Robert Monroe Singleton

 

                                Above, Gojira and Robert Singleton ; Below, Monroe Singleton

Robert Monroe Singleton, August 19, 1970 -

VP candidate for Peace Party (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Monroe Pierce Singleton (1933-2016)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

A gentleman in Columbia City, Oregon with the 2/3 Presidential name of Monroe Pierce Singleton filed with the FEC early in 2016 under the banner of the Peace Party. This organization did not appear to be related to the previous Peace Party created in Oregon as a vehicle for Ralph Nader's 2008 Presidential run in the Beaver State.

Singleton's campaign was mostly waged on Facebook. Some samples--

Feb. 15, 2016
After watching the political debates and finding no interest in world peace among the candidates I am declaring my candidacy for president of the United States.
Most of the republican candidates are war hawks with a rating on the war hawk scale of 1 to 10 a 9+. Hillery has a questionable 7 and Bernie  is uncommitted
I qualify under the requirements of the constitution having been born in SPRINGVILLE UTAH October 27 1933. In addition I have been married for 62 years to Louise Knight.  I owned my business and retired after over 40 years. I fathered six children but did not measure up very well as a Dad.
I will be limited financially having only my social security and refusing the super pack money that is bound to be offered, My friends and any other may send a donation of not to exceed $100.00 to the Peace Party, PO Box 526, Columbia city, OR 97018.  I will deposit all money into a trust account at St Helens  Community Federal Credit Union.
My son Robert Monroe Singleton will be my running mate.

In 2016 it looks like VP Robert Singleton was [Washington State trivia alert!!!] a resident of Vancouver. The running-mate's comment on this announcement: "Is the world ever ready for brutal honesty, honestly. In world full of brutality it's time for honesty. Now say that five times fast."

The earliest example of a father-son ticket I can find is Jack Richard Moore with his son Jay Richard Moore for VP in the Common Man's Party (1988, 1992). There was also Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker (Sith Party 2000), James Louis Dezort/James Fredrick Dezort (Independent 2008) and Jeffrey Anthony Wu/Jeffrey Michael Wu (Independent 2016).

Feb. 16, 2016
The state of Israel was established May 14, 1948 under directions of the UN with specific partitioning between the new state and the indigenous population called Palestinians
After the WW-2 the European Jews were not wanted by most countries. The world Christians doctrine required that the Jews  return and rebuild Solomon's temple before Jesus returned. The Muslims had a Mosque on the temple mount creating a point of tension and erupting in several armed conflicts.
Israel, being backed by the USA continues to  occupy  Palestinian territory in violation of UN resolutions. They were given nuclear capability by the USA a weapon of mass destruction which prompted other nations to want them.
I support the right of a nation to defend itself but any nation willful violating international laws should be considered a rouge nation.
When I am elected president Israel will be informed that they will not get any part of the 4 billion $ that, The US has been subsidizing their economy, 25% of which has been military hardware, until the Palestinians land has been returned and their refugees returned. The money can be best used for the benefit of  U. S. economic problems.

Feb. 17, 2016
There is no verifiable evidence that there is a god. There is no verifiable evidence that there is no god. Each position requires faith in that which is unverified. The one thing that is verifiable is that there was a creator. Until the purpose of the vast complicated universe is found, the nature of the creator will not be known or the purpose of everything within. We were all created by the same creator and are therefor all distant cousins.
I have read the bible, taken courses on it from high school to collage. I have read the Qur'an the Hindu Gita and have skimmed native American culture, Buddhism and find that they all are saying the same thing, different words but the same thought. Some Christians handle poisonous snakes, burn crosses and kill abortion doctors. Some Muslims blow themselves up and Jainism won't walk on grass for fear of killing a reincarnated relative bug.
There are extreme views taken in every religion based on a cherry picking of the scripture. Conversely the Qur'an's admonishment  "do not go beyond the mark" is good advice. Treat others with respect rings through every scripture.
The constitution separates church and state by law but it does not take religious belief out of the people. Various religious beliefs influence the outcome of legislation and peoples view of the world.
When elected president I will ask the Pope and Dalai Lama to head up a world conference of religious leaders to discuss ways of unifying the religions in a peace effort.

Feb. 21, 2016
The most important thing a president can do when making decisions is to make right decisions. There is a formula  that.a life should be based on.
1- Being right in the logical sense satisfies intelligence.
2- Being right in the expedient sense avoids judgmental mistakes.
3- Being right in the moral sense satisfies conscience.
These three kinds of right comprises absolute right.
Dwight D. Eisenhower lied to Nikita Khrushchev when ask if US was flying spy planes over Russia. Gary Powers was shot down killing any small hope of ending the cold war.
Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 approved  the CIA backed coup to overthought the democratically elected government in Iran for control of their oil. This eventually lead to the hostage crises and Ronald Reagan selling arms for hostages and lying about it.
Richard Nixon's plummer  needs no elaboration on.
George W. Bush started a war, violating all three rights. He didn't verify WMD. He jumped in with on understanding of, and little concern for the problem that was created.

Feb. 23, 2016
I am a veteran and I am proud of the hero's who put their lives on the line,sacrificing their health, limbs and minds. I am disgusted at the way our military and political leaders are using us to sell their endless war to the unsuspecting public.
The U.S. has not been in a defensive war since WW-2. The rhetoric used is a giveaway. Emotion trumps logic as any life insurance salesman knows as he paints the picture of the the husbands body being hauled away. The same kind of rhetoric is used, "we want to thank our heroes for defending our country and keeping us safe", as they go down the fear list  to make their sale.  Weapons of mass destruction, terrorists 1- Taliban, 2- Al-Qaeda, 3- ISIS and prior was Communism.
A cause has to stand alone, it is not made worthy by the heroism of the participants. A war can't be made valid with the blood of those shedding it. A soldier is a hero but you don't have to be on the winning side to be one.

Mar. 10, 2016
I just got notification from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that I am now registered. The next step is to request my name being placed on each state ballot for the November election.

Apr. 11, 2016
Any person wanting to be president as a prize or for their legacy and a spot in the history books is doing it for the wrong reason and would never admit it. How to judge?
I don't want to be president but will do the OJT job if elected. There is no instruction manual for that office and I've never had one for any job that I've had, including the US Army. There is a risk with any choice and there is a price for voting or not voting.
Vote your choice next November!

Apr. 20, 2016
Out of thousands of years one important precept has evolved. It is not new. It as old as history. Zoroaster taught it in Persia three thousand years ago. Lao-tse , the founder of Taoism, taught it. Buddha preached it five hundred years before Christ.The sacred books of Hinduism taught it a thousand years before that. Jesus taught it among the hills of Judea and summed it up in one thought.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
This is probably the most important rule in the world!

Sadly, Monroe Singleton died Apr. 28, 2016 before he had a chance to gain ballot status or even register as a write-in. He was a student of Eric Hoffer and it would have been interesting to read Singleton's take on the final three months of the 2016 national election.

Election history: none

Other occupations: ?

Notes:
Additional Washington State trivia alert!!! Monroe Singleton once lived in Montesano, Wash., which is our county seat here in Grays Harbor County.

Howard Gresham Hawkins

 

Howard Gresham Hawkins, December 8, 1952 (San Francisco, Calif.) -

VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (2012, 2016)

Running mate with nominee (2012, 2016): Jill Ellen Stein (b. 1950)
Popular vote (2012): 30,222 (0.02%)
Popular vote (2016): 102,160 (0.07%)
Electoral vote (2012, 2016): 0/538

The campaign (2012):

The 2012 Green Party Presidential nomination was won by Massachusetts physician Jill Stein, a perennial Green Party candidate for various offices in the Bay State during the previous decade. From 2005-2011 she had been twice elected to the Lexington, Mass. town council, her only public office prior to running for the White House.

The cornerstone of Stein's campaign was the Green New Deal, a phrase that goes back to the early 21st century, was picked up and expanded on by the Green Party, and then later co-opted by progressive Democrats. The Party's 2012 Green New Deal not only called for assertive environmental measures but also included several social issues such as full employment, strict tariffs, support labor unions, upgrade the nation's infrastructure, tuition-free education, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, phase out dependence on oil-coal-nuclear power, repeal the Patriot Act, Statehood for DC, legalize marijuana.

