Tracy Chapman, March 30, 1964 (Cleveland, Ohio) -
VP candidate for Independent (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Santa Claus (b. ca1947)
Popular vote: 670 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
On Oct. 24, 2012, Santa Claus announced his Vice-Presidential choice was Tracy Chapman, the celebrated singer and contributor to causes involving human rights. No, really. If Chapman herself responded to this, I have yet to find a document.
In 2005 a gentleman by the name of Thomas Patrick O'Connor legally changed his name to Santa Claus. Prior to assuming the identity of Saint Nicholas the Incline Village, Nev. resident had been a communications consultant for the NYC Police Dept. He was also an Anglican monk. He explained this transformation in an interview shortly before Election Day 2012--
Well, I live up in Lake Tahoe which is up in the mountains surrounded by pine trees and a beautiful alpine lake on the Nevada side on Lake Tahoe. About 2005, I was walking down to the post office on a brisk cold day. There were not too many cars on the road so it was a pretty easy walk. As you know I’m a monk and a bishop and I was praying to God. Now, I had grown out my beard the winter before and a lot of people had said that I should do the Santa thing and I said “I don’t know, maybe I will.” If you’ve seen my photograph, the resemblance is pretty good so I did this for non-profit charity organizations. People seemed to like it and children seemed to like it so I was praying to God asking what should I do with this gift and how I can help the greatest number of children with this gift. I stopped praying after a while and began walking to the post office when this car drove by, the windows were open and I heard voice of someone inside -he was in his 20s or so – and he shouted, “I love you Santa!” I thought, that’s probably the quickest answer to prayer I’m probably ever going to get so I called up the county clerk’s office who referred me to the court and I asked them what do I have to do to change my name and they sent me the paperwork. A month or so after I filed, this judge – who was appointed recently by the governor – wasn’t quite sure what he should do so he called governor who knew me from all my volunteer stuff and the governor told him, “Yeah, just go ahead and do it.” So the clerk called me up a couple weeks later and told me to come pick up the paperwork and that’s what I did… and for more than 7 years I’ve been Santa Claus; that’s my legal name.
I’m a child advocate and a peace activist. I do what Santa Claus was based on many, many, many centuries ago in what is now Turkey – St. Nicholas. He was expressing his love for children and the idea that love is the greatest gift one can give. That’s what I do now and what I tell people. I still think of Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ and not the crass, commercial, secular spectacle it has become in many places.
He ran for President in 2008, visiting several Governors as an advocate for children. Claus explained his motives to a reporter in 2012--
I haven't heard either of the big boys talk about anything with respect to children, so I'd like to use that as a platform to insinuate my views on children, their health, safety and welfare and that's what I meant by restoring America's heart and soul .. We have presidents and candidates and all these other politicians that are really into the whole war machine, some other things that aren't particularly good for children in my view and I would like to see voters consider changing that.
In another interview he said---
Running for president is a platform for me to talk about children’s issues. There are 2 million children in the United States who are abused, neglected, abandoned, homeless, or institutionalized; a lot of kids are going through the foster care/adoption system; and there are many other children who need state health insurance. Running for president in 15 states as an independent write-in candidate (that’s a big hurdle to get over to begin with) gives me a platform to talk about these issues with a very small expenditure of money and spending a lot of my time. When I get interviewed by people like you, I can bring that subject up.
I’ve met both [major party candidates] running for president. I worked for a while in the SLOC (Salt Lake Organizing Committee) a long time ago where I met then governor Romney. I also met President Obama when he was a senator during his campaign for 2008 in Carson City. I asked him, “How come you guys aren’t talking about children’s issues?” He just kind of looked squarely at me and replied, “Well, they don’t vote.” So I asked him, “OK, how can I make things better and talk about children’s issues?” and he said “Running for president,” so I did.
(Laughing) President Obama has nobody to thank but himself for my running for office.
Claus filed with the FEC late in the campaign season, Aug. 28, 2012.
He outlined his platform on his website--
As an independent candidate, I am able to combine elements the best of other candidates' platforms and form my own. My political platform includes:
The ten key values of the Green Party platform (www.GP.org):
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
ECOLOGICAL WISDOM
NON-VIOLENCE
DECENTRALIZATION
COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY
RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY
PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY
~ and ~
Parts of Ron Paul's "Restore America" plan (RonPaul2012.com):
A TRUE BALANCED BUDGET IN YEAR 3
CUT ONE TRILLION DURING FIRST YEAR
RETURN MOST OTHER SPENDING TO 2006 LEVELS
ELIMINATE GOVERNMENT WASTE
ADDRESS FUTURE ENTITLEMENTS, TAXES, AND REGULATION
AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE
Before settling on Chapman as a running-mate, Claus had offered a potential Cabinet and executive staff positions on his blog, Aug. 13, 2012 and among others suggested Rep. Dennis Kucinich as his VP, Noam Chomsky as Sec. of Defense, Rachel Maddow as Chief of Staff.
Shortly before the 2012 election, on Halloween, Claus withdrew from the race and endorsed Jill Stein of the Green Party. Tracy Chapman had been the Santa Claus Vice-Presidential nominee for only 8 days.
In 2008 Claus was a registered write-in in Montana and West Virginia, garnering 62 votes. I could not find any evidence of a running-mate in that election. In 2012 the Claus/Chapman ticket were registered write-ins in Idaho, Maryland, Montana, Washington, and West Virginia. The bulk of their 670 reported votes came from Maryland. Claus said he was an official write-in in 15 states but apparently they did not report any of his votes.
In 2015 Claus was elected as a write-in to the City Council of North Pole, Alaska. For real.
Election history: none.
Other occupations: singer, songwriter
Notes:
Chapman has a B.A. degree in Anthropology and African studies, Tufts University.
