Jennifer A. Ryan
VP candidate for Christian Freedom Party (2004)
Running mate with nominee: Thomas James Harens (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 2,387 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Thomas J. Harens had been a former legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives (1981-1982) as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Stating he did not feel welcome in that organization due to his anti-abortion views, he joined the Reform/Minnesota Independence Party under which banner he ran for Mayor of Saint Paul in 1997. In 2004 when he formed the Christian Freedom Party, he said he also considered himself a member of the Minnesota Independence Party as well.
Raised as a Catholic, Harens called himself a progressive Christian and had a platform with a liberal economic agenda. In many ways he anticipated the present American Solidarity Party. "There are millions of progressive Christians who don't feel represented," he told the press. "In this new testament chapter the Democrats are the amoral rabble, by the Christian Right Wing and their allies of republicanism are the new Pharisees, the ones Jesus chased out of the temple," he also said.
The candidate, frequently adorned with a beret that had a paramilitary style to it, did enjoy some statewide press coverage and managed a webpage that had no mention of his running-mate Jennifer A. Ryan who was also apparently a resident of Minnesota. If indeed she was a Minnesotan then the duo would have faced a Constitutional problem in the event of their victory.
Republicans wondered if Harens was a stalking horse for the Kerry campaign, designed to hurt the Republican vote. Harens denied any contact with the Democrats.
Only on the ballot in Minnesota the Harens/Ryan ticket won 0.08% of the popular vote in that state.
Election history: ?
Other occupations: ?
Notes:
Another mystery VP