Although Stein might have appeared radical to mainstream voters, she looked totally moderate when compared to her running-mate, controversial Philadelphia-based activist Cheri Honkala. The Green Party VP had a Dickens style hardluck upbringing and later survived as a homeless single mother living in her car. In her struggle she evolved into an unorthodox and in-your-face advocate on behalf of those living on the margins of society. Her method of operation was confrontational, probably giving her the record for number of arrests related to civil disobedience for 2012 nominees. Honkala's efforts worked in terms of generating attention for her cause. Back when magazines had more clout than they do today, Ms. Magazine named Honkala "Woman of the Year" in 2001, and Mother Jones bestowed the "Hellraiser of the Month" honor to her in April 2005.

Stein and Honkala were arrested more than once during the campaign in the course of protesting issues like foreclosures and being excluded from the Obama-Romney debates. Incarceration was considered just part of the election process.

In Wisconsin Stein's running-mate was Ben Manski, in Illinois it was Howie Hawkins.

A year earlier Hawkins had finished with 47.94% of the vote for the Common Council of Syracuse, N.Y., which was his highest popular result to date in his long electioneering career. Hawkins was a veteran environmental and anti-war activist dating back to the Vietnam War era, not seeking elected office until the 1990s, but then he made up for lost time becoming one of the most perennial of modern third party candidates.

Their 4th place result of nearly half a million votes was the best showing for the Green Party since 2000. On the ballot in 37 states + DC and write-ins in 5, there were no states where they could be accused, as they were in 2000, of being a spoiler. The Stein/Honkala ticket finished strongest in Maine (1.14%), Oregon (1.18%), Alaska (0.97%), Arkansas (0.87%), District of Columbia (0.84%, where they placed third), Hawaii (0.73%), Washington and Idaho (0.67% each), West Virginia and California (0.66% each), Massachusetts (0.65%).

Stein finished in 4th place nationally and in Illinois as well, with the Stein/Hawkins ticket landing 0.58% of the vote in that state.

The campaign (2016):

Jill Stein was nominated as the Green Party standard bearer for the second time in 2016. Her official running-mate was Ajamu Baraka.

Stein's direction had veered a bit since 2012. In the 2016 election some critical observers felt she was starting to demonstrate what critics call "conspirituality," where New Age followers and the more cultish Trump adherents overlap in their denial of science and embracing a multitude of conspiracy theories. For example, the belief that Big Pharma controls the government regulatory agencies and vaccinations are harmful. Although Stein did not go full anti-vaxxer, she was accused by critics of pandering to that demographic through the use of linguistic "dog whistles." Critics also contended she used the same method in suggesting Wi-Fi causes brain damage and that the 9/11 attack deserved more investigation.

Although even skeptics agreed the Greens seemed to be more reality based when it came to environmental science, they pointed out their medical science was quite another thing (which is ironic considering Stein is a doctor), as demonstrated on the Green webpage--

Greens support a wide-range of health care services, not just traditional medicine which too often emphasizes “a medical arms race” that relies upon high-tech intervention, surgical techniques and costly pharmaceuticals. Chronic conditions are often best cured by alternative medicine. We support the teaching, funding and practice of holistic health approaches and as appropriate, the use of complementary and alternative therapies such as herbal medicines, homeopathy, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and other healing approaches.

The rise and fall of the Bernie Sanders campaign left a good sized number of voters without a home. The Green Party was able to seize upon this opportunity. The Greens disdained Sanders' method of working within a major party, and felt everything the Democrats co-opted from them, such as the Green New Deal, became watered down after it had been essentially mainstreamed (hmm, interesting accidental aquatic wordplay there). Stein also did not seem to care if Trump emerged the winner in 2016--

The answer to neofascism is stopping neoliberalism. Putting another Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of this right-wing extremism. We have known that for a long time ever since Nazi Germany. We are going to stand up to Donald Trump and to stand up to Hillary Clinton!

Stein told the media she would step aside if Sanders was willing to run for President in the Green Party. She felt Clinton could do more damage if elected because she was competent where Trump was clearly in over his head.

The fact her running-mate Baraka was outspoken about his embrace of certain conspiracy theories did not help with the Greens escaping the "woo" image that took off like a rocket with Cynthia McKinney in 2008 and was now solidifying in 2016. I'll get to Baraka when I cover 2016.

For some reason Howie Hawkins once again ended up as a stand-in VP, this time in Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington. He was quoted by Politico during the Green convention with a statement that turned out to be prophetic--

The biggest threat to the Democrats isn't losing votes to the Greens ... Working class whites say, well, the Democrats don't have all that much for us. And Trump sounds like he's mad at the system. So they throw a protest vote to him ... the African-American, Latino, Asian working class. Barack Obama got them out twice, but he didn't do a lot for them, and he's not on the ticket this time.

Stein finished in 4th place with 1,457,288 votes (1.06%), the second highest result in the history of the Party. Of that, the Stein/Hawkins ticket tally was 102,160 votes: Minnesota 1.26%, Washington 1.76%, and Vermont 2.11%.

Some pundits point to Stein's percentages in Wisconsin (1.04%), Pennsylvania (0.81%), and Michigan (1.07%)-- all swing states that voted for Trump who won by margins below the Green total-- and accuse her of being a spoiler as they accused Nader in 2000. However, in all three states the Libertarians had considerably higher percentages than the Greens, placing third, which complicates the "spoiler equation." If anything, a case could be made both third parties drew away a significant number of "Protest Voters" who otherwise would have voted for Trump and he won those states in spite of that.

Election history:
1996 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Green Party) - disqualified from ballot
1997 - Mayor of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party) - defeated
1998 - Comptroller of New York (Green Party) - defeated
2000 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Green Party) - defeated
2002 - Comptroller of New York (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2004 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Peace and Justice Party) - defeated
2005 - Mayor of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2006 - US Senate (N.Y.) (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2007 - Common Council of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2008 - Green Party of the United States nomination for US President - defeated
2008 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2009 - Common Council of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2010 - Governor of New York (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2011 - Common Council of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2013 - Common Council of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2014 - Governor of New York (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2015 - City Auditor of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2017 - Mayor of Syracuse, N.Y. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2018 - Governor of New York (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2020 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for US President - defeated
2020 - US President (Green Party of the United States/Socialist Party of the United States of America/Legal Marijuana Now Party) - defeated
2024 - US President - pending

Other occupations: US Marine Corps, Teamster, construction, UPS worker, union activist, co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, co-founder of the Clamshell Alliance, member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Notes:
Opponents in 2006 included Hillary Clinton (winner), Róger Calero, and Bill Van Auken.
Opponents in 2010 included Andrew Cuomo (winner) and Jimmy McMillan.
Winner of the 2014 and 2018 elections was Andrew Cuomo.
Joined the Socialist Party in 1973. Campaigned for Bernie Sanders as part of the Liberty Union Party.
Stein was inducted into the Encyclopedia of American Loons in 2020.
Full disclosure: In 2012 I voted Obama. In 2016 I supported Sanders in the primary but voted Clinton in the general.

Benjamin R. Manski

 

Benjamin R. Manski, July 16, 1974 (Pittsburgh, Penn.) -

VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Jill Ellen Stein (b. 1950)
Popular vote: 7,665 (0.36%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The 2012 Green Party Presidential nomination was won by Massachusetts physician Jill Stein, a perennial Green Party candidate for various offices in the Bay State during the previous decade. From 2005-2011 she had been twice elected to the Lexington, Mass. town council, her only public office prior to running for the White House.

The cornerstone of Stein's campaign was the Green New Deal, a phrase that goes back to the early 21st century, was picked up and expanded on by the Green Party, and then later co-opted by progressive Democrats. The Party's 2012 Green New Deal not only called for assertive environmental measures but also included several social issues such as full employment, strict tariffs, support labor unions, upgrade the nation's infrastructure, tuition-free education, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, phase out dependence on oil-coal-nuclear power, repeal the Patriot Act, Statehood for DC, legalize marijuana.

