Nancy Theresa Lord

Nancy Theresa Lord, February 8, 1952 (Silver Spring, Md.) -

VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Andre Verne Marrou (b. 1938)
Popular vote: 290,087 (0.28%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In a contested convention, 1988 Libertarian VP Andre Morrou emerged as the 1992 Presidential nominee.

The nomination for running-mate was even more contested. Morrou's personal choice was passed up and after multiple ballots the Party selected Nancy Lord over more established figures. Raised in the Jewish faith (just like 1972 VP Tonie Nathan), Lord was impressively a lawyer with a medical degree. 1980 Libertarian Presidential candidate Ed Clark had backed Lord for the VP position. In 1992 she was a member of the National Rifle Association and the National Abortion Rights Action League-- that might seem like a strange combination for most members of the major parties, but perfectly in the groove for Libertarians.

By 1992 the Libertarian Party had been around for over two decades and even by then had emerged as America's most stable third party. They were not going to go away. In this election year they were a bit handicapped financially without a millionaire or household name on the ticket, nor did they seem to have any campaign investment angels. On top of that, Ross Perot was grabbing most of the voters who were discontented with the major parties, and 1988 Libertarian Presidential nominee Ron Paul endorsed Pat Buchanan in the 1992 Republican primaries.

Hopefully this won't insult my Libertarian friends, but the Marrou/Lord ticket superficially appeared to me to have a similar dynamic as the Clinton/Gore team. Marrou being the outgoing charmer with a sense of humor. But also the one to go on the attack. Lord being the more reserved policy wonk. In the course of shaking hands while on the street she was known to pay more attention to dogs the people were walking than the potential voters. That indicator would be foreshadowing her unfortunate dog legal experience a couple decades later.

Lord told reporter Hal Marcovitz the Libertarians will win the White House by 2000, or 2004 at most. "We want to be the governing party by the 21st century," said Lord. "If we're not, I would be concerned."

Reporters noted Lord's candid, honest comments and found her very quotable. Some examples:

Sometimes I get very tired of hearing myself talk. Campaigning is very tiring. Not being in control of where you sleep, or what you eat. It wears you out.

[After her car was broken into and robbed in Manhattan]: If Bill Clinton's car had gotten broken into it would have been on the national news. But my car gets broken into and it's just another larceny.

Every bad thing does not need a law against it. You don't make something illegal just because it's stupid.

We want the government out of our personal lives and out of our economic lives. When you centralize power, you attract people who like to wield it. They produce very benevolent reasons, but they are after power.

Marrou had apparently made some enemies within the Party and he was nearly removed from the ticket. There were serious charges against him involving unpaid child support, a contempt of court outstanding warrant, more multiple marriages than he originally claimed, spending campaign money without approval, and mismanagement of  personal finances. But rather than give him his day in Party court, they decided to allow him to remain on the ticket for fear of generating bad publicity.

The national ticket disappointing results dipping down to 0.28% would serve as one of their lower point elections, but their percentages have all been better than that ever since. But in the local results the Party enjoyed some actual wins, plus higher percentages. One idea was that Perot voters continued to vote for third parties as they went down-ballot and the Libertarians were the ones to get the most benefit.

On the Presidential ballot in all 50 states + DC for only the second time, the Libertarians had their best showings in: New Hampshire (0.66%), Colorado (0.55%), Alaska (0.53%), Arizona (0.46%), Pennsylvania ; California (0.43% each), and Wyoming (0.42%).

Election history:
1990 - Mayor of Washington, DC (Libertarian Party)- defeated
2010 - Nye County (Nev.) District Attorney (Republican) - primary - defeated
2012 - Nye County (Nev.) District Attorney (Republican) - primary - defeated
2012 - District Court Judge, District 5, Department 1 (Nev.) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney, board of directors for the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML), Abbott Laboratories employee, board of directors for the Fully Informed Jury Association

Notes:
Demonstrated against the Vietnam War before joining the Libertarians.
Also called Nancy Lord Johnson for awhile after marrying former militia figure James "J.J." Johnson
 ca1997.
Was embroiled in Nye County, Nev. court cases ca2012 regarding charges resulting from hoarding
 about 40 dogs.

