Maria Elizabeth Muñoz

Maria Elizabeth Muñoz, April 2, 1957 (Los Angeles, Calif.) -

VP candidate for New Alliance Party (aka Independent aka More Perfect Democracy aka United Citizens Party) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Lenora Fulani (b. 1950)
Popular vote: 73,652 (0.07%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

For the second time in a row, the New Alliance Party nominated Lenora Fulani. Interestingly she ran in the Democratic Party primary in New Hampshire early in 1992 and was newsworthy for heckling Bill Clinton. Also for the second time Fulani won the Peace and Freedom Party primary in California only to be denied the final nomination at the convention. In 1988 the PFP actually melted down and did not have an official nominee, something they did not want to repeat in 1992. Many of Fulani's critics felt the NAP was a cult attempting to take over the PFP and was not actually a true Left wing movement. Fulani provided her own version of events in an article written in 2000:

By 1992, I was running for president for a second time. I sought the California Peace and Freedom Party nomination again. Ross Perot was running for president, too, and the two-party system was about to come face to face with his formidable independent challenge. In liberal and progressive political circles there was feverish concern about the presidential election. Rev. Jesse Jackson had run twice -- in 1984 and in 1988 -- raising and then dashing the hopes of black and progressive Americans that our political power could be expanded through the Democratic Party. But in 1992 Jackson did not run for a third time; instead progressives -- including African Americans -- were being primed to support Bill Clinton, who cut his teeth in national politics by playing the race card. He seized an opportunity to publicly upbraid Jackson to demonstrate that he wasn't sympathetic to black and liberal concerns. This was part of Clinton's strategy to win Reagan Democrats back into the fold. Black and progressive leaders, who had given the Democratic Party a political "blank check," had to figure out how to make Clinton "fly" for their constituents.

Mainstream liberals figured they'd have no problem because their constituents would still feel they had nowhere else to go. But, the left establishment (i.e. the old left) was worried that ordinary progressives and blacks might defect to independent politics. When I threw my hat into the ring again in 1992, the old left needed a candidate to face me down. What better choice than Jesse Jackson's former deputy campaign manager, Ron Daniels, to run as the "official progressive" presidential candidate, but under "black cover."

Daniels puttered around the country, getting on the ballot in only 10 states, and wheeling out every piece of trash the old left had manufactured against me for 15 years, announcing that his goal was to destroy me ... But nowhere was the confrontation between Daniels, the black puppet of the white fringe left and me, the black progressive trying to bring minority voters into the nascent independent movement, sharper than in the 1992 California Peace and Freedom Party primary.

This contest was a three-way between Daniels, myself and a Latina woman whom Daniels' supporters had recruited to siphon off Hispanic and female voters from me. In spite of his vicious cult-baiting, attempts to hijack the party and other forms of political garbage, I won the three-way preferential primary with 51 percent. Daniels polled 32.5 percent and the "planted" candidate 16 percent. Many of my voters came from the black and Latino registrant base -- which had continued to grow since 1988 -- and from white progressives who wanted the party to be more relevant.

But Daniels and his ultra-left political allies weren't done. They once again mobilized support at the state convention to reject the wishes of the membership and gave Daniels the Peace and Freedom line. Once again, these left leaders preferred to disempower the rank and file to pursue their own narrow goals. When the Perot movement hit it big, and 20 million Americans went independent, I was able to take my networks and followers into a new coalition with Perot voters. Peace and Freedom, its fringy ideologues and Ron Daniels were all left behind in the sectarian dust.

However Fulani did have a strong connection to the PFP in the course of her campaign. Her running-mate, Maria Elizabeth Muñoz, had already been running for various public offices as a member of the Party since 1986. Several sources cite this team as the first 100% ticket of women of color, but in fact in 1988 Fulani appeared on the ballot with Barbara R. Taylor in New Jersey and Wynonia Brewington Burke in Alaska-Arizona-North Carolina-Washington and Mamie Moore in Hawaii-Idaho-Indiana-Kentucky-Michigan-Minnesota-Mississippi-Pennsylvania-South Dakota.

