "I don't have a Vice-President yet, but I soon will." Subsequent ads point to Milton Gordon becoming the final choice.

Gordon was an activist in Louisiana who ran for the US Senate two years prior as an Independent. He was active in the Republican grassroots organization CenLa GoPac. His platform could be described as classic economic conservative with a heavy dose of Christian, and he ran to the Right of David Vitter, a so-called "Family Values" Republican incumbent nicknamed "Diaper Dave" due to his alleged fetish during his confirmed consorting with prostitutes. Gordon had felt the Republicans had forgotten their traditional roots, and he eschewed the Sarah Palin populist wing of the party, which had grown in popularity since 2008. Later he did not seem all that enamored of Trump, either.

In 2012 Gordon was running for City Council in his native Alexandria, La. as well being Wilson's VP, or so it appears.

Not on any ballots nor registered as write-ins that I can find, zero votes were reported for the Wilson/Gordon ticket.

Election history:
2010 - US Senate (Louisiana) (No Party Affiliation) - defeated  
2012 - Alexandria, La. City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated

Other occupations: founder of Americans Making A Difference, founding member of CenLa GoPac, landscaping business, manager in home improvement retail store, truck driver, preacher

Notes:
Vitter won the 2010 election.
Dayton, Tenn. was the site of the 1925 Scopes trial. It was also where my cousin Beth taught school back in the 1970s. When she asked her pupils to identify a word that started with the letter"T," one of them said cheerfully said, "'Tater!" [i.e. "potato"]

James N. Clymer

James N. Clymer, May 4, 1948 -

VP candidate for Independent (aka Constitution Party) (2004)
VP candidate for Constitution Party (aka Independent aka American Constitution Party aka US Taxpayers Party aka Independent American Party) (2012)

Running mate with nominee (2004): Michael Anthony Peroutka (b. 1952)
Running mate with nominee (2012): Virgil Hamlin Goode, Jr. (b. 1946)
Popular vote (2004): 2,899 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2012): 122,417 (0.09%)
Electoral vote (2004, 2012): 0/538

The campaign (2004):

After three consecutive runs, Howard Phillips declined to campaign for President in the 2004 election as the standard bearer for the Constitution Party. The torch needed to be passed.

Controversial Judge Roy Moore of Alabama toyed with the idea of running for President as the Constitution Party nominee, and it would have been his for the taking. But he decided to remain with the Republican Party.

Maryland attorney Michael Peroutka was drafted for the job, and he modestly said he would accept but would be willing to step down in the event another candidate with star power wanted the nomination. In May 2004 Peroutka was chosen, by default apparently since no Big Names stepped forward, and in turn he selected Chuck Baldwin, an independent Baptist minister, protégé of Rev. Jerry Falwell, and radio host in Florida. "The day that I received the phone call from Michael Peroutka asking me to be his running mate was one of the most shocking days of my life," Baldwin said, "Never in my wildest imagination did I anticipate such a call. I did not seek this position. I never saw it coming."

With no real competition in the form of a marquee candidate like Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan, the Peroutka/Baldwin ticket had the Right wing purists pretty much all to themselves, which might explain why they were one of the very few third parties to see an improvement in their percentages when compared to the 2000 election. They almost had some competition from a party splintered off the Reform Party in 2002 by Buchananites called the America First Party, but it imploded after a short time due to a fiasco involving the invitation and then disinvitation of Bo Gritz to speak at their convention. In 2004 the barely existent AFP endorsed Peroutka. Apparently the AFP is still around today.

The ticket was also endorsed by the white nationalist League of the South (designated as a hate group by the SPLC), the Georgia chapter of the Southern Party, and radio tabloid conspiracy host Alex Jones. They almost snagged Pat Buchanan's nod, but he eventually endorsed Bush and returned to the Republicans after leaving the Reform Party.

In the course of meeting filing deadlines before their actual convention, Party Chairman Jim Clymer was inserted as a stand-in name for Vice-President. He made it clear to the media he had no intention of becoming the permanent VP, "Michael Peroutka is running, I'm not."

It seems they were unable to replace Clymer with Baldwin only in Kansas, where the Peroutka/Clymer ticket finished 5th place out of five with 0.24% of the vote in that state. Clymer was also running as the 2004 Constitution Party candidate for the US Senate in Pennsylvania in a race won by Arlen Specter.

The campaign (2012):

Virgil Goode had covered several political affiliations by the time he became the 2012 Constitutional Party Presidential nominee. As a member of the Virginia Senate 1973-1997 and US Congress from Virginia 1997-2009 he started out as a Democrat, declared himself an independent 2000-2002, and joined the Republicans 2002-2010. He was defeated for re-election in 2008.

In most third parties someone with Goode's extensive public service in elected office would be a plus, but in the Constitution Party it could prove to be fatal particularly since Goode's voting record included supporting some neoconservative issues such as the Patriot Act and Bush administration military initiatives. However at the convention Goode was nominated over 2008 VP nominee Darrell Lane Castle. It seemed to be an indicator the Party was starting to mature as they were willing to embrace a true professional politician and all the real-life compromises that entails.

In a game of political musical chairs, Constitution Party 2004 VP and 2008 Presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin had rejoined the Republican Party about the same time Goode was leaving it.

