Linda Kay Patterson, August 7, 1938 (Indianapolis, Ind.) -
VP candidate for American Party (2008)
Running mate with nominee: Diane Beall Templin (b. 1947)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Diane Beall Templin was making her third attempt for the Presidency in 2008. After a close three way race for the Constitution Party nomination with Don J. Grundmann (winner) and "Mad Max" Riekse she returned once again a few days later to the American Party and was nominated for President with Linda Patterson of Indianapolis as her running mate.
Patterson, age 70, had been an active American Party candidate for statewide offices in the 1980s, but apparently had not run for office since 1986. She was also a Party officer.
The Christian arch-conservative Templin/Patterson ticket failed to gain ballot access in any state, nor were they registered anywhere as write-ins.
Shortly after Sept. 11, 2008 the American Party website simply vanished. Any significant national presence by the Party itself evaporated as well. When a new website resurfaced in late 2015, the organization was called the American Party of the United States of America. The new revived website also appears to have become extinct sometime after the 2016 election. It might be a safe guess to conclude that a number of what was left of American Party members have been co-opted into the Trump Republican Party?
Election history:
1980 - Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction (American Party) - defeated
1982 - Clerk of the Indiana Supreme Court and Court of Appeals (American Party) - defeated
1984 - Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction (American Party) - defeated
1986 - Indiana Secretary of State (American Party) - defeated
Other occupations: farm housewife, business manager for excavating and landscaping, Chairperson of the American Party of Indiana Central Committee
Notes:
Baptist.
Winner of the 1986 race was Evan Bayh. During the 1986 election Patterson was in jail for contempt of court for initially failing to cooperate in a foreclosure case as her husband remained at large.
nee Linda Kay Lee.
