Vacant

Vacant

VP candidate for Duct Tape Party (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)

Running mate with nominees (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): Tim Nyberg (b. ca1954) and Jim Berg (b. ca1964)
Popular vote (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): 0/538

The campaigns (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008):

Every now and then I run across Presidential nominees who deliberately do not select a Vice Presidential running-mate and if I find their reasons to be of interest I'll include them here. In 1940 Gracie Allen of the Surprise Party did not have a Vice-President because her administration would not abide any vice. Jean Pierre, an independent in 1972, said she considered a VP position to be "unnecessary" and refused to name a running-mate.

Jim Berg and Tim Nyberg, brothers-in-law in Minnesota, are humorists, authors, and performers who have operated under the name of The Duct Tape Guys since 1993. In four consecutive elections, 1996-2008, they ran for President as a marketing gimmick. Their 1996 run was apparently sort of under the radar compared to their later efforts from what I can glean. It was their stated intention to share the Presidency, "The Office of President is too big a position for any one person, therefore, Jim and Tim will share the Presidency. The Vice President really doesn't do that much anyway, and we can use the extra office to warehouse extra duct tape rolls."

They had a platform entitled "All that ails America can be fixed with duct tape." It included issuing a roll of duct tape to every American including children before they are out of their cribs, replacing foreign aid dollars with gifts of duct tape, and changing the White House to the Gray House by covering it with duct tape "so it will not be exposed to harmful acid rain and other damaging elements--repairs will be a lot cheaper, and it will be a fitting tribute to the product that truly holds this great land together." Duct tape was used as a metaphor throughout the platform for bringing people together in various ways.

Although the Duct Tape Guys concept of a co-Presidency is refreshing, they might have encountered a Constitutional roadblock in assuming office in the event of their victory in any of the four elections since they were residents of the same state, not to mention the whole 2-in-1 concept. Also, it appears Berg was under the mandated age of 35 in the 1996 election.

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Notes:
My own 108-year old home has parts that are basically held together with duct tape.

Vacant

Vacant, October, 1972 - November 7, 1972

VP candidate for Independent (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Jean Pierre (b ca1905)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

There have been plenty of characters running for President without naming a running mate. In fact, the very idea of having a two-person ticket is a matter of custom and not mandated by the Constitution. Usually these solo Presidential candidates brush off the lack of a VP nominee by saying they are still looking for the right person. But occasionally, as in the case with Gracie Allen of the Surprise Party in 1940 who said she would not abide any Vice in her administration, the Presidential candidate will deliberately address and eschew the idea of having a Vice-President. The conscious choice of not having running mate as a matter of principle is worthy of inclusion for the purposes of this blog. 

Such was the case in 1972 with an independent Presidential candidate named "Miss Jean Pierre," a self-described former professional dancer and retired legal secretary with 40 years experience in New York City who claimed she had also run in 1964 and in 1968 but I have not found any primary sources to back up that assertion.

Appearing in Iowa late in the campaign season (she arrived by bus), her literature (composed of a half dozen of her poems) had a Concord, NH address. She expressed disdain for politicians and political parties: "I consider politicians one step higher than the criminal."

Her platform and some choice quotes:

She had a "master plan" she refused to reveal for fear of the politicians ruining it. "If they gave me $10 million in cash I would not give them my plan because they would not be able to carry it out properly."

"The people will be glad to make me their dictator after my first six months in the White House."

Congress should eliminated or at least cut in half. "I won't need a Congress."

Instead of long and drawn out Presidential campaigns, all candidates should have a single 15 or 20 minute "audition" one month before the election in front of news media in the US Senate chamber.

And as for the office of Vice-President, she called the position "unnecessary." Hence, no running mate.

The number of write-in votes acquired by Pierre nationally has unfortunately not been recorded.

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Buried: vanished in thin air

Notes:
Anyone out there have more information?