VP candidate for Populist Party (aka Independent aka Patriotic Party of Iowa aka Independent Populist Party aka Christian Populist Party aka Populist Party of America) (1988)
Running mate with nominee: David Duke (b. 1950)
Popular vote: 47,004 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
David Duke-- Holocaust denier, KKK member, neo-Nazi, anti-Semite, plastic surgery client, and later a convicted felon for fraud who did hard time-- sought the Democratic nomination for US President in 1988. When that fizzled, he accepted the Presidential nomination of the Populist Party.
The FEC Advisory Opinion 1988-45 neatly sums up the short version of the Populist Party nomination process for the 1988 election: "The party nominated George Hansen and Hubert Patty for President and Vice President respectively in September, 1987, and determined that if a vacancy occurred for either candidacy, the Executive Committee of the party would have the right to nominate a candidate. Two months later, Mr. Hansen turned down the nomination and the Executive Committee withdrew the names of Hansen and Patty. In March, 1988, the convention nominated David Duke for President and Bo Gritz for Vice President. Shortly there after, Gritz withdrew his name and the Executive Committee nominated Floyd Parker."
Bo Gritz later gave a newspaper his version of the nomination: "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."
In addition to Dr. Floyd C. Parker of Farmington, NM, many sources mention Trenton Stokes of Arkansas as a second running-mate on other state ballots but the states are never specifically named. I found no evidence to support the claims that Stokes was actually a VP nominee in any state.
The Duke/Parker ticket billed the Populist Party as "The fast-growing party of the middle class." Their platform included: restricting immigration, abolishing Affirmative Action, enforcing family planning on welfare recipients (eugenics?), death penalty for drug dealers-murderers-and-rapists, repealing the income tax, creating high tariffs, abolishing the Federal Reserve System, reject the ERA, opposition to Gay rights, and reduce foreign aid.
Duke did not garner a lot of press coverage and if Parker campaigned at all I could find no record of such activity. They were on the ballot or were certified write-ins in a combined 18 states. Their strongest finish percentages were: Louisiana (Independent Populist) 1.14%, Arkansas (Christian Populist) 0.62%, Mississippi (Independent) 0.45%, and Kentucky (Populist) 0.34%. They placed third in all four of these states. The remaining states had much lower results.
Duke joined the Republican Party in December 1988.
Election history: none.
Other occupations: US Air Force, physician, sheep farming, racehorse owner, Board Chair of San Juan National Bank in Farmington NM, oil and gas business, member of the John Birch Society, County Medical Examiner
Buried: Tucumcari Memorial Park (Tucumcari, NM)
Notes:
Played the saxophone
As a side note, Hansen, Traficant, and Duke were all imprisoned felons at some time in their careers.