Although Stein might have appeared radical to mainstream voters, she looked totally moderate when compared to her running-mate, controversial Philadelphia-based activist Cheri Honkala. The Green Party VP had a Dickens style hardluck upbringing and later survived as a homeless single mother living in her car. In her struggle she evolved into an unorthodox and in-your-face advocate on behalf of those living on the margins of society. Her method of operation was confrontational, probably giving her the record for number of arrests related to civil disobedience for 2012 nominees. Honkala's efforts worked in terms of generating attention for her cause. Back when magazines had more clout than they do today, Ms. Magazine named Honkala "Woman of the Year" in 2001, and Mother Jones bestowed the "Hellraiser of the Month" honor to her in April 2005.

Stein and Honkala were arrested more than once during the campaign in the course of protesting issues like foreclosures and being excluded from the Obama-Romney debates. Incarceration was considered just part of the election process.

In Wisconsin Stein's running-mate was Ben Manski, in Illinois it was Howie Hawkins.

Longtime activist Manski, who was one of the organizers for the 1999 WTO protest in Seattle [Washington State Trivia Alert!!] had joined the Green Party in 1990. He served as Ralph Nader's Midwest field director in the 2000 election. He had run twice before for county and state legislative offices, both times almost coming within reach of winning. In 2012 he was Jill Stein's campaign manager.

Initially placed on the ballot as a placeholder, Manski somehow ended up appearing on the final ballot with Stein. The press characterized that move as an accidental result of a bureaucratic entanglement.

Stein finished in 4th place nationally and in Wisconsin as well, with the Stein/Manski ticket finishing with 0.25% of the vote in that state.

Stein would run again in 2016 where she had morphed into a different kind of candidate who would have more of an impact on the outcome of the election. I'll get to that later.

Election history:
1996 - Dane County Board of Supervisors (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2010 - Wisconsin State Assembly (Green Party of the United States) - defeated


Other occupations: attorney,  co-founder 180/Movement for Democracy and Education, founder of Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution

Notes:
Spent part of his childhood in Israel before his family moved to Madison, Wis.

Luis Javier Rodriguez

 

Luis Javier Rodriguez, July 9, 1954 (El Paso, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Justice Party (aka Independent aka Independent Party of Connecticut aka Natural Law Party aka Oregon Progressive Party aka New Mexico Independent Party aka Nonaffiliated) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Ross Carl Anderson (b. 1951)
Popular vote: 43,123 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson served as the Mayor of Salt Lake City 2000-2008 and was perhaps one of the most politically liberal politicians to come out of Utah in recent history. A Democrat, he operated to the Left of his party and had the distinction of being one of the few major city mayors to call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. By 2011 he was disappointed with the Democratic Party and was key in forming the Justice Party, using it as a springboard for his run for the Presidency.  

In July 2012, Anderson found an "Always Running"-mate in Luis J. Rodriguez.

A resident of California in 2012, Rodriguez had an early history of running with gangs and brief periods of incarceration but also desiring to get pursue an academic education where he developed both political and literary interests. By the time Anderson selected him as his VP, Rodriguez had become a well known poet and activist. I first became aware of him through his book Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. (1993) which was quite popular with the students I worked with in that era. Although not exactly a household name, Rodriguez enjoyed name recognition among the voter base Anderson was trying to reach.

Anderson's platform was encapsulated in his Washington State Voters Pamphlet statement--

Statement: My campaign is about deeply shared values, focused on achieving greater economic, social, and environmental justice for all. Instead of falling in line with the dominant parties that have created a militarist and corporatist government for sale to the highest bidders, we are calling for people to aspire to a government that is genuinely of, by, and for the people.

Peace and prosperity require (1) proven pre-school and secondary educational opportunities so that everyone has a chance to excel; (2) the chance for everyone to obtain a college or technical education without crushing debt, just as our forebears committed to secondary education for all; (3) returning outsourced jobs to the U.S and putting millions of people to work in a WPA-like initiative; (4) equal rights under the law, regardless of race, religion, and sexual orientation; (5) a restorative criminal justice system that focuses on problem-solving, rather than on punishment and retribution (including an end to the disastrous "war on drugs"); (6) a Medicare-for-all system that will provide essential healthcare for everyone, be less expensive, and provide better medical outcomes; and (7) responsible environmental stewardship, including protection of the climate through utilization of clean energy sources.

My foreign policy will promote peace and respect for human rights, not the empire-building wars of aggression supported by both major parties. I will promote long-term U.S. security and build better relationships with other nations by ending the immoral drone killings that have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, the assassinations of U.S. citizens without any semblance of due process, and the claim of authority to indefinitely detain even U.S. citizens without charges, trial, legal assistance, or right of habeas corpus. I will dismantle the imperial presidency and restore a government in harmony with fundamental U.S. values and our Constitution.

Anderson occupied a place on the political spectrum that was too liberal for mainstream Democrats, but too central for some other progressive groups and he found himself frequently competing with the Green Party for voters. In some cases it appeared his experience as an elected executive robbed him of the "outsider" status that often can be an advantage with disaffected voters, plus the Justice Party was not exactly created as the result of a massive grassroots movement.

Anderson was able to partner with some existing political parties and gain ballot access through them such as the Oregon Progressive Party, the Independent Party of Connecticut, the Natural Law Party in Michigan, and the New Mexico Independent Party. In some ways Anderson was able to rely on groups that had supported and organized for Ralph Nader's 2008 campaign. Nader himself fell short of an endorsement, but he "supported" Anderson. Anderson had actually won the Peace and Freedom Party primary in California, but removed himself from consideration before their convention.

Anderson/Rodriguez were on the ballot in 15 states and write-ins in 16 others, placing 7th nationally. Their strongest results were in Utah (0.52%), Idaho and Vermont (0.38% each), Connecticut (0.35%), Oregon (0.19%), Washington (0.16%), New Mexico (0.15%), Michigan and Tennessee (0.11% each), Rhode Island (0.09%), Louisiana and Minnesota (0.07% each), Colorado and New Jersey (0.05% each).

In 2016 the Justice Party endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

Election history:
1977 - Los Angeles Unified School Board (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2014 - Governor of California (Green Party of the United States) - defeated

Other occupations: bus driver, truck driver, construction worker, factory worker, welder, poet, novelist, journalist, 2014-2016 Los Angeles Poet Laureate, editor, typesetter, publisher, lecturer, National Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, teacher, steering committee of the National Poor Peoples Campaign, co-founder of the Network for Revolutionary Change

Notes:
2014 opponents included Jerry Brown (winner) and Cindy Sheehan.
Both parents were Mexican born.
In his 1977 election Rodriguez was identified as being a member of the Communist Labor Party of North America.

Joseph L. Martin

 

Joseph L. Martin, December 6, 1968 -

VP candidate for Reform Party of Kansas (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Charles Obadiah Baldwin (b. 1952)
Popular vote: 5,017 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Kansas branch of the Reform Party of the United States of America appeared to have disaffiliated from the national party at some point between the 2004-2008 elections. In 2008 they crossed parties and endorsed Constitution Party nominees Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle. In June 2012 they once again nominated Baldwin but this time with Joseph Martin as his VP.

It would seem Baldwin had nothing to do with the Kansas Reform Party nomination. Since the 2008 election he relocated from Florida to Montana, where he became an even more outspoken anti-Zionist and embraced the survivalist American Redoubt concept--

God has led us to the conviction that Montana (along with other Mountain states) is going to be the tip of the spear in the freedom fight; and we believe God wants us to be part of that fight. We plan to start a new ministry where I can preach and my family can sing and minister (you should hear them sing!). Once we get established and can raise the funds, I definitely plan to livestream my messages on the Internet as we have been doing at Crossroad for the past year and a half. And if God opens the door, I will not rule out a run for State office. Yes, the freedom message is both spiritual and political; and I am afraid of neither!

