Vacant

 

Vacant

VP candidate for Independent (aka No Party Affiliation aka Modern Whig Party) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Terrance James O'Hara (b. 1952)
Popular vote: 1 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

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."

Robert Bryant Winn, who ran for President 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 was quite pointed in not including a running-mate.

In 2012 a gentleman named Charles Marvin Green Jr. (aka Angry Grandpa) jumped into the race as an Independent and declared, "Who's gonna be my Vice-President? Hell, I don't need one!!! I'll do it all by my Goddamn self!!! Vote for Grandpa!!! Vote for Grandpa!!!"

Green was not the only one that year to disdain a running-mate. Terrance James "T.J." O'Hara a corporate turnaround specialist from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. filed with the FEC for President Nov. 30, 2011 with party given as "none."

Perhaps anticipating the results of the 2016 election, O'Hara said in his campaign announcement, "We live in an age when politicians have become celebrities and celebrities have become politicians. The Presidency shouldn't be treated as if it were a personal or political trophy. Instead, it should be recognized for what it is: the ultimate position of civil service. I appreciate that distinction and will bring the commitment, respect, and depth of leadership experience it deserves."

O'Hara had apparently attempted to gain the nomination of the ill-fated Americans Elect project. He was endorsed or nominated (sources differ) by the Modern Whig Party. His platform was fairly centrist ("Extreme views lead to extreme failures"), but his real focus was on form rather than content. He was offering to find an alternative to party politics and have public policy achieved by what he viewed as rational, collaborative processes.

On Oct. 4, 2012, O'Hara's campaign issued the following press release--

Presidential candidate, T.J. O'Hara, announces his unique choice for V.P.

Washington, D.C.,  (PRBuzz.com) October 8, 2012 -- Leading independent Presidential candidate, T.J. O'Hara, has made history again. Last month, he became the first Presidential candidate to earn the endorsement of the Modern Whig Party since 1852. Now, he is actually going to allow the Constitution to decide who his Vice President will be if he is elected."It's perfectly consistent with my approach," O'Hara said. "One of the fundamental purposes of my campaign is to create a more informed electorate, and most people are unaware of the actual process that determines who serves as President and Vice President."

O'Hara continued, "The Twelfth Amendment states that there shall be two separate ballots:  one for President and one for Vice President.  Then, without getting too technical, the electors of each state cast a vote for each specific office.  The Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates with the greatest number of votes, assuming that each represents a majority of the appointed electors, are declared President and Vice President , respectively."

He is correct. With respect to Vice President,  Amendment XII states: "The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed..." This Amendment was ratified in 1804. Prior to that time, all candidates essentially ran for President. The candidate who received the greatest number of votes (with a majority) became President, and the candidate with the second highest number of votes became Vice President.

O'Hara said, "Most citizens are unaware of the actual process. They have been conditioned to believe that they have to vote for a party ticket that pairs Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the same party. That simply isn't true. You can vote for whomever you choose for President and Vice President regardless of party affiliation. The Democrats and Republicans would just prefer that you didn't know that."

When asked why he chose not to follow tradition and name a Vice Presidential running mate, O'Hara stated, "Why should I? I'm totally non-partisan. It makes no difference to me whether my Vice President is an independent, a Democrat, a Republican, or a member of any other party. I know that I ultimately have to demonstrate the ability to work with elected officials of all persuasions. Part of the problem in Washington, D.C., is that a party President is tied to his or her party and inherently treats anyone outside of that party as an opponent. That has to change. So, I'm comfortable accepting whoever the Constitution determines should be my Vice President."

O'Hara's candidacy has been distinguished by its character and logic.  Once again, he proves it's hard to argue with the Constitution.

O'Hara was a registered write-in in at least four states: Idaho, Maryland, Montana, and Washington. Maryland reported a single vote.