Goode selected Jim Clymer, who was the outgoing national Party chair, as his running-mate.

Among other things Goode advocated the use of troops and walls to halt Mexican illegal immigrants from crossing the border, eliminating Obamacare, pulling the US military out of Afghanistan, ending free trade agreements, and replacing income and estate tax with sales tax.

But the press didn't really cover Goode's platform as much as they speculated how much his campaign was going to hurt Republican Mitt Romney. And for sure it seemed Goode spent more energy attacking Romney than Obama. News coverage of the Constitution Party's struggle for ballot access in the face of active Republican opposition (e.g. Pennsylvania) also overshadowed their message.

Nationally the Goode/Clymer ticket finished in 5th place and they did not end up playing the role of spoiler in any state that I can ascertain. On the ballot in 26 states and write-ins in 14 more, their strongest percentages were in South Dakota 0.65%, Wyoming 0.58%, North Dakota 0.37%, Idaho and Michigan and Virginia 0.34% each, Nevada 0.32%, Missouri 0.29%, Utah and Washington 0.28% each, Colorado and Tennessee 0.24% each.

Election history:
1992 - Pennsylvania Auditor General (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1994 - Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania (Constitution Party) - defeated
1998 - Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania (Constitution Party) - defeated
2000 - Pennsylvania Attorney General (Constitution Party) - defeated
2003 - Lancaster County Board of Commissioners (Penn.) (Constitution Party) - defeated
2004 - US Senate (Penn.) (Constitution Party) - defeated
<2013/14 - 2020> - Manor New East Precinct, Manor Township, Penn. Judge of Elections (Constitution Party)

Other occupations: attorney, Chair of the Constitution Party

Notes:
Clymer is one of the few Constitution Party members  to win an elected office.
Goode endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 election

Albert B. Moore

Albert B. Moore, July, 1939 (Warrenton, Va.) -

VP candidate for American Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee (2000): Donald Augustine Rogers (1928-2018)
Running mate with nominee (2004): Diane Beall Templin (b. 1947)
Popular vote (2000): ? (0.00%)
Popular vote (2004): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2000, 2004): 0/538

The campaign (2000):

Century 21 would not be kind to the American Party in terms of Electoral politics. Starting in election year 2000 they failed to gain ballot access in any state for all the subsequent Presidential elections to date. Yet they still nominated tickets 2000-2008, and 2016.

39 delegates assembled in Oklahoma City in late March 2000 and nominated controversial former Republican California legislator and oil man Don Rogers for President and Virginia Shaklee distributor Al Moore for VP.

Consistently in the hard Right and embracing numerous conspiracy theories, the group described itself in 2000: "The American Party is a political party of God-fearing people who are pro-life and revere the Constitution. The American Party recognizes that the right to keep and bear arms is the defense of the nation and that the New World Order is a world government to replace the Constitution ... The Campaign announces that its chief goal is to make each citizen safe and secure in their person and property and to reestablish the Constitution as the law of the land. The Campaign slogan is: NO MORE CLINTON-GORE! VOTE FOR ROGERS-MOORE! and REPLACE AL GORE WITH AL MOORE!"

The Party was quite transparent about who they considered to be the best and the brightest to occupy the highest levels of government--

ROGERS-MOORE CABINET NOMINATIONS!
State -- G. Edward Griffin
Treasury -- Byron Dale
Defense -- Robert Dornan or (USCG Ret) Capt. G. Russell Evans
Commerce -- Gov. Evan Mechum
Agriculture -- Tom Anderson
Justice -- John Ashcroft
HUD -- Bob Boyd
OMB -- Doris Feimer
HHS -- Kay Cole James
Interior -- Helen Chenoweth-Hage
Education -- Ezola Foster
Energy -- Walter Myers
Labor -- Linda Patterson
Transportation -- Douglas Joy
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff -- (USAF Ret) Gen. Benton K. Partin
VA Secretary -- Elmer Vaughan
UN -- Arly Pedersen
EPA -- Diane Templin
National Security Advisor -- Pat Buchanan
FBI -- Riley Donica
Fed Chairman -- G. Edward Griffin
Surgeon General -- Dr. Leonard Horowitz
Chief Justice -- Antonin Scalia
Supreme Court Nominees -- Diane Templin; Judge Roy Moore, Alabama; Robert Bork

Not only was the Rogers/Moore ticket not on any ballot, they apparently did not register as write-in candidates as well.

The campaign (2004):

At their convention on July 11-12, 2003 the American Party nominated Robert N. Boyd of Fortville, Ind. for President and Walter C. Thompson of Culpeper, Va. for VP. Before the month was over Boyd withdrew from the race, followed a bit later by Thompson.

The Executive Committee met at a Travelodge in Kenner, La., on Jan. 10, 2004 and selected Diane Beall Templin over Albert Moore by a vote of 7-6. Moore became the VP nominee once again. Templin had been the Presidential nominee for the Party in 1996.

Once again the American Party failed to gain ballot access or become certified write-ins in any state. Templin was running for the US Senate in California at the same time under the American Independent Party, and that appears to be where her energies were directed.

A meeting called by the Clarion Call for Convergence Committee in Aug. 2004 had attendees from America First Party, Independent American Party, and American Party. The topic was the idea of merging the parties on the far Right into one organized political entity. But the largest of them all, the Constitution Party, was not present and nothing came of it.