For years, people have been asking me, “Chuck, what can we do?” Well, this is what God has led my family and me to do. We are convinced that the only way freedom has a chance to survive in these States united is to recapture the spirit of liberty–one State at a time. (To continue to focus on Washington, D.C., is a waste of time and energy!) And God has led us to the conclusion that Montana (and nearby states) is the place where freedom-minded patriots have a fighting chance to prevail. Instead of telling you what to do, my family and I are showing you what we believe we should do.

Baldwin had rejoined the Republican Party in order run for the position of Lt. Governor in Montana, but aborted that campaign prior to the 2012 primary.

His running-mate Joseph Martin was in Statesville, NC during the 2012 election but he had been a longtime activist with the Kansas Reform Party since 2000 when he joined as part of the Pat Buchanan wave. A Christian conservative, he was not happy when the national party backed Ralph Nader in 2004. Martin had run for Lt. Governor and Secretary of State under the Reform Party banner in Kansas. He was allied with Ron Paul supporters and said he was part of the effort to "put Chuck Baldwin on our Reform Party of KS ballot line in 2008." It appears he moved to North Carolina around 2010.

When Martin ran for Kansas Secretary of State in 2006 he provided an answer to those who used the abortion issue as a political litmus test--

Yes, I am Pro-life. All of our candidates are pro-life, some without exceptions, some with reservations like "life of the mother" and rape.

I am completely pro-life. Abortion should not be a legal medical procedure. If invasive surgery is required to save the mother, then that procedure should be to save her life and not to kill the child.

I am also completely against the use of embryonic stem-cell research. It is unethical, inhumane, and a contemptuous assault on human dignity. In addition, the research so far has been largely a complete failure: God and His Nature are trying to show mankind that this is unacceptable and useless.

I support reasonable research on adult stem-cells, which has been showing promise.

I am also against the forced harvesting and sale of organs from political dissidents against their will. This is a booming business in China, while our country's leaders do nothing about it, and our media are almost completely mute on this crime against humanity being done by our "Most Favored" trading partner.

Kansas has an entity called the Kansas Objections Board which is comprised of the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General. In Sept. 2012 they heard two pleas. First was from the Reform Party of the United States of America. The national party had nominated Andre Barnett for President and wanted the ballot line occupied by Baldwin. Secondly, it was reported the Reform Party of Kansas wanted to rescind the Baldwin nomination and replace his name with that of Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode and was planning to make their appeal to the Objections Board. The Board rejected the the former request, and appears to have said no to the latter as well if they did make the request.

Meanwhile, Martin was living in North Carolina and had become involved with the newly created Christian Party, which provided this self-description on their webpage--

About the Christian Party

For government truly to provide freedom to the people in our country, both the concepts in the Bible and the Constitution are necessary. Therefore, it is our goal in the Christian Party of North Carolina to empower Christians politically to glorify the Lord, by influencing government through the political process so that it conforms to both Biblical principles and the Constitution.

The Christian Party of North Carolina came into existence in response to the need for there to be a political voice for Christians in our state. On 9/3/10 the Christian Party of North Carolina was officially registered with the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

We are affiliated with the Constitution Party of America, a new national political party which is also Christian and 100% Pro-life. We welcome you as a fellow Christian to join us in restoring true Biblical leadership in government. To that end we ask that you please check out our “Get Involved” page.

For his part, Baldwin mostly stayed clear of the Kansas situation. However he did weigh in on his webpage that he believed Romney was going to win--

Posted on Nov 1, 2012
A Word About The Elections

With the 2012 Presidential election just a few days away, it is almost superfluous for me to engage in any kind of in depth discussion, as most people cannot, for the life of them, get past the political theater that is currently crescendoing to a climax. Therefore, I will simply provide readers with a few passing thoughts regarding the elections next week.

I think Mitt Romney will somewhat comfortably win the Presidential election. This will cause “conservatives,” Christians, and most Republicans to go into a state of deep hibernation, which will allow Romney to wreak havoc upon the Constitution and liberties of the people. In 2012, Barack Obama is the “Boogeyman” that must defeated at all costs. But the fact is, with the exception of Romney’s more business-friendly approach to economics, the differences between Obama and Romney are negligible.

The Baldwin/Martin team took 0.43% of the Kansas vote.

Election history:
2006 - Kansas Secretary of State (Reform Party of the United States) - defeated
2008 - US Senate (Kan.) (Reform Party of the United States) - defeated

Other occupations: computer programmer.

Notes:
Martin has a BS in Mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology, 1992.
Baldwin joined the Independent American Party after the 2012 election.

Matthew Edward Gonzalez

 

Matthew Edward Gonzalez, June 4, 1965 (McAllen, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Independent (aka Peace and Freedom Party aka Unaffiliated aka Independent Party of Delaware aka Ecology Party of Florida aka Independence Party aka Natural Law Party aka Peace Party aka Populist Party) (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Ralph Nader (b. 1934)
Popular vote: 739,278 (0.56%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ralph Nader, about to turn 74, announced his intention to run for President as an Independent on the Meet the Press television program Feb. 24, 2008, "Dissent is the mother of ascent, and in that context I've decided to run for president."

The start of Nader's 2008 campaign and Matt Gonzalez's place in it is described on the Matt Gonzales Reader webpage--

In 2008 Ralph Nader decided to run for president and asked Gonzalez to be his running mate. Gonzalez saw himself as a stand-in for Peter Camejo who had run with Nader in 2004 but was now unavailable because he was fighting cancer a second time. Camejo specifically encouraged Nader to select Gonzalez who was one of the few elected officials in the nation to publically endorsed their ticket in 2004. Gonzalez agreed with the condition they not seek the Green Party Nomination. Nader was in accord. Both were supportive of Cynthia McKinney’s efforts to win the Green Party nomination and believed both campaigns could complement one another. The decision not to compete against McKinney for the Green Party nomination and to run as independents meant they could not rely on a preexisting party aparatus to gain ballot status.

Camejo died on Sept. 13, 2008.

Gonzalez gave a thumbnail description of the platform in an interview with Krist Novoselic (Seattle Weekly)--

Single-payer health care, ending the war in Iraq (without leaving any of the private contractor soldiers there), and ending the corporate domination of our society. It’s apparent that corporate money is undermining good government decision-making in our legislative process.

We’re committed to election reform. We support proportional representation for our Congress and direct election of the president by majority vote. We oppose plurality victories, which are common in the U.S., and have occurred in eight of the last 24 presidential contests.

Nader picked up support from a number of regional parties. In California he won the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party. Also the Independent Party of Delaware, Independence Party (Hawaii), and Natural Law Party (Michigan). The Ecology Party of Florida and the Peace Party in Oregon were created for Nader's campaign. In New York Nader ran under the Populist Party banner.

Although he did not actively seek the Green Party nomination, he still won the most votes in their primaries but the convention nominated Cynthia McKinney. Gonzalez left the Green Party partly as a way to make it easier for Nader to file as a true Independent in several states.

Nader/Gonzalez were on the ballot in 45 states and write-ins in four others. They finished in third place and at a higher percentage than Nader's 2004 run, cracking 1% in a dozen states: Maine (1.45%), North Dakota (1.32%), Arkansas (1.19%), Connecticut and Alaska (1.16% each), South Dakota (1.12%), Idaho (1.10%), Minnesota (1.04%), Vermont (1.03%), Rhode Island and Oregon (1.02%), and West Virginia (1.01%). The only state where it could possibly be argued Nader was a spoiler was Missouri, which barely voted for McCain with a 0.13% difference over Obama. Nader took 0.61% of the vote in that state.

Compared to most of the other third parties in the 2008 election season, Nader's Independent bid went comparatively smoothly, but it ended on a real sour note. On Election Night Nader told a Fox News radio reporter regarding Obama, "He is our first African American president; or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he’s going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations who are running America into the ground." A bit later Fox TV reporter Shep Smith played back the statement to Nader, but the quote was cut off after the words "giant corporations." After playing it, Smith looked a bit stunned and said with dramatic pauses, "Really. Ralph Nader? What was that?" and the contentious conversation went downhill from there with Nader exhibiting a special sort of zealous cranky cluelessness about the impact of his choice of words.