Andre Verne Marrou

Andre Verne Marrou, December 4, 1938 (Nixon, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent) (1988)

Running mate with nominee: Ronald Ernest Paul (b. 1935)
Popular vote: 431,750 (0.47%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ron Paul interrupted his career as a Republican Congressman from Texas to detour for a few years as a member of the Libertarian Party before returning the major party fold. There were several candidates for the LP nomination at the 1987 convention in (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Seattle, but the main competitors were Rep. Paul and Indigenous American activist Russell Means, neither one being products of the LP. The media tried to simplify the differences between the two as Paul being the Ring-wing and Means being the Left-wing of the Party, or the Establishment conservative carpetbagger vs. the social justice Libertarian. In the end, Paul won the day.

VP nominee Andre Marrou who was in fact more of a LP stalwart than either Paul or Means had the distinction of being the very first member of the Libertarian Party to be elected to a state legislature. He served in the Alaska State House from 1985-1987. As a politico here in Washington at the time I recall how Marrou's election up north was a milestone which upset more Republicans than Democrats. Marrou's achievement represented how a significant number of Goldwater Republicans (like my father) were totally turned off by Reagan's embrace of the evangelicals and how the President's party allowed the deficit to skyrocket. Iran-Contra didn't help the Republican image either.

And speaking of the Iran-Contra scandal there was a double-edged question regarding President Reagan's involvement where either answer was probably impeachable. Either he knew about it, or, he was not minding the store and allowed criminal activities to take place under his watch through gross mismanagement and incompetence. Either way, it was bad. The same standard could be said for Ron Paul. Newsletters released under his name that contained racist and Right-wing conspiracy ideas during this same time period had to be addressed. And, like Reagan, Paul's involvement was a double-edged question with either answer being a negative one.

But on the positive side Paul, having been a Republican member of Congress, did bring a sense of legitimate federal experience which combined with Marrou's real-life actual election as a Libertarian presented a third party ticket with two people who had bonafide experience in elected public office. That is rare in American minor party politics and it a was a historic first for the Libertarian Party.

An in-house survey by David Nolan was sent to Ron Paul, Russell Means, and VP designate Marrou in 1987. The questions themselves are as revealing about the 1987-1988 Libertarian Party mindset as the answers. Here are some of the questions and answers between Nolan and Marrou.

Nolan: Every candidate has two or three "core issues" which he or she emphasizes in his or her campaign. What issues to you plan to stress, and how will you tie them together into a coherent package?

Marrou: I do not have any "core issues" other than the obscene size and cost of government, which leads to interference with private lives. Cutting government as much as possible, as quickly as possible, is my overwhelming concern.

Nolan: Do you have any disagreements with any planks in the LP platform? (Check to be sure!) If you do, what will you do when asked about your stand on these issues?

Marrou: So far as I know, I have no disagreement with the current national LP platform.  A few years back, there was a plank on children's rights which lead to the silly conclusion that a four-year-old is qualified to do everything an adult can do. Although children should have their civil rights protected, the debate as to what constitutes an adult will, I'm sure, continue. As to abortion, I am pro-choice at least up to the point of natural viability--that is, where the fetus can live outside the womb naturally without artificial help. Government certainly should protect citizens of whatever age, but the point at which a fetus becomes a "citizen" will continue to be argued, since it a moral/religious issue. There may be some agreement that government should not be involved during the first six months of pregnancy, approximately the point of natural viability.

Nolan: As you may know, I [Nolan] have long advocated that our candidates for President and Vice-President abandon any pretense that they are "running to win," and instead use their campaigns to generate support for our Congressional candidates. What is  your  strategic vision for this campaign?

Marrou: As the LP's VP nominee, my main effort will go into building the LP nationwide. While the Presidential nominee is going to the big cities and being on TV, I plan to hit the smaller cities and towns, attending rallies and signing up members in addition to raising funds for my campaign and the local or state LP. In so doing, I would seek out the local press--printed and electronic--for interviews to spread the LP philosphy on a local level. Of course, I would participate in whatever available debates among the VP candidates may occur.

