Sharon Stone Kilpatrick, 1939 (Washington, DC) -
VP candidate for Independent (1976)
Running mate with nominee: Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)
Popular vote: 41,818 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
After US Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) failed to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 1968, a number of his followers campaigned for him as a third party candidate. McCarthy himself did not approve and in many but not all cases was able to have his name removed from the ballot. Different states ran his name under various party names with a variety of running mates, some of whom who were also not too thrilled to be listed: Coretta Scott King, Paul Newman, Dick Gregory, Paul O'Dwyer, and John Lindsay.
McCarthy made a brief foray into the Democratic Party primaries of 1972 but did not generate a lot of excitement. At some point after he dropped out of the race he left the Party, declared himself an Independent, and began a political journey to what could be described as libertarian centrism. As an Independent Presidential candidate in 1976 he is frequently better remembered for his high-profile legal battles to gain ballot access for third parties than for his political platform.
His 1976 VP situation made 1968 look tame. He was on the ballot in 29 states and a registered write-in in a few others. He had over 20 running mates. McCarthy himself said, "Vice-presidential candidates just clutter up the campaign. We should not ask the country to make two judgments. Everyone knows vice presidents have no influence on presidents once elected. Presidents' wives have much more influence. Perhaps we should have candidates' wives debate."
McCarthy's running-mate in Florida, Mississippi, and Oklahoma was Sharon Stone Kilpatrick where they ran under the Independent label. On her role as a potential President of the Senate, Kilpatrick quipped, "I can't foresee any trouble presiding over the Senate. I used to teach junior high school."
She was introduced to McCarthy by her father-in-law, conservative pundit James J. Kilpatrick.
There was an attempt to file the McCarthy/Kilpatrick ticket in Virginia, the home state of the VP nominee, but they failed to attain the required number of signatures. Although news accounts claimed Kilpatrick was listed in Texas, in fact McCarthy was the only Presidential candidate in that state who did not have a running-mate alongside his name on the ballot. He also had no VP printed on the ballot in Arizona, Delaware, North Dakota, and Tennessee.
They won 1.29% of the vote in Oklahoma, 0.75% in Florida, and 0.53% in Mississippi, all three ranking in the lower end of McCarthy's national results where he won 0.91% of the popular poll.
They probably were spoilers in Oklahoma, giving that state to President Ford.
Election history: none
Other occupations: teacher, staff on Washington Daily News
Notes:
Previously a JFK-McCarthy-McGovern Democrat.