And thus ended Nader's final major campaign for the Presidency. I actually saw that live when it aired and remember thinking it was a downer departure from the electoral scene by a candidate who is unquestionably America's greatest consumer advocate and activist.

Election history:
1999 - San Francisco District Attorney (Nonpartisan) - primary - defeated
2001-2005 - San Francisco Board of Supervisors (President, 2003-2005) (Nonpartisan)
2003 - Mayor of San Francisco, Calif. (Nonpartisan) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney, collage artist, writer, editor, teacher, art curator, poet

Notes:
During his 2001 campaign, Gonzalez left the Democratic Party and joined the Green Party.
Winner of the 2003 election was Gavin Newsom.
Played bass guitar in an indie rock band, John Heartfield, 1995-1999.

Frank Edward McEnulty

 

Frank Edward McEnulty, 1956 (Long Beach, Calif.) -

VP candidate for Reform Party of the United States of America (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Theodore C. Weill (1925-2009)
Popular vote: 481 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ted C. Weill, who was 83 years old at the time of the 2008 campaign season, was the nominee of the Reform Party for that election cycle. A figure in the Party in Mississippi since at least the 1990s, he had attempted to gain the Presidential nomination in 2004 but stepped aside for Ralph Nader.

Weill had a history of supporting third party candidates. In addition to Nader he contributed significant sums of money to Lyndon LaRouche and Lenora Fulani's organizations, which raised some concerns from Reform Party members. Weill's response was. "I'd like to see what they do with the money."

Weill's stand on the issues included: a balanced budget mandate, term limits, elimination of the Electoral College, make PACs illegal, and no federal tax increase without a popular vote.

The July 2008 Reform Party convention, which was disputed as the "real" convention status by one faction, nominated Frank McEnulty as Weill's running-mate. McEnulty was not a member of the Reform Party.

Frank McEnulty, a California estate agent filed with the FEC for President in Feb. 2007 as an independent but that did not prevent him from entering the Republican primaries, at least in Arizona. On Mar. 11, 2008 he gained the nomination of the newborn New American Independent Party. Shortly after his nomination, he was in Alaska seeking the endorsement of the Alaska Independence Party alongside members of the American Independence Party and was identified by Alaskan media as a member of the AIP. It does get confusing, doesn't it? He was also a contender for the Reform Party nomination but lost out to Ted Weill, so he became the running-mate.

It was erroneously reported on some outlets that McEnulty announced he was going to drop his own Presidential campaign in order to campaign full time as the Reform Party VP. McEnulty was definitely running under both banners. It is not unheard of for a candidate to be running for President on one ticket and be the VP on another in the same election. William Jenner in 1956 is one example that springs to mind, and Dick Gregory in 1968 although McEnulty's case was more deliberate.

McEnulty's statement on the matter:

At the Reform Party Convention, held recently in Dallas, TX, I was selected to be their Vice Presidential Candidate to run on the ticket with Ted Weill, the Presidential candidate. I am honored to accept this nomination and see this as an important step in uniting the various third party groups around the country into a stronger, more effective voice.

To that end, I am continuing my independent run for president in the other states in which the Reform Party does not have ballot access. I firmly believe the answer for a better America is in a strong, viable third party that will address the views and needs of the Moderate Majority Americans being ignored by the Democrats and Republicans.

I want to reiterate that I am still the New American Independent Party Presidential candidate for the 2008 election and have discussed this strategy at length with Michael Thompson the Chairman of the NAIP. We are continuing our ballot access efforts and hope that this latest development will help our message to be heard in more states. Thank you for your continued support.

The NAIP was formed in 2004 with an eye to the middle class as a political base. Although the Party attempted to hold the center, it generally came off appearing to be sort of a Libertarian-lite, preaching the gospel of a small federal government, more local control, fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility, less government intrusion into personal lives, and an end to political party tribalism. McEnulty himself was a great admirer of Reagan and a NRA supporter.

In Feb. 2008 McEnulty told an interviewer about his parameters for a VP selection--

I will be looking for someone who is smart, wants what is best for all Americans, is a moderate, a fiscal conservative and will put forth the time and effort to run in a real campaign. I also believe that my running mate needs to be a business person because the government is a business and needs to run more like one. I’m not worried about being outsiders in the Washington scene, because I believe that gridlock is good for the following reason. If there is gridlock, then only legislation that makes sense for all Americans and benefits the vast majority of all Americans will get passed. We’ve got hundreds of thousands of laws. We don’t need new ones every day.

For reasons that are not clear, McEnulty had 9 different running-mates. He made the ballot only in Colorado, and attempted to be a registered write-in in the remainder.

Due to a civil war within the Reform Party, by the time the dust settled to any degree it was really too late for the Weill/McEnulty team to effectively campaign. The split in the party was so severe that the Kansas chapter endorsed Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, who appeared on the ballot there under the Reform banner. The Ohio chapter endorsed Ron Paul.

Ballot Access News, which was then and remains today one of the most excellent go-to online places for third party news, had a lively comment thread regarding the Reform Party on July 20, 2008. McEnulty himself weighed in. The most interesting exchange to me involved Michael Thompson, the National Chair of the New American Independent Party--

Michael Thompson on July 22, 2008 at 3:47 pm said:

I would like to respond to the many emails that I have been getting from New American Independent Party members and other interested folk.

People have been wondering if the New American Independent Party will now be working with the Reform Party since our nominated Presidential candidate has accepted the VP slot with the Reform Party.

The simple answer to that is NO. The New American Independent Party has no interest and will have no interest in working with any faction of the Reform Party. The NAIP views the Reform Party and it’s many twisted factions as a tumor, infecting everything it touches. The NAIP will not allow the nutcases at the Reform party to infect our new party.

I am sure that the Reform party has some very good and decent rank and file members. However, we feel that we cannot trust any of the Reform Party leadership from any and all factions.

I will have more information to bring all of you in the coming days concerning this matter.

Sincerely,

Michael Thompson
National Chairman
New American Independent Party

TheTrueReformist on July 22, 2008 at 4:07 pm said:

Michael:
My question to you is: Then why is your Presidential Nominee, seeking the VP slot in Ted Weill's campaign and why did he come to the Reform Party seeking our nomination at all? Personally, your views are too liberal for those of us who do have good organized SPO’s. We are not and will not be seeking affiliation with the NAIP and neither Frank or Ted will get our ballot access in Florida. Over my dead body!!!!!

 Michael Thompson on July 22, 2008 at 8:06 pm said:

True Reformist,

You should ask Frank McEnulty that question not me. The NAIP is still trying to figure out what happened.

Such a move does not help the NAIP, it only hurts us. The NAIP is a new party and we didn’t expect to get on many ballots this year. But, the ballots that we thought we had the best chance of reaching were Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Basically, Frank took away his chance at leading a ticket in those states for a VP role in a party that is dying. And this move also took away the NAIP’s best chance at getting on state ballots.

The NAIP hoped to get on some ballots this year in an effort to build our party towards a more powerful 2012 campaign. We have no choice but to try to gain ballot access and run our own ticket, (a NAIP ticket) in Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Weill/McEnulty ticket were on the ballot in Mississippi only, where they placed 7th out of 7. Weill died on Nov. 20, 2009, meaning McEnulty would have assumed the Presidency if they had been elected.

Election history:
2008 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
2008 - Reform Party of the United States of America nomination for US President - defeated
2008 - US President (New American Independent Party) - defeated

Other occupations: financial officer, property management, teacher

Notes:
Catholic.

Sandra E. Kucera

Sandra E. Kucera, b. ca1949

VP candidate for Independent (2004)

Running mate with nominee: Ralph Nader (b. 1934)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Expressing a desire to not become beholden to the platform of any party, Ralph Nader announced he was running for President in 2004 as an independent. Yet he also sought the endorsement (rather than the nomination) of several already established third parties as a way to more easily acquire ballot access. The Reform Party, Independent Party of Delaware, and Independence Party did just that, making him their de facto nominee. Some parties were simply invented as a 2004 one-shot deal due to local requirements. For example, Nader ran in Alaska, Arkansas, and Maryland under the Populist Party name, apparently unconcerned of the legacy of white nationalist policies connected with the recent party of that name 1984-1996 and still a fresh memory.