Here are some selections from the American Party's lengthy platform for 2004-2008:

Preamble

Members of the American Party believe that the original Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights were prepared and adopted by men acting under inspiration from Almighty God, that they are solemn compacts between the people of the states of this nation which all officers of government are under oath to obey, and that the eternal moral laws expressed therein must be adhered to or individual liberty will perish.

--From the Constitution of the American party

The purpose of the American Party is to field candidates who will restore the proper role of government as defined in the Constitution of the United States and interpreted in the tradition of our Founding Fathers. We therefore call for all citizens to inform themselves and enter the political arena with time, money, and dedicated service in order that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people may not perish from the earth.

The proper role of government is limited to those spheres of activity within which the individual citizen, in the absence of government, had the right to act. By deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed, government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm, theft, and involuntary servitude. It cannot claim the power to redistribute money or property, nor to force citizens to perform acts of charity against their will.

The American Party offers this platform in the sincere belief that these positions on the most important issues of the day are both right and necessary for peace, prosperity, justice, and domestic tranquility.

Education

The present crisis in education must be solved in stages and at several levels. First, so that no parents need defy the law by refusing to send their children to schools of which they disapprove, compulsory attendance laws should be repealed. Second, the control of schools should be returned to the local system by congressional limitation of the jurisdiction of federal courts and by an end to busing for racial balance. Third, the federal government should be eliminated entirely from interference in local schools by putting an end to federal aid. There should be no federal government control of textbooks. The selection of textbooks and approval of their content must be the responsibility of parents and local boards of education. We oppose the federal government's role in education including, but not limited to, the Federal Department of Education, "Goals 2000", "No Child Left Behind", and the total National Education Association agenda.

Fourth, the only permanently satisfactory solution to the many problems of general education - busing, curricula, discipline, drugs, the ban on prayer in schools - is decentralization of the educational system and the adoption of free enterprise methods. The education of children is the God-given responsibility of their parents, and private schools should be available without the additional burden of public (government) school taxes. Control over school policy and subject matter must be vested in the parents. To this end the American Party applauds those parents who are courageously offering their children academically superior education in private schools or at home, and extends the grateful thanks of the nation to them for refusing to relinquish the education of their children to the state.

Executive Orders

The Constitution specifies that only Congress may enact laws and that it may not delegate its legislative powers. Therefore, though the President may issue executive orders to administer the executive branch of government, neither the President nor any other officer may create laws decreed by executive agencies such as OSHA and the IRS. All such existing so-called laws should be declared void and further executive orders forbidden.

Homosexuality/Lesbianism

Homosexuality and lesbianism are a plague sweeping the nation and creating a wave of disease and immorality. Normal sex is an intimate relation between a man and a woman. All homosexual relations are acts of sodomy. People engaging in such acts should have no special rights or privileges and those living in such relationships have no familial rights or privileges such as adoption of children and legitimacy of marriage.

Labor

Labor rates must be established by the marketplace and not by government. Union membership and dues must be entirely voluntary. We favor the repeal of the National Labor Relations Act. We support Right-to-Work laws.

The use by unions of labor, donations, equipment, and money obtained from union dues and pension funds to control the candidates of political parties is both immoral and illegal. Those guilty of giving or receiving such funds should be prosecuted just as certainly as corporations which break the laws concerning campaign contributions.

Government workers hold their jobs as a privilege, not a right, and essential government services must not be interrupted by strikes by public employees. Collective bargaining by public employees must therefore be made illegal.

Public Morality

Neither Congress nor the federal courts should infringe the rights of state and local governments to enact constitutional laws restricting public obscenity, pornography, and illicit sex acts, especially prostitution and homosexuality.

Tax dollars must not be used to finance immoral art, literature, speech or actions.

Regional Government

Regional and metro government run by appointed bureaucrats is a device to impose direct federal control on metropolitan areas and to bypass State and local sovereignty performing an end run around the Constitution and backers of such schemes themselves admit it. As such, it is a blow against local control of representative government and should be abolished. No appointed official should have authority equal to that of elected officials within the same jurisdiction. The creation of regional government is in violation of the principles of the Constitution and is a brazen act of treason against our country.

New World Order and World Government

"New World Order" means world socialist government. This great evil is promoted as a way for the United Nations to function as envisioned by its founders.

Necessary companions of world government are world taxation, centralized world regulation of commerce, international control of the production and consumption of oil, a single world currency, and a world army to enforce the above.

A casualty of implementing the "New World Order" will be national sovereignty and the Constitution of the United States. The American Party is unalterably opposed to world government and to the "New World Order."

It is for this reason we oppose such treaties as NAFTA, GATT-WTO and other UN conventions as destructive of national sovereignty and as attempts to circumvent the Constitution of the United States.

War

Our military involvements in Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Persian Gulf were undeclared wars. We, therefore, would require that foreign military actions cannot be pursued more than 72 hours without a declaration of war by Congress. We denounce any no-win policy as treasonous. It is immoral to draft anyone to fight in an undeclared war. 