Nolan: ... To what extent will you "clear" your campaign material through the party's Review Committee to make sure it conforms with the party's official positions?

Marrou: I was not aware that the national LP required or even suggested that my campaign material be "cleared" through the Review Committee. That smacks of the fealty oaths so beloved by the Republicans. Although I have nothing to hide, and consider myself as "pure" a Libertarian as anybody, nonetheless submitting my material to someone else is distasteful. In fact, in 1984 I refused $1,000 from the LP of Anchorage because they wanted control of my advertising. This holier-than-thou attitude is destructive and somewhat adolescent, amounting to one of the self-wrought plagues of the LP. If anyone should be passing upon the "libertarianness" of any material, it should be me, since I have explained and defended the philosophy under the most adverse circumstances during the last two years in the Alaska Legislature. In addition, I served on the Platform Committee of the Alaska LP for three years, including one year as Chairman. I know the LP philosophy upside-down and backwards. It is natural to me-- I don't have to memorize the platform.

Nolan: Some people have suggested that our candidates might find it appropriate to endorse other parties' candidates for lower offices in cases where no Libertarian is running, and another party's candidate is substantially in agreement with our positions. Under what circumstances, if any, would you make such endorsements?

Marrou: Under no circumstances should the LP endorse candidates of another party, regardless of the situation. If these other candidates are "substantially" libertarian, then they should run as Libertarians. In fact, the By-Laws of the Alaska LP prohibit such endorsements, and the national LP by-laws should too, if they don't already.

In Oct. 1987 Morrou told a reporter he estimated the ticket would receive between 2 million to 12 million votes.

Some electioneering quotes from Morrou according to the newspapers--

From our standpoint, we'd do best if Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson are the nominees because I don't think people want to see a preacher in the White House.

Most people are Libertarians and they just don't know it. They want lower taxes, less government interference and more freedom. Democrats and Republicans offer the opposite. It's just a matter of time before our ideas catch on.

Generally, with the exception of the coastal states, the further west you go in the U.S., things get better and better. We have the Old West tradition-- taking care of yourself.

If Jefferson were alive today, standing here, he'd be telling you exactly what I'm telling you.

For all intents and purposes the Democrats are left-wing socialists and the Republicans are right-wing socialists.

Some journalists seemed more obsessed with Marrou's French surname and his facial hair than they were with his policies.

Although their national finish of 0.47% seems minuscule, their result was nearly the total of all the other third parties combined. It was also their second highest percentage of their five Presidential elections up to that point. On the ballot in 46 states + DC they continued to be seen as a party of the Far West with their strongest percentages in: Alaska 2.74%, Montana 1.38%, Idaho 1.30%, Kansas 1.26%, Oregon 1.23%, Utah 1.16%, Wyoming 1.15%, Arizona 1.14%, Colorado 1.13%, Nevada 1.01%, and New Hampshire 1.00%.

In Washington State, where Dukakis barely won, one could make an argument that the Paul/Marrou ticket were the spoilers. Their 2.74% result in Alaska would be the last time the Libertarians cracked 2.00% in a state Presidential vote until 2012.

By the next election in 1992 Paul endorsed Republican Pat Buchanan in the primaries. Marrou would go on to be the Presidential nominee for the LP and generate his own controversies which I will cover when I profile his VP running-mate.

Election history:
1982 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1985-1987 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party)
1986 - Alaska House of Representatives (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1987 - Libertarian Party nomination for US President - defeated
1992 - US President (Libertarian Party) - defeated

Other occupations: real estate

Notes:
"Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your
 Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult."--Andre Marrou
"Republicans don't want anyone having more fun than they do, and the Democrats don't want anyone
 making more money than they do. Libertarians want you to make money and have fun."--Andre
 Marrou
Grandparents came from France.
Moved to Nevada after his 1986 defeat in Alaska.