Although Nader never joined the Green Party, it was under their banner that he was perceived, perhaps unfairly, as being the spoiler in the 2000 election and handing the White House to George W. Bush especially in Florida. The Green Party had some significant differences of opinion within their ranks on how to proceed in 2004. Generally speaking there were three factions at play here.

The first group desired to endorse Ralph Nader's independent run. Nader himself had announced in Dec. 2003 he would not seek the Green nomination, but later he realized the Party's endorsement would come in handy in terms of ballot access although he had no intention of joining the Greens himself. The pro-Nader faction was energized when a week before the Green convention Nader had selected GP activist Peter Camejo as his running-mate. Camejo in fact had won the most popular votes in the Green Party primaries for President.

The second group wanted to run a campaign with a "pure" Green candidate (David Cobb was the frontrunner) rather than ride on the star power of a political celebrity who was not necessarily in line with the Party platform. Cobb, a California attorney and Party activist, had worked hard to gain the nomination as he electioneered across the country gathering delegates.

The third group promoted the idea of sitting out the 2004 Presidential contest and instead concentrate on elections at the grassroots local level. A leaflet from this faction at the convention included, "Choosing No Candidate will allow Greens to build strength at the grassroots, avoiding a punishing national media fight we cannot win ... Our best route to national influence is building local power."

On June 26, 2004 Cobb won the nomination on the second ballot. He named Pat LaMarche, a Green Party activist in Maine, as his running-mate.

Unlike Nader/Camejo the Cobb/LeMarche ticket adopted a "safe state" strategy of not campaigning hard in swing states where they thought they could possibly tip the scales in favor of Bush. Cobb rationalized, "In California, Cobb-LaMarche's message is going to be, 'Progressives, don't waste your vote.' Because if a progressive casts a vote for the corporate militarist John Kerry in California, it does not help to unelect Bush, and you can only send a message that you actually support policies that you don't. That's a wasted vote. Simple message: progressives, don't waste your vote. In the other states where it's very much closer, we have the same, in-depth, scathing critique of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and then conclude with, 'but think carefully before you cast your vote.' You know, that is completely respecting the voter, and it is really challenging those voters to think about why we have a system where I have to vote against what I hate, rather than support what I want."

LaMarche suggested she just might pull the level for the Democrat on Election Day, "If the race is tight, I'll vote for Kerry."

A swath of the Left felt the Greens were capitulating to the Democrats far too much. The Vermont Green Party broke ranks and endorsed Nader/Camejo. Other Greens appeared to migrate to the Socialists in 2004, giving them a larger popular vote than usual.

Due to Oregon's Byzantine ballot access requirements for independents, Camejo had to be substituted with a stand-in who was supplied in the person of Beaverton resident Sandra E. Kucera. Both of the major parties were up to mischief here with the Democrats doing what they could to prevent Nader from being an option and the Republicans showing up at pro-Nader nominating conventions of the campaign to gain signatures and increase head counts.

Kucera was a legal assistant to Nader's Oregon campaign manager, attorney Greg Kafoury. Although in the end she never saw her name on the ballot, or even as a registered write-in, she is immortalized under the case title Kucera v Bradbury where the higher courts sided with the Oregon Secretary of State (a Democrat) in his interpretation of the law and ultimate rejection of allowing Nader on the ballot.
 
In the four years since Nader last ran 9/11 had happened and the Bush administration was wrapping up their first term. Although President Bush called himself a uniter, not a divider, his economic policy, military initiatives, and interpretation of civil liberties under the Constitution seemed to widening the polarization of the country. Many in the Progressive side were willing to overlook Sen. Kerry's centrism and spent not a small amount of energy attempting to get Nader out of the race or off the ballots.

In one the most famous incidents in the 2004 campaign Bill Maher and Michael Moore got down on their knees and begged Nader on the Real Time television program on July 31, 2004 to drop out of the race.

There were others who agreed--

Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat. ... In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts.
–Noam Chomsky

I am going to run around this country and do everything I can to dissuade people from voting for Ralph Nader. ... this election will come down to a relatively few votes. ... I consider four more years of Bush a potential horror show for this country.
–Bernie Sanders

If Kerry is elected, we'll have a little ledge to stand on.
–Howard Zinn

Last time around, Nader attracted the support of a stellar list of left-leaning celebrities; Phil Donahue, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, Paul Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Eddie Vedder, and Ani DiFranco were all Naderites. That won't be the case this year.
-Mother Jones Magazine

A number of anti-Nader websites from the Progressive community sprang up: The Nader Factor, United Progressives for Victory, Vote2StopBush.org,  Dear Ralph, StopNader.com, Ralph Don't Run, Repentant Nader Voter PAC, Nader Watch Blog, Don't Vote Ralph, Ralph-Nader.info, Damned Big Difference, and Greens for Kerry (Change In '04).

"It's an ego-fueled Trojan Horse for the right wing," said Bob Gammage of StopNader.org, "The Republicans perceive (the Nader campaign) the same way we do: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. They're hoping ... they can confuse enough people to take the election away from Kerry."

Nader met with the Congressional Black Caucus in June. It did not go well. The CBC had asked Nader to drop out of the election and by the end there were raised voices, Nader was told by one member of Congress to "get your ass out" of the meeting, and Rep. Melvin Watt said the candidate was "just another arrogant white man, telling us what we can do. It's all about your ego, another [expletive] arrogant white man." Nader later demanded an apology for the language used in the meeting but never got it.

Some of the other attendees had choice words as well:
"He ain't playing with a full deck"--Rep. James Clyburn
"I don’t think he gets it ... The meeting was about strategy and the pragmatic planning to defeat Bush ... We told him how at strategic level, his candidacy defeats a common a goal ... We were particularly offended by Nader's exhibitionism, his selfishness and egotism"--Rep. Albert Wynn
"If he didn't understand what the meeting was about, not only is he an egotistical maniac, he's dumber than I thought he was"--Rep. Gregory Meeks

There was evidence the Republicans and far-Right groups were doing what they could to help Nader along, which was an unsurprising and old political practice by political parties helping the enemy of their enemy dating back to the early 1800s in US politics.

But as it was Nader's 2004 showing was faint compared to 2000. Rather than setting the foundation for a new progressive party, he was starting to be perceived by many as a perennial candidate for a personality-driven movement.

Nader was on the ballot in 35 states + DC and a registered write-in in 12 states finishing third nationally with 465,642 votes (0.38%). Of those, the Nader/Camejo ticket was on the ballot in 32 states + DC and certified write-ins in half a dozen more. In New York, Nader was on two different ballot lines, each with a different running-mate (with Camejo in the Peace and Justice Party, with Jan D. Pierce in the Independence Party). Pierce was also on the ballot with Nader in Alabama. Documents suggest Pierce would have also been on the ballot in Illinois, Ohio and Arizona as the VP if Nader had prevailed and been made a printed option for voters in those states, but that did not come to pass. Karen Sanchirico was the running-mate in Montana. Nader had no VP at all in 6 write-in slots.

The Nader/Kucera ticket no doubt were among the "scattered" write-ins reported in Oregon, but the results were not detailed since the team was uncertified.

After the election my friend and shirttail relative Robert C. "Bob" Bailey, who had once been one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington State, said he was not surprised at the re-election of George W. Bush. "Voters don't like to change Presidents in wartime, no matter how bad they are," was his view.

Election history: none

Other occupations: legal assistant

Notes:
Washington trivia alert!!! It is possible Kucera lived in Olympia, Wash. at the the same time I was a
 resident there. It is sort of surprising how common the name "Sandra Kucera" is, making it difficult
 to ascertain which one is which, so she is something of a mystery candidate.