Although Munoz had previously run under the Peace and Freedom Party in other elections, she had been allied with the New Alliance Party the entire time. She was introduced to the NAP while working in New York. Munoz returned to her native state of California ca1984. In 1986, while running for Governor, she mentioned the relationship between the PFP and NAP: "The Alliance has received a mixed reaction from the Peace and Freedom Party, and we do have our differences. But they recognize that what I am talking about is facing the community and drawing them into the democratic process. At a time when Right-wing and conservative forces are gaining ground around the country, I don't think we can afford to spend time debating the correct party line amongst ourselves. What we need is to build tools for empowerment."

Having recently lost her brother to AIDS, Munoz had a powerful personal story to relate in the course of advocating for victims of the disease.

Even though Fulani failed to gain the PFP nomination, in South Carolina she appeared on the ballot as before as part of the United Citizens Party.

It wasn't so much the NAP platform that drew criticism from groups on the Left, it was more about their methods. Several pundits and ex-members (including the 1984 NAP Presidential nominee) basically accused the New Alliance Party of being a totalatarian cult. Fighting these charges frequently made the Party expend their limited energy and resources entrenching in a defensive position.

Compared to the previous election, it was a disappointing result for the NAP, garnering only about a third of the votes they won in 1988. This would be their final national run for the Presidency and the Party itself would soon disband. It is difficult to conclude how much the Ross Perot third party run had cut into NAP's base, but by 1996 several former NAP leaders competed with other politicos for control of the network Perot had built.

On the ballot in 39 states plus DC and write-ins in seven others, the Fulani/Muñoz ticket placed sixth nationally. They placed 4th, after Perot, in District of Columbia (0.64%), Rhode Island (0.41%), Delaware (0.38%), and Mississippi (0.27%). Other states with their strongest popular vote percentages: Oregon (0.21%), Hawaii (0.19%), New York (0.16%), and Vermont (0.15%).

Muñoz seems to have vanished from the political radar after 1992.

Election history:
1986 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
1988 - US Senate (Calif.) (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
1989 - Mayor of Los Angeles (Calif.) (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1990 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
1991 - Los Angeles (Calif.) City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1992 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Peace and Freedom Party) - primary - defeated

Other occupations: counselor in a shelter for battered women, teacher

Notes:
Included in the 1986 race: George Deukmejian (winner), Tom Bradley, Matilde Zimmermann.
Pete Wilson was the winner of the 1988 race.
Tom Bradley was the winner of the 1989 race.
Included in the 1990 race: Pete Wilson (winner), Dianne Feinstein.
Also called Liz Munoz.

Robert Emmanuel Tisch

 1953

 1984

 1990

Robert Emmanuel Tisch, March 28, 1920 (Jackson, Mich.) - October 9, 1997 (Michigan)

VP candidate for Tisch Independent Citizens Party (aka US Taxpayers Party) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 8,263 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

If the old saying that religious converts turn into the most zealous believers is true, Howard Phillips might serve as a case study. Raised in the Jewish faith, he converted and became an evangelical Protestant as an adult in the 1970s and founded the US Taxpayers Party, known today as the Constitution Party.

Phillips had been a loyal Republican Party foot soldier and eventually worked in the Nixon administration as the director of two agencies but resigned due to what he perceived as the liberal drift of his party. It was during the era when the Watergate scandal was unraveling, so Phillips' timing was excellent for the purposes of finding an alternative. He briefly identified himself as a Democrat and ran for the US Senate as such.

As he felt no satisfaction with either major party, Phillips founded the Conservative Caucus in 1974. By the 1980s-early 1990s even the Reagan and Bush administrations were too liberal as well as fiscally irresponsible for him. He supported the Libertarian Party in the 1988 election but felt they were much too permissive in their social policies. In the meantime he had been busy networking with other conservative activists and in 1991 served as a co-founder of the US Taxpayers Party. Unlike the major parties, the US Taxpayers Party was more of a confederation than a union.