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Notes:
"My mother and father were first generation Americans. My maternal grandparents came to this country from Italy, and my paternal grandparents came from Ireland. My mother was Protestant, and my father was Catholic; and my mother was a Democrat, and my father was a Republican. If that isn’t diversity, I don’t know what is."--T.J. O'Hara.

Vacant

 

Vacant

VP candidate for Independent (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Charles Marvin Green Jr. (1950-2017)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

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."

Robert Bryant Winn, who ran for President 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 was quite pointed in not including a running-mate.

In 2012 a gentleman named Charles Marvin Green Jr. jumped into the race as an Independent. Green, a resident of South Carolina, was a popular Internet/Youtube personality known as Angry Grandpa, frequently posting his opinions and slices of life on his channel GrandPas Corner. His entry for Sept. 11, 2012 shows him driving on the freeway as he cusses out other drivers in between expressing his disgust with the major political parties and asking viewers to write him in on Election Day as an alternative.

Angry Grandpa's 2012 platform included legalization of recreational marijuana (which was already on the verge of happening in my state of Washington and in Colorado), increasing the military budget, and "making this a one-religion country-- Grandpa Religion!" As for VP, "Who's gonna be my Vice-President? Hell, I don't need one!!! I'll do it all by my Goddamn self!!! Vote for Grandpa!!! Vote for Grandpa!!!" In the end Green discourages his viewers from voting at all unless it is for him.

Angry Grandpa For President merchandise joined the already large catalog of Angry Grandpa franchise items. Some of the material was still being sold during the 2016 election season, but it appears he did not officially declare his candidacy that year.

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Notes:
If Green had emerged victorious on Election Day, it would have been up to the US Senate to fill the VP vacancy. Now there's an interesting "what if?" scenario.

Vacant

Vacant

VP candidate for Independent (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)

Running mate with nominee: Robert Bryant Winn (b. 1943)
Popular vote (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): 0/538

The campaigns (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008):

Occasionally there are Presidential candidates who are very pointed about NOT having a running-mate, and I try to cover their reasons if possible.

Robert B. Winn is a perennial Independent candidate in Arizona who has run for Governor and US Senator always as a write-in. In 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2004 he ran in the same manner for US President. In 1984 he actually made the Arizona ballot, and received 3 votes for President.

A Vietnam veteran, welder and laborer, Winn had a religious background in the Church of the Latter Day Saints and in his resume are included the intriguing but unexplained entries "Prisoner, Maricopa County, Arizona, 1992 -- Prisoner, Veterans' Affairs Hospital, Psychiatric Ward, 1970." A long time advocate and activist for independent political parties, he has written a few books and has been a prolific online author.

Although Winn did have a political platform, he deemed it "irrelevant" and made the simple fact he was not running under the banner of one of the major parties the main focus of his campaigns. Some of the reviews of his published material suggest he has a conspiratorial-minded political outlook.

So far as I can tell, Winn never had a running-mate and that seemed to be the result of a deliberate decision.

Winn made the following comment on the Third Party Watch blog regarding the election and function of the Vice-President--

 Robert B. Winn Says:
January 1st, 2008 at 1:17 am

You third party people have not fully considered what it means to be independent. Why would anyone want to be a party wannabe. As an actual independent voter, I can register as a candidate for President with the Federal Election Commission the same way George Washington did, without a vice-President running mate. Party wannabes have not yet seen what an advantage this gives the independent voter who is registered as a candidate for President.

This splits the political party vote. Who will be vice-President if an independent voter is elected President?

Well, obviously, the party vice-Presidential candidate who gets the most votes will become vice-President of the United States, since the independent voter elected President has no running mate. The duties of the vice-President are to preside over the Senate. John Nance Garner said that this job was not worth a bucket of warm spit. It should go to a political party candidate. So we will have an independent voter as President and a party politician in the vice-Presidency, even though that party’s Presidential candidate lost the election.

Match that, political party wannabes.