Karen Andrea Sanchirico

Karen Andrea Sanchirico, August 28, 1967 (New York) -

VP candidate for Independent (2004)

Running mate with nominee: Ralph Nader (b. 1934)
Popular vote: 6,168 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Expressing a desire to not become beholden to the platform of any party, Ralph Nader announced he was running for President in 2004 as an independent. Yet he also sought the endorsement (rather than the nomination) of several already established third parties as a way to more easily acquire ballot access. The Reform Party, Independent Party of Delaware, and Independence Party did just that, making him their de facto nominee. Some parties were simply invented as a 2004 one-shot deal due to local requirements. For example, Nader ran in Alaska, Arkansas, and Maryland under the Populist Party name, apparently unconcerned of the legacy of white nationalist policies connected with the recent party of that name 1984-1996 and still a fresh memory.

Although Nader never joined the Green Party, it was under their banner that he was perceived, perhaps unfairly, as being the spoiler in the 2000 election and handing the White House to George W. Bush especially in Florida. The Green Party had some significant differences of opinion within their ranks on how to proceed in 2004. Generally speaking there were three factions at play here.

The first group desired to endorse Ralph Nader's independent run. Nader himself had announced in Dec. 2003 he would not seek the Green nomination, but later he realized the Party's endorsement would come in handy in terms of ballot access although he had no intention of joining the Greens himself. The pro-Nader faction was energized when a week before the Green convention Nader had selected GP activist Peter Camejo as his running-mate. Camejo in fact had won the most popular votes in the Green Party primaries for President.

The second group wanted to run a campaign with a "pure" Green candidate (David Cobb was the frontrunner) rather than ride on the star power of a political celebrity who was not necessarily in line with the Party platform. Cobb, a California attorney and Party activist, had worked hard to gain the nomination as he electioneered across the country gathering delegates.

The third group promoted the idea of sitting out the 2004 Presidential contest and instead concentrate on elections at the grassroots local level. A leaflet from this faction at the convention included, "Choosing No Candidate will allow Greens to build strength at the grassroots, avoiding a punishing national media fight we cannot win ... Our best route to national influence is building local power."

On June 26, 2004 Cobb won the nomination on the second ballot. He named Pat LaMarche, a Green Party activist in Maine, as his running-mate.

Unlike Nader/Camejo the Cobb/LeMarche ticket adopted a "safe state" strategy of not campaigning hard in swing states where they thought they could possibly tip the scales in favor of Bush. Cobb rationalized, "In California, Cobb-LaMarche's message is going to be, 'Progressives, don't waste your vote.' Because if a progressive casts a vote for the corporate militarist John Kerry in California, it does not help to unelect Bush, and you can only send a message that you actually support policies that you don't. That's a wasted vote. Simple message: progressives, don't waste your vote. In the other states where it's very much closer, we have the same, in-depth, scathing critique of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and then conclude with, 'but think carefully before you cast your vote.' You know, that is completely respecting the voter, and it is really challenging those voters to think about why we have a system where I have to vote against what I hate, rather than support what I want."

LaMarche suggested she just might pull the level for the Democrat on Election Day, "If the race is tight, I'll vote for Kerry."

A swath of the Left felt the Greens were capitulating to the Democrats far too much. The Vermont Green Party broke ranks and endorsed Nader/Camejo. Other Greens appeared to migrate to the Socialists in 2004, giving them a larger popular vote than usual.

Karen Sanchirico of Boise, Idaho (PNW trivia alert!!!) became the running-mate in the state of Montana. At the time the state law declared that independent candidates could not be "associated with a political party for one year prior to submission of the nomination petition" which was interpreted as having run for office under the banner of another party. That ruled out Camejo since he had run as a Green in the 2003 election for Governor of California. So Sanchirico was substituted as a stand-in candidate.

In the previous year Sanchirico, with a background in the Green Party, had founded the Boise Patriots, the concept being a broad-based coalition opposing the Patriot Act and civil rights violations on the part of government and law enforcement.

In the four years since Nader last ran 9/11 had happened and the Bush administration was wrapping up their first term. Although President Bush called himself a uniter, not a divider, his economic policy, military initiatives, and interpretation of civil liberties under the Constitution seemed to widening the polarization of the country. Many in the Progressive side were willing to overlook Sen. Kerry's centrism and spent not a small amount of energy attempting to get Nader out of the race or off the ballots.

In one the most famous incidents in the 2004 campaign Bill Maher and Michael Moore got down on their knees and begged Nader on the Real Time television program on July 31, 2004 to drop out of the race.

There were others who agreed--

Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat. ... In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts.
–Noam Chomsky

I am going to run around this country and do everything I can to dissuade people from voting for Ralph Nader. ... this election will come down to a relatively few votes. ... I consider four more years of Bush a potential horror show for this country.
–Bernie Sanders

If Kerry is elected, we'll have a little ledge to stand on.
–Howard Zinn

Last time around, Nader attracted the support of a stellar list of left-leaning celebrities; Phil Donahue, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, Paul Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Eddie Vedder, and Ani DiFranco were all Naderites. That won't be the case this year.
-Mother Jones Magazine

A number of anti-Nader websites from the Progressive community sprang up: The Nader Factor, United Progressives for Victory, Vote2StopBush.org,  Dear Ralph, StopNader.com, Ralph Don't Run, Repentant Nader Voter PAC, Nader Watch Blog, Don't Vote Ralph, Ralph-Nader.info, Damned Big Difference, and Greens for Kerry (Change In '04).

"It's an ego-fueled Trojan Horse for the right wing," said Bob Gammage of StopNader.org, "The Republicans perceive (the Nader campaign) the same way we do: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. They're hoping ... they can confuse enough people to take the election away from Kerry."

Nader met with the Congressional Black Caucus in June. It did not go well. The CBC had asked Nader to drop out of the election and by the end there were raised voices, Nader was told by one member of Congress to "get your ass out" of the meeting, and Rep. Melvin Watt said the candidate was "just another arrogant white man, telling us what we can do. It's all about your ego, another [expletive] arrogant white man." Nader later demanded an apology for the language used in the meeting but never got it.

Some of the other attendees had choice words as well:
"He ain't playing with a full deck"--Rep. James Clyburn
"I don’t think he gets it ... The meeting was about strategy and the pragmatic planning to defeat Bush ... We told him how at strategic level, his candidacy defeats a common a goal ... We were particularly offended by Nader's exhibitionism, his selfishness and egotism"--Rep. Albert Wynn
"If he didn't understand what the meeting was about, not only is he an egotistical maniac, he's dumber than I thought he was"--Rep. Gregory Meeks

There was evidence the Republicans and far-Right groups were doing what they could to help Nader along, which was an unsurprising and old political practice by political parties helping the enemy of their enemy dating back to the early 1800s in US politics.

But as it was Nader's 2004 showing was faint compared to 2000. Rather than setting the foundation for a new progressive party, he was starting to be perceived by many as a perennial candidate for a personality-driven movement.

Nader was on the ballot in 35 states + DC and a registered write-in in 12 states finishing third nationally with 465,642 votes (0.38%). Of those, the Nader/Camejo ticket was on the ballot in 32 states + DC and certified write-ins in half a dozen more. In New York, Nader was on two different ballot lines, each with a different running-mate (with Camejo in the Peace and Justice Party, with Jan D. Pierce in the Independence Party). Pierce was also on the ballot with Nader in Alabama. Documents suggest Pierce would have also been on the ballot in Illinois, Ohio and Arizona as the VP if Nader had prevailed and been made a printed option for voters in those states, but that did not come to pass. Karen Sanchirico was the running-mate in Montana. Nader had no VP at all in 6 write-in slots.

The Nader/Sanchirico ticket finished with 1.37% of the vote in the Big Sky Country. This was Nader's third strongest result among the states.

After the election my friend and shirttail relative Robert C. "Bob" Bailey, who had once been one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington State, said he was not surprised at the re-election of George W. Bush. "Voters don't like to change Presidents in wartime, no matter how bad they are," was his view.

Election history: none

Other occupations: microbrewer, property manager, administrative project manager, translator

Notes:
Also known as Gwen Sanchirico and she recently ran a microbrew operation in the UK. "My name is
 Karen Sanchirico but I go by Gwen, which is Welsh for Karen."