Election history:
1999 - Virginia House of Representatives (Independent) - defeated
2004 - American Party nomination for US President - defeated

Other occupations: Shaklee distributor, employee Virginia Dept. of Taxation, employee Philip Morris Tobacco, computer analyst, C.E.O. of Get Moore For Your Money Enterprises

Notes:
Virginia Tech 1963 B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Physics.
Born in the same city as William C. Payne, VP for the National Negro Liberty Party 1904.

Pro-Life Andy Charles Frederick Anderson

 Below: Ralph Forbes, 1964

Pro-Life Andy Charles Frederick Anderson, June 10, 1927 (Jacksonville, Fla.) - October 19, 2011 (Savannah, Ga.)

VP candidate for America First Party (aka New America First Party) (1996)

Running mate with nominee: Ralph Perry Forbes (1940-2018)
Popular vote: 932 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The America First Party was reanimated in a last gasp after decades of not having a national ticket. Right wing figures A.J. Barker and Ed Fields, who had ties to the Klu Klux Klan, Liberty Lobby, David Duke's version of the Populist Party, Holocaust deniers, etc., cobbled together a Presidential campaign venue for Ralph Forbes. Forbes, of London, Ark., had at one time been an officer in the American Nazi Party and had served as one of David Duke's campaign managers. He was also part of the Christian Identity Movement.

Forbes, who called himself "Justice" Forbes, although the origin of that title is unclear, was a white supremacist who believed all African Americans should be deported to Africa. He once attempted to sue the Arkansas Dept. of Education, the National Education Association, the Russellville School District, the Church of Satan and Satan on behalf of himself and Jesus on the grounds they allowed school children to celebrate Halloween.

Forbes' running-mate was a retired US Air Force gentleman living in Reno, Nev. who was born under the name Charles F. Anderson but shortly after his wife died he legally changed it in 1987 to Pro-Life Andy Charles Frederick Anderson, but he became known to the press as Pro-Life Anderson. His friends called him Andy. He had been active in opposing the ERA and then abortion since at least the late 1970s.

Self-described as a "publicity agent for the good Lord," while wearing a large white cowboy hat with a black suit and red vest, Anderson's car and person were generally festooned with prominent signage declaring his energetic opposition to abortion. Instead of writing letters to the editor as a usual method of voicing his opinion in those pre-Internet days, he took out long-winded classified and even occasional densely worded display ads as his political columns.

Anderson's cars were rolling billboards frequently with gory tableaux on display on the roof and/or hood-- twice his cars were the victims of arson in Reno and in Savannah, Ga. where he later moved his car was stolen. His basement was firebombed. In 1990, while running for Lt. Governor, Anderson burst into a Reno radio station sound booth and punched a broadcaster who was making humanist remarks. The backs of his hands had tattoos declaring "God is Pro Life" and Anderson claimed to attend church four times a day. He was arrested numerous times in acts of political protest.

A reporter noted that Anderson was the sort of zealot who when greeted with, "Nice day, isn't it?" would reply, "There are no nice days for the butchered unborn." One article about Anderson in the Reno Gazette-Journal had a subtitle: "Some would call him committed. Others think he should be."

Anderson would frequently use the perception that he was crazy as a springboard:

I'm an individual that some of the pro-life people kind of hesitate to associate with because they don't want to be associated with that fanatic. And I don't really mean to be a fanatic in the bad sense of the word. But if something means something to you ... Life is worth living if you have a cause worth fighting and dying for. If life isn't worth defending with your own life, then nothing else is.

The Forbes/Anderson ticket actually made it to the ballot in Arkansas. They placed 7th out of 13 in that state with 0.11% of the vote. Shortly after the election Anderson moved to Savannah, Ga.

Election history:
1987 - Mayor of Reno, Nev. - defeated
1988 - Nevada State Assembly (Republican) - primary - defeated
1989 - City Council, Reno, Nev. - defeated
1990 - Lt. Governor of Nevada (Republican) - primary - defeated
1991 - Mayor of Reno, Nev. - defeated
1992 - US Senate (Nev.) - (Republican) - primary - defeated
1994 - US Senate (Nev.) - (Republican) - primary - defeated
1999 - Georgia State Senate (Independent) - primary - defeated

Other occupations: US Air Force

Buried: Bonaventure Cemetery (Savannah, Ga.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Charles Coburn and Johnny Mercer.
Protestant converted to Catholicism.
Spent part of his childhood in an orphanage.
Some of his messages were in poem-rap form.

Cyril William Minett

Cyril William Minett, January 23, 1930 (Haywood County, NC) - September 29, 2006 (Texas?)

VP candidate for Populist Party (aka America First Party aka Independent aka Constitution Party) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (b. 1939)
Popular vote: 107,014 (0.10%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Prior to running for President the flamboyant and always controversial James "Bo" Gritz (rhymes with "rights") was a soldier during the Vietnam War, followed by POW/MIA activist efforts, followed by embracing a long list of conspiracy theories. His life story could be a novel, except some would ask would it be like Elmer Gantry or instead like Heart of Darkness? At first he had alliances across the political spectrum especially after he exposed Reagan administration figures involved with drug trafficking and also after he later opposed the 1991 Gulf War, but as the Left learned more about his connections with the extreme Right, Christian nationalists, Holocaust deniers and his personal homophobic, anti-Semitic views, they backed away.