Actually, the Republican-Democrat Party started this anomaly by running two candidates for President in the election of 1800. Now that makes more sense. Abraham Lincoln was elected because the opposing party ran more than one candidate. Two Democrat candidates in 1860 seemed to have a good effect, until it resulted in party primaries and all the political party wannabes of today.

A real independent runs without a running mate. This running mate thing has always seemed a little suspect to me. I would rather have a Political party vice-President who just tends to his job of presiding over the Senate, except in the case of an impeachment trial, when he would be replaced by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In any event, a political party wannabe candidate for vice-President will never defeat a political party vice-Presidential candidate because of the twelfth amendment to the Constitution. An independent vice-Presidential candidate running separate from all independent Presidential candidates could defeat a party vice-Presidential candidate, but there is no record I have seen of any independent voters running for vice-President outside of the party wannabe running mate method.

Winn also made a comment for the New York Sun along the same lines:

Robert B. Winn • Nov 13, 2007 at 08:04

The idea of a vice-Presidential running mate came from the election of 1800 when the Republican-Democrats ran two candidates for President, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, to prevent the Federalist followers of Alexander Hamilton from gaining the office of vice-President. When the electors of the electoral college met, all of the Republican-Democrat electors voted for Jefferson and Burr, resulting in a tie vote for President. Burr, who was supposed to be running for vice-President, started campaigning for Federalist support in the House of Representatives, and it took about 38 votes in the House before Jefferson was elected.

Members of Congress considered this to be so traumatic that they passed an amendment resulting in the present day running-mate system for Presidential and vice-Presidential candidates. The way for independent voters to break the hold that parties have on these two offices is to run Presidential and vice-Presidential candidates separate, several Presidential candidates and several vice-Presidential candidates on election day.

It costs the American people billions of dollars per election to put two corrupt sets of party running mates on the ballot. Put some independent candidates on the ballot using nomination petition signatures instead of money.

Robert B. Winn

In 2019 there as an effort called Vice.run that had a mission to "reclaim our constitutional right to democratically elect the vice president by creating separate ballot lines for vice presidential candidates in the 2020 election, as per the 12th Amendment. Vice.run will secure signature pledges to use standing ballot access laws in each state to initiate this change." I had contacted this group. They agreed to be interviewed. I put in the time to research for the questions and sent them in, and that was the last I heard. Actually, some political candidates have brushed me off the same way after they gave the green light and I put in all the effort to write the questions. But in the case of Vice.run it looks like the organization just ceased to exist about the same time I sent them my list of queries.

So, just for the heck of it, here were the questions I had for Vice.run, which I will dovetail off of Mr. Winn's thought-provoking comments--

Oct 3, 2019, 7:39 AM

Vice.run was created by Mikel and David Blake, education and workforce entrepreneurs currently based in San Francisco.

Their mission, as told on their website:

"Vice.run grows from a kernel of an idea: 'All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy' and that the vice presidency is an undemocratic anomaly in American politics. It’s an extremely important elected office whose occupant we do not choose.

Mikel & David launched vice.run to 'act anew' to fix this anomaly and reinstate the vice presidency as a democratically elected position. Vice.run’s goal is to create a vice presidential ballot line in the 2020 election in all 50 states.

Since national elections are managed at the state-level, we have state-level goals and are growing our state-level operations. Our very first organizing effort is collecting ballot-access pledges calling on states to create a separate ballot line for the vice president."

And here is what I would call their thesis statement:

"The Constitution gives the American people the right to choose the vice president of the United States. That right was taken from us by the party ballot. That lack of democracy has corrupted the office, turning it into a presidential lap dog, instead of a representative of 'We the People.'

It’s time for that approach to change. It’s time to reclaim the vice presidency for the American people. It’s time for us to elect the vice president.'"

David Blake, co-founder of vice.run

https://vice.run/

--------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What exactly provided the spark for this movement? Were the Blakes at all politically active before vice.run was created?

Q: If the presentation of a party ticket is the result of custom rather than legality, why has this been allowed to exist so long without being challenged? Or have there been other efforts similar to yours in the past?

