Harold Milton Cosand, May 12, 1924 (Cottonwood, Idaho) - August 30, 1995 (Clarkston, Wash.)
VP candidate for New American's Mount Zion Party (aka New Americans of Mount Zion Party) (1984)
Running mate with nominee: Roy E. Woodward (b. 1928)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
John Leabo (1912-2002) seemed to have been involved in all kinds of projects that could be viewed as either visionary or the work of a crank depending on your point of view. He was interested in things like developing Antarctica in the name of the Lord, UFOs, reincarnation, cold fusion, investigating an unknown race of people living in the South Pole, and his own church called New American's Mount Zion (NAMZ) created 1956 in (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Port Angeles, Wash.
The Church seems to have been a spinoff of a spinoff of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the faith in which Leabo was raised. In 1944 he joined the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the same church which 1940 Greenback Party VP James Elmer Yates had been an Apostle. Leabo's journey led him to the work of W.A. Draves and also the Aaronic Order before he started his own church. If this all sounds very esoteric that is because it is.
In his Church newspaper late in the campaign season, Leabo selected Roy Woodward of Mona, Utah as the NAMZ nominee for US President and Harold Cosand of Montrose, Colo. as the running-mate. Both would have to run as write-ins. Woodward was a carpenter, former "Mr. Utah" of 1951, former "Mr. Rocky Mountain," health club owner, massage therapist, former freelance scriptwriter, and long-time vegetarian.
Cosand had formerly been a resident of Kellogg, Idaho and while there was arrested in 1980 on an extortion charge by the FBI for threatening two Oregon residents. Before Kellogg he had lived in McCall, Idaho. It seems he was also an anti-Semitic white supremacist, Nazi sympathizer, and tax protester.
Woodward did not know his candidacy was "official" until he was contacted by the media. Leabo had neglected to share the announcement with him.
Some Woodward quotes regarding his Presidential effort:
John Leabo, like myself, has been waiting to see what God wants. The thing has been boiling for quite some time but I had not been doing anything to campaign. I felt someday I may have a call in this direction but the how and the when I did not know.
I believe the x-factor, the missing factor, in American politics is that government is seeking to keep church and state separate and higher levels of spirituality out of their dealings. The only hope for any nation is to stay close to God and His guidance or they will decay. America right now is very close, if not further down the road of ancient Rome and Babylon and yet we punish and ridicule and legislate so that we might not even have a silent prayer in our schools.
If I am to be put forth it will take a tremendous commitment to handle my end as I should ... God is the real strength in my life. Otherwise, without His help, I would make a mess of my life and America.
Nostradamus mentions my name, "Roy" and the land of America.
We must get a whole new look at the office of the president and not be afraid to change ... I don't think the common man has enough say-so, especially due to the electorial [sic] college system of voting. Surely in the future that will change to a per capita basis ... I sit and laugh at myself as far as my abilities as president. My schooling, my lacks, my past mistakes make me see that only a miracle of a raised spiritual movement by the American people could do it and it would be impossible without God's leading hand.
Utah appears to be the only state where the ticket had any media coverage. Their popular votes have not been reported from any jurisdiction.
Woodward ran for President as a write-in in 1996 under the banner of the New American Pioneers Party.
Election history:
1988 - Montrose County Commission (Colo.) (Anti-Kabala Mason Party) - defeated
Other occupations: construction, medical technician
Buried: ?
Notes:
Also called Harold Cosen.
Convicted of tax evasion in 1989 and served some jail time. Threatened violence to the Court and
said he was going to Idaho to join the Aryan Nations and American Nazi Party.
Claimed he had a doctorate in the "Masonic Secret Works of Darkness."