Phillips was the USTP Presidential nominee in 1992, his first of three runs. His running mate was Albion W. Knight, Jr., a retired US Army Brigadier General who resigned from his position as an Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America in order to run. Phillips had two other VPs, Stephen C. Graves in Louisiana and Robert Tisch in Michigan.

The US Taxpayers Party made it to the ballot under variations of that name in 14 states. In addition some older political parties climbed on board and endorsed the USTP. The Independent American Party of Nevada (no relation to the national Independent American Party) had Phillips/Knight on their ballot line. Parts of two rival parties that hated each other, the American Party (Rhode Island and South Carolina) and American Independent Party (California), also joined up. In Massachusetts Phillips won the Independent Voters primary. In cases where he competed for votes, Phillips' main competitor was Bo Gritz.

Robert Tisch, based in Michigan, was serving as a member of the US Taxpayers Party Executive Committee. His Tisch Independent Citizens Party founded in 1982 in Michigan, was another older political group that came on board with the USTP. A couple years later they reorganized and called themselves the US Taxpayers Party of Michigan. Tisch had a history since 1978 of organizing tax protest public initiatives and running a slate of candidates, including himself, for public office. A controversial figure in all political roles, he was noted since the 1950s for his abrasive contrarian behavior, fits of rage, and use of profanity in public discourse. And although zealous, he was never accused of being insincere.

One party the USTP failed to absorb was the Right to Life Party in New York. Instead of Phillips the RTLP endorsed president Bush for re-election.

The USTP platform included: Cut federal spending by $500 billion a year -- Abolish the IRS -- Support capital punishment -- Appoint only judges who oppose abortion -- oppose Planned Parenthood -- Repeal quotas -- Support the Electoral College -- Promote Biblical philosophy in government -- oppose gun control -- Sever US ties with the UN, World Bank, and IMF -- End foreign aid -- Oppose Gay rights -- No women in combat -- Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts -- Eliminate pensions for elected officials -- Eliminate the Public Broadcasting Service.

There are not a lot of examples of Tisch taking an active role in the 1992 electioneering.

On the ballot in 21 states and write-ins in six others, the USTP finished with 43,400 votes (0.04%) on Election Day, somewhat under the 50,000 predicted by some pundits. 33,585 of those votes were for the Phillips/Knight ticket. They probably would have placed with a higher percentage but it is reasonable to conclude that a good number of their targeted base voted for Ross Perot or Bo Gritz.

The Phillips/Tisch ticket resulted with 0.19% of the vote in Michigan. Nationwide, it was Phillips' second highest state percentage in 1992. In Michigan it was an easy bet that the running-mate was a more recognized name than the standard bearer.

Election history:
1953 - Lansing (Mich.) Charter Commission - defeated
1955-1957 - Laingsburg (Mich.) School Board - recalled
ca1965 - Laingsburg (Mich.) City Judge
1956 - Michigan House of Representatives (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1977-1985 - Shiawassee County (Mich.) Drain Commissioner (Democratic)
1982 - Governor of Michigan (Democratic) - primary - withdrew
1982 - Governor of Michigan (Tisch Independent Citizens Party) - defeated
1984 - Shiawassee County (Mich.) Drain Commissioner (Democratic) - defeated
1986 - Michigan Board of Education (Tisch Independent Citizens Party) - defeated
1988 - Michigan Board of Education (Tisch Independent Citizens Party) - defeated
1988 - Michigan Board of Education (Tisch Independent Citizens Party) - defeated

Other occupations: US Army (WWII, Korea), US Taxpayers Party Executive Committee, sign-painting, milking machine sales, children's furniture manufacture, cattle farming, Laingsburg (Mich.) City Assessor, Laingsburg (Mich.) Chief of Police

Buried: Laingsburg Cemetery (Laingsburg, Mich.)

Notes:
Stood at six feet, six inches.
"Elected officials should never eat in places with tablecloths"--Robert Tisch.
A rare example of a third party VP running in a political party named after himself.