In 1988 Gritz had been the Populist Party VP nominee but dropped out. As he later told the story:

I was invited by the Populist Party in 1988 to share my POW experiences. I accepted the paid invitation to speak. Following my talk, I was told they planned to run James Traficant [D-Ohio] as their presidential candidate. I knew and respected Traficant. They asked me to be his running mate. After lunching with Traficant, I consented. My name was instantly accepted by the delegates. It wasn't until the next day that they rejected Traficant in favor of David Duke, whom I did not know.

I immediately informed the leadership of my withdrawal, but was urged to first meet with Duke. Photos were taken and we spoke briefly. I found Duke to be a brash, untraveled, overly opinionated, bigoted young man and resigned as a non-member candidate. Duke was furnished with another running mate who appeared on the voting ballot with him.

He began his 1992 run by attempting to gain multiple nominations. He ran in the Independent Voters primary in Massachusetts and his name was entered for nomination with the American Independent Party, the American Party in South Carolina, and the US Taxpayers Party. In each case the winner was Howard Phillips. In Minnesota Gritz was identified as the nominee of the Constitution Party, so perhaps he did manage to affiliate with another party in that state but information regarding that ballot line is difficult to find. Gritz was officially given the Populist Party nomination in May 1992. He said he was approached by the Party leaders much earlier and he accepted on the condition that he was the sole author of the platform.

The Populist Party platform included: eliminating the Federal Reserve, eliminating the IRS, balancing the federal budget, revoke the 17th amendment and have members of the US Senate elected once again by state legislatures rather than popular vote, end foreign aid, oppose the "The New World Order," workfare instead of welfare, stop illegal immigration, restore states' rights, stop all farm foreclosures, rescue the remaining POWs, cut the pay of all elected and appointed officials, diminish the power of the judicial branch, and recognize that America is a Christian nation. The campaign slogan was "God, Guns, Guts and Gritz."

Gritz's running-mate was Cyril "Cy" Minett, who served as a USAF fighter pilot in Vietnam and had been retired since 1974.

Minett predicted dire consequences if the Populists failed to win. "This is our last chance. If we don't get it done in 1992, very likely what's going to happen is that George Bush is going to declare a national emergency. They're going to suspend the Constitution, and then the fat is in the fire."

The running-mate believed, as did many in the Populist Party, that there was a conspiracy by the combined forces of the Trilateral Commission, Council of Foreign Relations, the media, and major corporations who were really operating the levers of power against the interests of the average working person.

According to one report, Minett "also believes there are 10 regional governments organized, with an appointed leader chosen and answerable only to the president, that are ready and waiting for their place in international power." If I am connecting the dots correctly, each "appointed leader" would possibly be an alien somehow associated with Hatonn. Now it gets interesting--

The writer Adam Parfrey, in an Apr. 8, 1993 piece for the San Diego Reader, related this story regarding Gritz and Minette:

On various weeks of the 1992 campaign, the Weekly World News supermarket tabloid showed candidates Clinton, Perot, and Bush shaking hands with a space alien. Bo Gritz may have been the only candidate to actually attempt to enact such an event. Apparently, his vice presidential candidate, Cyril Minett, had convinced Gritz in the midst of his campaign to fly to the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles to meet with Hatonn, the eight-and-a-half-foot reptile-like Commander from the Pleiades.

Recalls Gritz, "We got to this little storefront, and Cy says, 'Now, I just want to verify this. Hatonn himself is going to walk in and meet with us?' And a person said, 'Yes, he'll be here momentarily.' I had this vision in my mind of a person in a lizard suit walking across a parking lot, but momentarily [a woman who] calls herself Dharma sat down at the table and said very quickly without any fanfare, 'I am present.' And I thought, 'Shoot, we got a channeling thing going on here.' Cy said, 'Are you eight and a half feet?' She said, 'No, no, I'm actually nine and a half feet.' " 

So there you have it.

Gritz himself subscribed to numerous conspiracy theories, just to name a few: JFK's death was a coup involving very complicated connections -- Jonestown was a government project gone wrong -- FEMA has concentration camps -- The AIDS virus was invented in government labs -- The barcode is somehow connected with Satan -- We will all eventually have microchips embedded in our right hands -- Armageddon will come in 1996.

In August 1992 Gritz made national headlines when he successfully negotiated a peaceful settlement in the Ruby Ridge incident. A hero to some, Gritz became unpopular with others. He told Parfrey, "The Aryan Nation people were mad. They wanted Randall Weaver dead. They would have had their martyr. The media was mad. They wanted the Weavers up there in that little clapboard cabin as nothing but charred bones. That would have made a wonderful story. The truth is, a number of Weaver's neighbors were mad because they hated Weaver for whatever reason. A lot of people were mad because Weaver came out of there alive. And it just happened to be my misfortune that ... I got the Weaver family out alive with no more bloodshed."

Although Gritz was a natural in terms of gaining publicity, even some of his admirers were shocked at how naive he was politically. His expressing an open admiration for the criminal and unstable James Traficant serving as an example or choosing to address a small rally rather than appear on TV with Larry King where millions would hear his message. Being an outsider of the politico class does have a certain attraction for some voters, but demonstrating an inability to learn the game presents huge obstacles. Still, in spite of this handicap, the Populist Party Presidential ticket did surprisingly well even with Ross Perot sucking all the oxygen out the room for several other third parties.

