Allen Ray Farnham

 

Allen Ray Farnham, April 19, 1966 (Havre, Mont.) -

VP candidate for Independent Republican (aka Non Affiliated) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Barbara Ann Marie Prokopich (b. 1943)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Barb Prokopich of (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Elk, Wash. in Spokane County ran for US President in 2012 as a registered write-in in nine states apparently feeling that the Republican Party was not conservative enough. On Nov. 1, 2012 the Spokesman-Review reported she "doesn't agree with Romney's policies although she would've picked Paul Ryan as a running mate." Ryan was already called for but as it turns out she had at least three VP choices on record-- Allen R. "Al" Farnham, Rick Santorum, and Scott Brown.

Al Farnum appears to be Prokopich's son, who lived in nearby Chattaroy, Wash. In 1992 the Looking Back Party ran Isabell Masters with Walter Ray Master, which I believe is the first mother-son ticket. 1996 saw Daniel Steven Burkhardt, an Independent, with his mother Georgia Loyce Burkhardt as the VP, the first son-mother ticket that I can ascertain. The family relationship between Prokopich and Farnham would not be an issue with the Constitution, but the fact they were residents of the same state would certainly have been an obstacle.

Prokopich told a reporter, "I can do a whole lot better. We don't have to have the same kind of game rules, we don't have to be run by the government and we can be run together, as a family and a team. An American team," and added, "If a poor person can learn to spend with less, then why can't the top of the brass do the same?"

One of the problems with researching a political campaign that took place in Century 21 is if the candidate used social media like Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook, and then deleted most everything after the election as Prokopich appears to have done, that information vanishes forever. Future historians are going to find it quite maddening when they try to make sense of our era.

Prokopich received 41 recorded write-in votes total. Vice Presidents were not reported in Idaho, Illinois (4 votes), Maryland (2 votes), Washington, and West Virginia. We know she intended Brown to be her running mate in Maryland but cannot guess who would be in the others. Farnham was the VP in Alaska, Kentucky, and Montana, with zero votes reported for all three. Santorum was the VP in Minnesota with 35 votes, her best result in any state.

Election history: none
 
Other occupations: ?

Notes:
Farnham was one of Prokopich's Electors in Minnesota, where Santorum was the VP.

Alfreda Dean Masters

 Alfreda and Shirley Masters

Alfreda Dean Masters, February 6, 1943 -

VP candidate for Looking Back Party (aka Independent aka Independent Republican) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Isabell Masters (1913-2011)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Florida resident Isabell Masters, age 87, had become an expected perennial President candidate, quite possibly holding the record for number of times a woman has made the run that office. In 1992 her running-mate was her son Walter, in 1996 her VP was her daughter Shirley. Now in 2000 her ticket was completed with another daughter, Alfreda. That in itself must another one for the record books.

Masters' 2000 campaign was much quieter than previous efforts and she was almost completely ignored by the media. She did not obtain ballot status in any state in this round, but was a certified write-in candidate in Kansas and Maryland. In the latter state she ran as a Republican.

Isabell would run one last time for President in 2004 at age 91. But before that she ran as a write-in for Mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla. in 2003.

Election history: none

Other occupations: actress

Notes:
Alfreda was a regular supporting player in the General Hospital soap opera for many years.

Shirley Jean Masters

 Alfreda and Shirley Masters. Alfreda was Isabell's VP in 2000

Shirley Jean Masters, February 6, 1942 (Oklahoma City, Okla.) - March 7, 2014 (Pasadena, Calif.)

VP candidate for Looking Back Party (1996)

Running mate with nominee: Isabell Masters (1913-2011)
Popular vote: 752 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

As she had before, perennial candidate Isabell Masters began the campaign season as a candidate in the Republican primaries but shifted to an independent bid as the season went on. In 1996 she continued her Looking Back Party. This would be her fourth run in a row for the Presidency.

Her running-mate was her daughter, "Viva," also known as Shirley Jean Masters Stevenson or Shirley Jean Masters-Stevenson, but listed on the ballot simply as Shirley Jean Masters. I believe this might the first instance of a mother-daughter team running for the Presidency. In 1992 Isabell Masters' VP was her son, Walter. In 2000 it would be another daughter, Alfreda Dean Masters.

In the previous year, 1995, Walter had become embroiled in a political controversy involving his brother-in-law, DC Mayor Marion Barry. The Mayor had married Cora Masters in 1993. The notoriety spilled over into Isabell's 1996 campaign. The media seemed more interested in the fact Mayor Barry was her son-in-law than in any of her platform issues, which they didn't really cover.

The Masters/Masters ticket made it to the Arkansas ballot, where they placed 9th out of 13 with 0.08% of the vote. They also had a tiny number of write-in votes in California and Maryland. Arkansas was also the only state where Isabell Masters made the ballot in 1992, but in 1996 she more than doubled her popular vote result.

Election history: none

Other occupations: ?

Buried: Mount Hope Cemetery (Topeka, Kan.)

Notes:
Cremated ashes buried with her mother.
Buried in the same cemetery as Alf Landon.

Walter Ray Masters

Walter Ray Masters, July 5, 1950 (Los Angeles, Calif.) -

VP candidate for Looking Back Party (aka Looking Back Group) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Isabell Masters (1913-2011)
Popular vote: 339 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Kansas-based Isabell Masters, who had originally ran for President after being instructed to do by a Divine revelation while riding a bus in Washington, DC in 1981, was making her third bid for the Presidency. As she did before, she initially ran in the Republican primaries.

By summer Masters was running as an independent in the Looking Back Party. Although she had run earlier as a Republican, she had no love for President Bush: "You have presidential candidates that give us promises. We end up with canceled checks and promissory notes. Bush came in with Willie Horton and 'read my lips,' and we got war, famine and potato chips."

Her 1992 platform included:

-"I propose minimizing our participation in foreign affairs."

-"We should put a stop sign for foreign countries exploiting our markets, our jobs and deal with that."

-Six month jail sentence for those who exhibit racial discrimination to minorities.

-"To help some people change their attitude and build their self-esteem."

In what is probably a mother-son campaign first, her running-mate was her son, Walter. Walter Ray Masters seems to have a been a Florida resident in 1992. Isabell's method of campaigning was "riding on discount bus tickets and All-Aboard Amtrak train fares" while visiting church groups and schools.

The Masters/Masters ticket actually made the ballot in Arkansas, where they placed 13 out of 13 with 327 votes (0.03%). They also received a dozen write-in votes from California. Although they were registered write-ins in Florida, Missouri, and Utah there were no votes reported for the ticket.

The candidate said if she was "spiritually inclined" she would run again in 1996. And she would.

Election history: none.

Other occupations: Down With Dope Up With Hope program employee, campaign aide to Marion Barry (his brother-in-law)

Notes:
Was named in an alleged money laundering scheme involving DC Mayor Marion Barry, his brother-in-law at the time, in 1995. Masters denied any wrongdoing.
B.S. in Political Science.