Stephen C. Graves

Stephen C. Graves

VP candidate for Louisiana Taxpayers Party (aka US Taxpayers Party) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 1,552 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

If the old saying that religious converts turn into the most zealous believers is true, Howard Phillips might serve as a case study. Raised in the Jewish faith, he converted and became an evangelical Protestant as an adult in the 1970s and founded the US Taxpayers Party, known today as the Constitution Party.

Phillips had been a loyal Republican Party foot soldier and eventually worked in the Nixon administration as the director of two agencies but resigned due to what he perceived as the liberal drift of his party. It was during the era when the Watergate scandal was unraveling, so Phillips' timing was excellent for the purposes of finding an alternative. He briefly identified himself as a Democrat and ran for the US Senate as such.

As he felt no satisfaction with either major party, Phillips founded the Conservative Caucus in 1974. By the 1980s-early 1990s even the Reagan and Bush administrations were too liberal as well as fiscally irresponsible for him. He supported the Libertarian Party in the 1988 election but felt they were much too permissive in their social policies. In the meantime he had been busy networking with other conservative activists and in 1991 served as a co-founder of the US Taxpayers Party. Unlike the major parties, the US Taxpayers Party was more of a confederation than a union.

Phillips was the USTP Presidential nominee in 1992, his first of three runs. His running mate was Albion W. Knight, Jr., a retired US Army Brigadier General who resigned from his position as an Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America in order to run. Phillips had two other VPs, Stephen C. Graves in Louisiana and Robert Tisch in Michigan.

Graves, based in Arkansas, was serving as a member of the US Taxpayers Party Executive Committee.

The US Taxpayers Party made it to the ballot under variations of that name in 14 states. In addition some older political parties climbed on board and endorsed the USTP. The Independent American Party of Nevada (no relation to the national Independent American Party) had Phillips/Knight on their ballot line. Parts of two rival parties that hated each other, the American Party (Rhode Island and South Carolina) and American Independent Party (California), also joined up. In Massachusetts Phillips won the Independent Voters primary. In cases where he competed for votes, Phillips' main competitor was Bo Gritz.

One party the USTP failed to absorb was the Right to Life Party in New York. Instead of Phillips the RTLP endorsed president Bush for re-election.

The USTP platform included: Cut federal spending by $500 billion a year -- Abolish the IRS -- Support capital punishment -- Appoint only judges who oppose abortion -- oppose Planned Parenthood -- Repeal quotas -- Support the Electoral College -- Promote Biblical philosophy in government -- oppose gun control -- Sever US ties with the UN, World Bank, and IMF -- End foreign aid -- Oppose Gay rights -- No women in combat -- Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts -- Eliminate pensions for elected officials -- Eliminate the Public Broadcasting Service.

There are not a lot of examples of Graves taking an active role in the 1992 electioneering.

On the ballot in 21 states and write-ins in six others, the USTP finished with 43,400 votes (0.04%) on Election Day, somewhat under the 50,000 predicted by some pundits. 33,585 of those votes were for the Phillips/Knight ticket. They probably would have placed with a higher percentage but it is reasonable to conclude that a good number of their targeted base voted for Ross Perot or Bo Gritz.

The Phillips/Graves ticket resulted with 0.09% of the vote in Louisiana.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Taxpayers Party Executive Committee

Notes:
Another mystery VP nominee.

Albion Williamson Knight Jr.

Albion Williamson Knight Jr., June 1, 1924 (Jacksonville, Fla.) - May 22, 2012 (Gaithersburg, Md.)

VP candidate for US Taxpayers Party (aka Taxpayers Party aka Amercan Independent Party aka Independent Voters Party aka Independent American Party of Nevada aka American Party) (1992)

VP candidate for US Taxpayers Party (aka Taxpayer Party aka Constitutional Party aka Independent) (1996)

Running mate with nominee (1992, 1996): Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote (1992): 33,585 (0.03%)
Popular vote (1996): 41,996 (0.04%)
Electoral vote (1992, 1996): 0/538

The campaign (1992):

If the old saying that religious converts turn into the most zealous believers is true, Howard Phillips might serve as a case study. Raised in the Jewish faith, he converted and became an evangelical Protestant as an adult in the 1970s and founded the US Taxpayers Party, known today as the Constitution Party.