Q: Devil's advocate here. Shouldn't the parties have a right to select their own solid ticket?

Q: Part of the 12th Amendment states "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ..." -- This has never really been tested. But in your model it could happen by chance. Then what?

Q: Do the recent efforts to eliminate the Electoral College complicate or help your mission in any way?

Q: In every political process there always seems to be an opportunity for mischief. In 1860 there was an alleged plot to deadlock the presidential vote in the House in the event of no electoral winner, and with the absence of a President the Senate would elect the pro-slavery running mate Joseph Lane of the Constitutional Democratic Party who would then ascend to the presidency. Have you identified any other sort of loopholes in the system regarding Vice-Presidents and what can be done about them?

Q: I recall that after the JFK assassination the US was without a Vice-President and then the 25th Amendment was enacted, allowing the sitting President to appoint a new VP, which was later the case with Gerald Ford in 1973 and Nelson Rockefeller in 1974. Should that process also be changed and if so, how?

Q: Half of the states have a baked-in system, part of election law, where the Governor and Lt. Governor are elected as a ticket. Do you have plans to try and change that as well?

Q: What part of the political spectrum are you getting the most positive response from? Have you been able to determine the demographics of your support? Do you find yourself building alliances with other organizations in this process and who are they?

Q: Are you experiencing any pushback and if so, from where?

Q: Gone are the days when Wilson's VP, Thomas Marshall said, "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and nothing was ever heard of either of them again." Some modern VPs have been able to involve themselves, basically under the public radar, in schemes that had enormous consequences for our country-- for example the VPs Nixon and Cheney getting their hands dirty with clandestine foreign operations and performing end runs around due process. How does your model make the Vice-President more accountable?

Q: How goes the battle with the state by state effort? Do you have benchmarks set for 2020? 2024?

Q: Is the vice.run project giving anyone in the central team ideas for broader political ambitions? Can we expect to see any of you running for office?

Q: Thanks very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Anything you would like to add?

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Notes:
Winn was a Republican until 1973, when he left the Party due to Watergate.

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.

Vacant

Vacant, October, 1972 - November 7, 1972

VP candidate for Independent (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Jean Pierre (b ca1905)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

There have been plenty of characters running for President without naming a running mate. In fact, the very idea of having a two-person ticket is a matter of custom and not mandated by the Constitution. Usually these solo Presidential candidates brush off the lack of a VP nominee by saying they are still looking for the right person. But occasionally, as in the case with Gracie Allen of the Surprise Party in 1940 who said she would not abide any Vice in her administration, the Presidential candidate will deliberately address and eschew the idea of having a Vice-President. The conscious choice of not having running mate as a matter of principle is worthy of inclusion for the purposes of this blog. 

Such was the case in 1972 with an independent Presidential candidate named "Miss Jean Pierre," a self-described former professional dancer and retired legal secretary with 40 years experience in New York City who claimed she had also run in 1964 and in 1968 but I have not found any primary sources to back up that assertion.

Appearing in Iowa late in the campaign season (she arrived by bus), her literature (composed of a half dozen of her poems) had a Concord, NH address. She expressed disdain for politicians and political parties: "I consider politicians one step higher than the criminal."

Her platform and some choice quotes:

She had a "master plan" she refused to reveal for fear of the politicians ruining it. "If they gave me $10 million in cash I would not give them my plan because they would not be able to carry it out properly."

"The people will be glad to make me their dictator after my first six months in the White House."

Congress should eliminated or at least cut in half. "I won't need a Congress."

Instead of long and drawn out Presidential campaigns, all candidates should have a single 15 or 20 minute "audition" one month before the election in front of news media in the US Senate chamber.

And as for the office of Vice-President, she called the position "unnecessary." Hence, no running mate.

The number of write-in votes acquired by Pierre nationally has unfortunately not been recorded.

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Buried: vanished in thin air

Notes:
Anyone out there have more information?

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.