The Gritz/Minett team placed 5th nationally with the most support coming from Mormon strongholds and the Far West. On the ballot in 18 states they finished 4th in seven of them: Utah (3.84%), Idaho (2.13%), Louisiana (1.04%), Montana (0.89%), Nevada (0.57%), Arizona (0.55%), Alaska (0.53%). They also were certified write-ins in about 17 other states, doing particularly well in that format in Wyoming (0.28%) and Oregon (0.10%)-- high percentages for write-ins.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Air Force (1954-1974), editor of Aerospace Safety Magazine, flight instructor, emu rancher and exotic sheep raiser, author 

Buried: Ridgeview West Memorial Park (Frisco, Tex.)

Notes:
Trivial Washington State trivia. When Kevin Harris was airlifted out of Ruby Ridge, he was taken to
 Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, where I was born. Well, actually I was born in the old previous
 building.
Minett attempted to be granted a Sovereign Citizen type of status in a Texas court in 1994.

Irving Homer

 Both of the above images: John Mahalchik. Below: Irv Homer

Irving Homer, May 29, 1924 (Philadelphia, Penn.) - June 24, 2009 (Bryn Mawr, Penn.)

VP candidate for America First Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: John Val Jean Mahalchik (1918-1987)
Popular vote: 1743 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

There was a certain kind of individual we used to see more of before online forums and Facebook eclipsed their method of expression. They generally lived in rural areas and leaned to the political Populist Right-- either Christian or Libertarian-- and declared their disgust and disdain with the political system through the medium of crude hand-painted signs on their property (now they simply post online). Such a person was New Jersey's John Val Jean Mahalchik.

Mahalchik owned 49 acres that used to be an airstrip but by 1972 had become something of a junkyard filled with surplus and salvaged mostly military equipment. He lived in a modified teepee on the property after his home had mysteriously burned.

Mahalchik announced his run for the Presidency under the America First Party early in the campaign season, but Philadephia radio talk-show host Irv Homer's name as the VP choice didn't surface in the press until much later since he wasn't nominated until Sept. 22, 1972. The Mahalchik/Homer ticket's America First Party did not have any connection with previous political parties using the same name. If there was any precedence for this version of the Party it would have to from his fellow Garden State gadfly Henry B. Krajewski (1912–1966) who ran several times for President under the Poor Man's Party banner. Krajewski and Homer had actually both shared the experience of being tavern owners at one time.

Below is a sample of Mahalchik's property signage which gives some clue as to his political platform. Punctuation has been cleaned up a bit so it is readable. Mahalchik didn't really bother about things like the proper use of upper and lower case letters:

I am the dissenter. I am the gypsy. I am the patriot. I am all races. I am all religions. I am this land. I am this land’s future... Join me, be a freedom fighter. Help me fight in any way you can. Add honor to your name.

[1972 was the Year of the Rat, and Nixon and Kissinger's heads are pictured on rat bodies] : 1972 China glorifies rats. Chickens coming home to roost. Nixon, Tricky Dick a tricky Red. Who is the #2 rat. Kissinger, Rasputin & pimp. Has Fate or Divine Power set the stage or arranged to show us our 2 biggest red rats. Kissinger went to Red China as a pimp to make a deal & set a price so Nixon like a 2 bit whore can hop in bed with the Reds and make us "The Bastard Children of Nixinger" red sell out to make American fathers & mothers of sons, killed or crippled fighting Reds now lay & reward the Red Communist killers of their sons. Nixon & Kissinger are defectors and now want all Americans to be prostitutes to Red compromise thru "Nixingerization" Pray to God that the Chinese do the defectors in

Why? Why? The Dollar Sign. Fathers & mothers, sweet hearts and wives, your loved ones are fighting in Vietnam. Why? Just read all of my signs here you'll soon find out why. It's to make rich men richer and to keep poor men poor. This war is not for freedom for you or those that fight, its the rich maniacs game of power to use guns to keep control. Yes the rich make all the money while the poor get all the grief. Yes its for someone else's dollar young boys must die like freaks. Establishment ([unintelligible] thought) hypocrisy if you kill someone for your profit you are called "a murderer," if you kill for Rockefeller of DuPont's profit you are called "a hero." Defense plants have become aggression plants. The Army, Navy & Air Force have become the private army-- killers for the Rockefeller DuPont G.M. I.T.T. etc. corp. known as the Military Industrial Complex.

Politicians invented the slogan Love It Or Leave It. Parasites and other kinds of rats who want to keep their own dirty little things going they want things to stay as they are so their selfish corruption and rot power remains but Mahalchik says if you love it you'll change it. You'll give gov't back to the people. If you don't do your share then you are one of the rats and parasites and someday those who love it will make you leave it.

In cadence count 1,2 kill kill hup, hop, kill, kill. Fathers mothers of soldiers in Vietnam while your sons are dying & fighting Communists and Socialists over there it's your duty to fight them here. Kill Kill Kill any Commie or Socialist you know. Drag them from their rat holes, hang em, stab em, burn em, bomb em, gas, choke, strangle drown, shoot, but kill em all. A rat in the alley is still a rat in your [parlor?]. A Communist over there or a Communist here, is still a Communist
Exactly how Irv Homer came to be the running mate is probably a great story but I have yet to find it. Homer was also a well known regional character, an outspoken pioneer of the radio talk-show format in the Philadelphia market who was known as "The Evil One" or "Evil Irv." Homer's curmudgeonly radio persona was part of the draw, making him one of the most popular local broadcasters in his genre. Like Mahalchik, he was a WWII veteran and a pilot.

