David James Klimisch, March 10, 1970 (Rice County, Minn.) -
VP candidate for We the People (aka Independent aka Party or Principle) (2008)
Running mate with nominee: Jeffrey J. Wamboldt (b. 1964)
Popular vote: 764 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In May 2007 two residents of Kenosha, Wis. area joined forces to create a national ticket under the name of We the People (not to be confused with Jeffrey Peters' We the People from the previous two elections). The Presidential nominee was law enforcement officer Jeffrey J. Wamboldt and the VP was special education teacher David J. Klimisch.
Wamboldt was a Republican where Klimisch leaned Democratic. Wamboldt, who was also the school resource officer at Indian Trail Academy, outlined their motives: "This is something I dreamed about doing many, many years ago. We wanted to show the common man still has a place in our system. The common man can still do something that's not just available to the elite. I'm just an average guy. I'm a cop. The other goal was to show my children, Dave's children, your children, and the children I'm involved with every day at ITA that you can never say you can't so something. You can."
According to their local newspaper, "They ran on a platform of common sense, putting at least one police officer in every school without raising costs, quality-of-life issues and workplace safety."
The Wamboldt/Klimisch ticket was only on the ballot in Wisconsin, where they finished 7th out of 9 with 0.03% of the vote in that state. In the event of their victory, the fact they were residents of the same state would have posed a Constitutional problem.
Both Wamboldt and Klimisch were in the audience at President Obama's inauguration. In 2013 Klimisch reflected, "Of course we had no chance of winning. Our goal was to show students the process is for everybody."
Wamboldt and Klimisch each went on to be elected to municipal public offices.
Election history:
2015- - Pleasant Prairie Village Board, Wis.
Other occupations: US Navy, social worker, realtor, teacher
Notes:
The ticket had created a website, now defunct, called We the People of America (http://www.wethepeopleofamerica.net/) designed to encourage political participation.
