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.

Eva

Eva, February 1999 (Philadelphia, Penn.) -

VP candidate for Surprise Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Vanessa (b. 1999)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Vanessa was an 11 and a half inch doll created by Jennifer Baker. The doll was portrayed as a college educated African-American woman and was part of a multicultural package. The dolls as a group were known as the Get Set Club, but collectors called them the G5 due to their names Gia, Fiona, Isabella, Vanessa, and Eva. Unlike the Barbie dolls, Baker's creations were closer to resembling real human beings. The Eva doll appeared to be of Nordic heritage.

In the planning stages since the mid-1990s, the dolls were introduced to the world at the Toy Fair in New York, Feb. 1999.

When Mattel decided to run the Barbie doll for President again in 2000, as they had in 1992, Baker responded to the competition in a clever marketing tactic by announcing Vanessa's entry to the race. But Vanessa had something Barbie did not-- a running-mate and Cabinet appointments: Eva (Vice-President), Isabella (Secretary of State), Gia (Secretary of Treasury) and Fiona (Surgeon General).

Baker told the media in late June 2000, "It's about time we had a candidate who actually does something. She's more than just pretty in pink. She's smart. She's independent. She's the only candidate in this campaign who can stand on her own two feet and I mean that, literally." The Vanessa/Eva ticket ran under the Surprise Party, which was also the name Gracie Allen used for her party in 1940 as well as John O'Leary in 1984.

Aside from being dolls, Vanessa and Eva were way under the age of 35 in 2000, making them ineligible in any case to take office in the event of their victory. Unfortunately, the Get Set Club seemed to have had only a brief commercial existence but did manage to make a mark in history during that window of time.

Election history: none

Other occupations: doll

Notes:
The G5 dolls appear to be highly collectible these days.

William Hay III

 Tom Snyder interviews O'Leary

William Hay III

VP candidate for Surprise Party (1984)

Running mate with nominee: John O'Leary (b. ca1947)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Musician and writer John O'Leary of New Haven, Conn. announced his 1984 run for President in May 1980. That's right, before the Nov. 1980 election took place, making him probably the earliest Presidential candidate for 1984. His tongue-in-cheek campaign did have a point he said, "I think there is a possibility I won't be elected. But one thing I can do is attract people to the political process, particularly the cynics, people that are like I used to be."

He also told the press: "I want people to see how absurd the political process is. I don't think it's wrong, necessarily, just crazy." In 1980 he voted for Commoner/Harris of the Citizen's Party.

O'Leary's running mate was his friend William Hay III, a stockbroker in New York. They made an effort to be listed on the Connecticut ballot but apparently failed.

Under the banner of the Surprise Party (no relation to Gracie Allen's political party of the same name in 1940), O'Leary ran with the slogan: "Ask not what money can do for you; ask what you can do for money."

A music video with the same title of O'Leary's book, The Running Game, was produced for the election giving the candidate a chance to promote his writing and his music career.

On his blog in 2009 O'Leary reflected: "It began as a sociological experiment of sorts, to test the premise that any American citizen can—and has the right to—run for US President, even a rock musician. In fact, I immediately discovered that it doesn't cost a dime to run for national office. (It costs a tad more to win, however.)"

Meanwhile, William Hay III remains one of the more mysterious third party VP nominees for now.

Election history: none

Other occupations: stockbroker

Notes:
O'Leary can be found on Youtube singing a great song entitled When the Clown Becomes the King in 2019.

Vacant

Vacant, March, 1940 - November 5, 1940

VP candidate for Surprise Party (1940)

Running mate with nominee: Gracie Allen (1895-1964)

Popular vote: unrecorded write-in votes, perhaps in the hundreds.

Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Gracie Allen of the Burns and Allen comedy team launched one of the early celebrity joke campaigns for President in 1940. She deliberately did not choose a Vice-Presidential running mate, she said, because her administration would not abide any vice.

Some other Gracieisms during the campaign:

"You know, I’m tired of knitting this sweater, I think I'll run for president,” she announced to her family in early 1940. Other sources say her writers cooked up the idea.

"I don't know much about the Lend-Lease Bill, but if we owe it we should pay it." 

When asked with which party she was affiliated: "I may take a drink now and then, but I never get affiliated."

"I will make no fire-side chats from the White House between April 15 and October 15. It is asking too much and I don’t know how President Roosevelt stands it. Washington is awfully hot in summer."

"Congressmen are well paid. Why should they be allowed to make those playing cards on the side? We favor putting Congress on a commission basis. Pay them for results. If they do a good job and the country prospers, they get 10% of the extra take."

"END SECRECY IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEMANDS GRACIE: If Charles Boyer is going around with Greta Garbo, the people are entitled to know about it. But I’m not really worried about this. Our Foreign Relations will be all right so long as they bring their own bedding and don’t stay too long."

"I propose to extend the Civil Service to all branches of the government, because I think a little politeness goes a long ways, don't you?"

"My opponents worry about the national debt being almost up to $45,000,000,000. What’s the matter with that? We should be proud of it; after all, it's the biggest in the world! But that's a lot of money, so my plan is to put it in a safe bank. Even at 2% it's a good investment, and putting it in three banks would make 6%."

"Presidents are made, not born. It's silly to think that Presidents are born, because very few people are 35 years old at birth, and those who are won't admit it."

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Buried: vanished in thin air

Notes:
The mascot of the Surprise Party was a Kangaroo, with the motto: "It's In The Bag!"
Gracie was endorsed by Harvard University.
The voters of Monominee, Mich. nominated Gracie for mayor but since she was not a resident she
 was disqualified.
Even though part of the gag supposedly was that a woman would have the nerve to actually run for
 President, Gracie managed to get in some digs at the gender bias in American politics.
One newspaper suggested Groucho Marx fill the vacant VP spot.