Somehow several sources have erroneously listed Homer as being the VP on the Libertarian Party ticket, perhaps that is due to his political leanings? He later became a noted tax protester.

Homer reflected on the race in a 1980 news article: "We were on the ballot in the State of New Jersey and we actually got votes. We campaigned but we didn't spend one dime. We were out to show that to run for political office you have to have money and you have to lie like Hell."

Only on the ballot in New Jersey, the America First Party ticket placed 7th out of 8 (beating the Communist Party USA) with 1743 votes, or 0.06% of the state result. Although Mahalchik was something of a perennial candidate, this would apparently be Homer's only run for public office.

In 1981 Mahalchik was on the verge of losing his property for failure to pay back taxes and Homer helped out by spreading the word on his radio program. As a result of Homer's publicity, an anonymous gentleman personally paid the over $1000 required which reinforced Mahalchik's nickname, "Lucky."

Election history: none

Other occupations: soldier/pilot (WWII), lens grinder, hairdresser, paperhanger, insurance salesman, bartender/tavern owner, pizza company equipment sales, radio talk show personality, author

Buried: ?

Notes:
Moved from radio to Internet podcasts in his later years.

Bryan Marcellus Miller

Bryan Marcellus Miller, August 23, 1900 (Caldwell, Idaho) - October 18, 1984 (Boca Raton?, Fla.)

VP candidate for Constitution Party (aka Constitution Party of the USA) (1960)
VP candidate for Tax Cut Party (aka American Party aka America First Party) (1960)

Running mate with nominee (Constitution): Merritt Barton Curtis (1892-1966)
Running mate with nominee (Tax Cut): Lar Daly (1912-1979)

Popular vote (Constitution): 1401 (0.00%)
Popular vote (Tax Cut): 1767 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (Constitution and Tax Cut): 0/537

The campaign (Constitution):

The Constitution Party national convention held April, 1960 in Indianapolis nominated retired Marine Corps General Merritt Curtis for President.

The selection for VP took several ballots. Bryan M. Miller, who owned a welding company in Arlington, Va. was nominated over  Party chair Curtis Dall (FDR's former son-in-law, a stockbroker, and a well known Right-wing conspiracy theorist). Miller's political credentials for such an honor were never made clear. Many sources claim Dall was actually chosen as the running mate but the evidence does not bear that out.

Party spokesmen outright said they were attempting to force the election into the US House.

Dall, in his role as Party Chair, made the following statement which was published in the Princeton Alumni Weekly:

The Constitution Party of the U.S.A. is growing rapidly. It is well established in about 20 States. Soon it will become the real opposition party; the party of all conservatives, by combining many scattered groups of citizens who are dismayed in beholding the basic similarity of both Republican and Democratic parties. This country was built by sound Constitutional principles which can preserve it for the benefit of its present and future generations against snide encroachments by the present United Nations set-up, from depredations by the Frankfurter Supreme Court, from ill-advised Executive Fiat, and from other attempts to destroy our present form of Government which most of us hold dear.

Our platform is blunt and clear. It is a "Made in America" product for tax-paying Americans, and not one which will appeal to starry-eyed "what will Europe think" free-wheelers!

Our two candidates, Merritt B. Curtis, Washington, D.C. for President (a retired Marine Corps General) and B.M. Miller of Arlington, Va., a sound successful business man for Vice President, can be counted on to turn the tide once more towards a sound and solvent U.S.A. for the benefit of all.

To complicate matters, Gen. Curtis was also the VP nominee for the Texas Constitution Party, running with Charles Loten Sullivan.

The Curtis/Miller ticket made it to the ballot in one single state-- Washington. Members of the Party's Washington State branch at the Seattle convention in Sept. 1960 said they would concentrate all their funds for their national ticket rather than nominate candidates for local statewide offices.

They placed a very distant 4th out of 5 in the Evergreen State with 1401 votes (0.11%). Even though they were the only Right-wing third party on the ballot, there were several counties where they had zero votes. Nixon edged a thin victory there with 50.68%, a testimony to his campaign's ability to keep the Washington conservatives in the Republican column.

The campaign (Tax Cut):

Four delegates met in a hotel in Lansing, Michigan to place the name of US Sen. Frank J. Lausche of Ohio ("The Democrat with a small 'd'") as the Presidential nominee for the newly formed Tax Cut Party. "I believe in the two-party system," Lausche responded, "I don't subscribe to the development of splinter parties."

So feeling pressed for time, the tiny party scrambled and approached Lar Daly.

Lawrence Joseph Sarsfield Daly, better known as Lar Daly was a colorful perennial candidate known for frequently wearing an Uncle Sam costume while campaigning. Although generally a conservative of the nationalist Christian segregationist bent, he was not too particular about which of the major parties to use as a springboard for public office-- which he never obtained.

Some of Daly's proposals involved shooting certain elements of the population on sight and dropping atomic weapons on America's foes.