Jan D. Pierce

Jan D. Pierce, May 20, 1937 (Ohio) -

VP candidate for Independent (aka Independence Party) (2004)

Running mate with nominee: Ralph Nader (b. 1934)
Popular vote: 90,948 (0.07%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Expressing a desire to not become beholden to the platform of any party, Ralph Nader announced he was running for President in 2004 as an independent. Yet he also sought the endorsement (rather than the nomination) of several already established third parties as a way to more easily acquire ballot access. The Reform Party, Independent Party of Delaware, and Independence Party did just that, making him their de facto nominee. Some parties were simply invented as a 2004 one-shot deal due to local requirements. For example, Nader ran in Alaska, Arkansas, and Maryland under the Populist Party name, apparently unconcerned of the legacy of white nationalist policies connected with the recent party of that name 1984-1996 and still a fresh memory.

Although Nader never joined the Green Party, it was under their banner that he was perceived, perhaps unfairly, as being the spoiler in the 2000 election and handing the White House to George W. Bush especially in Florida. The Green Party had some significant differences of opinion within their ranks on how to proceed in 2004. Generally speaking there were three factions at play here.

The first group desired to endorse Ralph Nader's independent run. Nader himself had announced in Dec. 2003 he would not seek the Green nomination, but later he realized the Party's endorsement would come in handy in terms of ballot access although he had no intention of joining the Greens himself. The pro-Nader faction was energized when a week before the Green convention Nader had selected GP activist Peter Camejo as his running-mate. Camejo in fact had won the most popular votes in the Green Party primaries for President.

The second group wanted to run a campaign with a "pure" Green candidate (David Cobb was the frontrunner) rather than ride on the star power of a political celebrity who was not necessarily in line with the Party platform. Cobb, a California attorney and Party activist, had worked hard to gain the nomination as he electioneered across the country gathering delegates.

The third group promoted the idea of sitting out the 2004 Presidential contest and instead concentrate on elections at the grassroots local level. A leaflet from this faction at the convention included, "Choosing No Candidate will allow Greens to build strength at the grassroots, avoiding a punishing national media fight we cannot win ... Our best route to national influence is building local power."

On June 26, 2004 Cobb won the nomination on the second ballot. He named Pat LaMarche, a Green Party activist in Maine, as his running-mate.

Unlike Nader/Camejo the Cobb/LeMarche ticket adopted a "safe state" strategy of not campaigning hard in swing states where they thought they could possibly tip the scales in favor of Bush. Cobb rationalized, "In California, Cobb-LaMarche's message is going to be, 'Progressives, don't waste your vote.' Because if a progressive casts a vote for the corporate militarist John Kerry in California, it does not help to unelect Bush, and you can only send a message that you actually support policies that you don't. That's a wasted vote. Simple message: progressives, don't waste your vote. In the other states where it's very much closer, we have the same, in-depth, scathing critique of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and then conclude with, 'but think carefully before you cast your vote.' You know, that is completely respecting the voter, and it is really challenging those voters to think about why we have a system where I have to vote against what I hate, rather than support what I want."

LaMarche suggested she just might pull the level for the Democrat on Election Day, "If the race is tight, I'll vote for Kerry."

A swath of the Left felt the Greens were capitulating to the Democrats far too much. The Vermont Green Party broke ranks and endorsed Nader/Camejo. Other Greens appeared to migrate to the Socialists in 2004, giving them a larger popular vote than usual.

Jan D. Pierce was initially a stand-in VP in several states, but by Election Day he remained on the ballot as the running-mate in a couple states. With Pierce's background as a union activist, Nader planned to place him in his Cabinet, "Jan Pierce, former Vice President of the Communication Workers of America, will be my Secretary of Labor." Pierce had been a supporter of the Democratic Socialists of America and an effort to build the New Party in the 1990s (not the same as the New Party of the 1960s).

In the four years since Nader last ran 9/11 had happened and the Bush administration was wrapping up their first term. Although President Bush called himself a uniter, not a divider, his economic policy, military initiatives, and interpretation of civil liberties under the Constitution seemed to widening the polarization of the country. Many in the Progressive side were willing to overlook Sen. Kerry's centrism and spent not a small amount of energy attempting to get Nader out of the race or off the ballots.

In one the most famous incidents in the 2004 campaign Bill Maher and Michael Moore got down on their knees and begged Nader on the Real Time television program on July 31, 2004 to drop out of the race.

There were others who agreed--

Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat. ... In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts.
–Noam Chomsky

I am going to run around this country and do everything I can to dissuade people from voting for Ralph Nader. ... this election will come down to a relatively few votes. ... I consider four more years of Bush a potential horror show for this country.
–Bernie Sanders

If Kerry is elected, we'll have a little ledge to stand on.
–Howard Zinn

Last time around, Nader attracted the support of a stellar list of left-leaning celebrities; Phil Donahue, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, Paul Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Eddie Vedder, and Ani DiFranco were all Naderites. That won't be the case this year.
-Mother Jones Magazine

A number of anti-Nader websites from the Progressive community sprang up: The Nader Factor, United Progressives for Victory, Vote2StopBush.org,  Dear Ralph, StopNader.com, Ralph Don't Run, Repentant Nader Voter PAC, Nader Watch Blog, Don't Vote Ralph, Ralph-Nader.info, Damned Big Difference, and Greens for Kerry (Change In '04).

"It's an ego-fueled Trojan Horse for the right wing," said Bob Gammage of StopNader.org, "The Republicans perceive (the Nader campaign) the same way we do: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. They're hoping ... they can confuse enough people to take the election away from Kerry."

Nader met with the Congressional Black Caucus in June. It did not go well. The CBC had asked Nader to drop out of the election and by the end there were raised voices, Nader was told by one member of Congress to "get your ass out" of the meeting, and Rep. Melvin Watt said the candidate was "just another arrogant white man, telling us what we can do. It's all about your ego, another [expletive] arrogant white man." Nader later demanded an apology for the language used in the meeting but never got it.

Some of the other attendees had choice words as well:
"He ain't playing with a full deck"--Rep. James Clyburn
"I don’t think he gets it ... The meeting was about strategy and the pragmatic planning to defeat Bush ... We told him how at strategic level, his candidacy defeats a common a goal ... We were particularly offended by Nader's exhibitionism, his selfishness and egotism"--Rep. Albert Wynn
"If he didn't understand what the meeting was about, not only is he an egotistical maniac, he's dumber than I thought he was"--Rep. Gregory Meeks

There was evidence the Republicans and far-Right groups were doing what they could to help Nader along, which was an unsurprising and old political practice by political parties helping the enemy of their enemy dating back to the early 1800s in US politics.

But as it was Nader's 2004 showing was faint compared to 2000. Rather than setting the foundation for a new progressive party, he was starting to be perceived by many as a perennial candidate for a personality-driven movement.

Nader was on the ballot in 35 states + DC and a registered write-in in 12 states finishing third nationally with 465,642 votes (0.38%). Of those, the Nader/Camejo ticket was on the ballot in 32 states + DC and certified write-ins in half a dozen more. In New York, Nader was on two different ballot lines, each with a different running-mate (with Camejo in the Peace and Justice Party, with Jan D. Pierce in the Independence Party). Pierce was also on the ballot with Nader in Alabama. Documents suggest Pierce would have also been on the ballot in Illinois, Ohio and Arizona as the VP if Nader had prevailed and been made a printed option for voters in those states, but that did not come to pass. Karen Sanchirico was the running-mate in Montana. Nader had no VP at all in 6 write-in slots.

The Nader/Pierce ticket finished with 1.13% in New York and 0.36% in Alabama.

After the election my friend and shirttail relative Robert C. "Bob" Bailey, who had once been one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington State, said he was not surprised at the re-election of George W. Bush. "Voters don't like to change Presidents in wartime, no matter how bad they are," was his view.

Election history: none

Other occupations: Secretary of the Ohio Labor Party, union activist, co-chair Rainbow Coalition Labor Commission.

Notes:
Registered Democrat.