1960 was unusual for Daly on two accounts. First, it was one of the very few times in his decades-long office-seeker career that he ran under the label of a third party. Second, he was able to force television networks to give obscure candidates "equal time," citing Section 315 of the Communications Act. You can bet that was quickly amended after the 1960 election.

Exactly how and when Bryan M. Miller became Daly's running mate is sort of a mystery although his name comes up in the press as the VP choice shortly after the convention. Several sources cite Gen. Merritt B. Curtis (see above) as Daly's running mate. But in Michigan, the only state where the Tax Cut Party made it to the ballot, it was Miller's name in the VP slot, not Curtis.

In Michigan the Daly/Miller ticket placed 5th out of 7 with 1767 votes (0.05%).

Election history: none.

Other occupations: railroad welder, welding shop owner, inventor

Buried: ?

Notes:
Sometimes called B.N. Miller, Bryan A. Miller, B. North. Miller, Byron M. Miller
Was granted a patent for an Oxy-acetylene burner in 1933.
Living in Boca Raton, Fla. in 1977.
Was red-haired and freckled.
First VP nominee to run simultaneously in two parties with different Presidential nominees.
Probably named after William Jennings Bryan during the 1900 campaign.
Both of the tickets with Miller were endorsed by the John Birch Society

Harry Flood Byrd Sr.

 With Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson

Harry Flood Byrd Sr., June 10, 1887 (Martinsburg, W. Va.) – October 20, 1966 (Berryville, Va.)

VP candidate for America First Party (1952)

Running mate with nominee: Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)

Popular vote: 233 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Fired General Douglas MacArthur was the belle of the ball for the Right wing in 1952, but the extreme conservatives were unable to unite in his name. MacArthur was nominated by the Christian Nationalist Party, Constitution Party, America First Party, and endorsed by Mary Kennery's American Party. Each group had different running mates and in some cases multiple "substitute" Vice-Presidential candidates in the same party. MacArthur was on the ballot twice running under two different party names in some places. The General never accepted any of the nominations, but on the other hand did not take legal steps to remove himself from the ballot.

Lar Daly (1912-1978) who would become better known in future elections as a perennial candidate garbed in an Uncle Sam costume, had been an activist to help Gen. MacArthur gain the Republican nomination in several election cycles including in 1952. When that failed he turned his efforts to running the General on the America First Party ticket in August. The name of the party was originally what the Christian Nationalist Party called itself, but Daly made it clear his organization had no connection with Gerald L.K. Smith.

Daly took the liberty of nominating Sen. Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (without any consultation) as the General's running mate. Byrd was an influential Virginia Democrat who was considered Right wing, anti-union, and pro-segregation. He was spending 1952 with a focus on his re-election to the Senate and had once again watched his name be put into nomination for the Presidential nomination at the Democratic convention only to watch it go down in flames. Byrd did not endorse Truman in 1948 and would not endorse Stevenson in 1952, primarily due to their progressive views on civil rights.

The America First Party of 1952's emblem was the turkey, which is rather fitting for a ticket named MacArthur/Byrd.

Daly, as the mouthpiece for the AFP, called for the use of atomic weapons to end the Korean War, a withdrawal of the US from the United Nations, and was "100 per cent behind" Sen. Joseph McCarthy's efforts to persecute Communists.

Unlike MacArthur, Byrd actually took steps to have his name removed from the AFP ticket by  making a formal request Sept. 3, 1952.

On Oct. 11 Lar Daly announced the MacArthur for President Committee had been changed to the MacArthur for Eisenhower and America First Committee. He endorsed Eisenhower and said he would work to have MacArthur appointed Secretary of State. But it was too late to have the MacArthur/Byrd ticket removed from the ballot in Missouri, where they would be competing for votes with the MacArthur/Tenney ticket.

In Missouri the America First Party Presidential ticket won 233 votes. As near as I can ascertain all of their other votes across the nation were write-ins. Most modern sources have consolidated all of the various little splinter MacArthur political parties into a generic "MacArthur/Byrd" category but it was actually the Christian Nationalist Party ticket with Jack B. Tenney, a case in which the VP nominee was actually enthusiastic, where the old General gained the strongest following, such as it was.

Election history:
1915-1925 - Virginia State Senate (Democratic)
1926-1930 - Governor of Virginia (Democratic)
1932 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1933-1965 - US Senate (Democratic)
1944 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1948 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1952 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1956 - US President (States' Rights Party of Kentucky) - defeated
1956 - US President (Independent (Miss., SC)) - defeated
1960 - US President (Democratic) - defeated

Other occupations: newspaper publisher, apple orchard manager, turnpike operator 1908-1918, Virginia State Fuel Commissioner 1918

Buried: Mount Hebron Cemetery (Winchester, Va.)

Notes:
Member of the Byrd political dynasty in Virginia and a leader of the "Byrd Organization."
Born in the same community just two weeks apart from his fellow VA Senator Absolom Willis
 Robertson (Rev. Pat Robertson's father)
Episcopalian
Family moved to Winchester, Va. when he was an infant.
Brother of Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr.
Retired from the Senate Nov. 1965 for health reason, died of cancer Oct. 1966.
In 1960 received 15 Electoral College votes from one faithless and 14 unpledged electors for
 President (1 Okla., 8 Miss., 6 Ala.)