Phillips had been a loyal Republican Party foot soldier and eventually worked in the Nixon administration as the director of two agencies but resigned due to what he perceived as the liberal drift of his party. It was during the era when the Watergate scandal was unraveling, so Phillips' timing was excellent for the purposes of finding an alternative. He briefly identified himself as a Democrat and ran for the US Senate as such.

As he felt no satisfaction with either major party, Phillips founded the Conservative Caucus in 1974. By the 1980s-early 1990s even the Reagan and Bush administrations were too liberal as well as fiscally irresponsible for him. He supported the Libertarian Party in the 1988 election but felt they were much too permissive in their social policies. In the meantime he had been busy networking with other conservative activists and in 1991 served as a co-founder of the US Taxpayers Party. Unlike the major parties, the US Taxpayers Party was more of a confederation than a union.

Phillips was the USTP Presidential nominee in 1992, his first of three runs. His running mate was Albion W. Knight, Jr., a retired US Army Brigadier General who resigned from his position as an Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America in order to run. Phillips had two other VPs, Stephen C. Graves in Louisiana and Robert Tisch in Michigan.

The US Taxpayers Party made it to the ballot under variations of that name in 14 states. In addition some older political parties climbed on board and endorsed the USTP. The Independent American Party of Nevada (no relation to the national Independent American Party) had Phillips/Knight on their ballot line. Parts of two rival parties that hated each other, the American Party (Rhode Island and South Carolina) and American Independent Party (California), also joined up. In Massachusetts Phillips won the Independent Voters primary. In cases where he competed for votes, Phillips' main competitor was Bo Gritz.

One party the USTP failed to absorb was the Right to Life Party in New York. Instead of Phillips the RTLP endorsed president Bush for re-election.

The USTP platform included: Cut federal spending by $500 billion a year -- Abolish the IRS -- Support capital punishment -- Appoint only judges who oppose abortion -- oppose Planned Parenthood -- Repeal quotas -- Support the Electoral College -- Promote Biblical philosophy in government -- oppose gun control -- Sever US ties with the UN, World Bank, and IMF -- End foreign aid -- Oppose Gay rights -- No women in combat -- Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts -- Eliminate pensions for elected officials -- Eliminate the Public Broadcasting Service.

There are not a lot of examples of Knight taking an active role in the 1992 electioneering, although he did appear on a C-SPAN discussion with Nancy Lord (Libertarian) and Barbara Garson (Socialist).

On the ballot in 21 states and write-ins in six others, the USTP finished with 43,400 votes (0.04%) on Election Day, somewhat under the 50,000 predicted by some pundits. 33,585 of those votes were for the Phillips/Knight ticket. They probably would have placed with a higher percentage but it is reasonable to conclude that a good number of their targeted base voted for Ross Perot or Bo Gritz.

The Phillips/Knight team had their strongest results in: South Carolina 0.22%, Mississippi 0.17%, Alaska ; Arkansas 0.15% each, Nevada 0.13%, California ; New Mexico 0.11% each, Washington 0.10%. In Arkansas they finished in 4th place.

The campaign (1996):

The 1996 Presidential campaign for the US Taxpayers Party really begins with columnist, pundit, and speechwriter Pat Buchanan's bid for the Republican nomination. His surprisingly popular insurgent effort sounded the call for the forces of the rapidly growing hard Right and evangelical wings of the Republican Party. He called them his "Pitchfork Army" in the best of Populist demagogue traditions. Some of his critics called him "David Duke without the sheets" but the US Taxpayers Party really wanted Buchanan on their ticket and made no secret about it.

Howard Phillips, who basically was the US Taxpayers Party and had been the first Presidential nominee of the new party in 1992, watched as Buchanan gave Sen. Bob Dole a big scare early in the season but then bombed out on Super Tuesday in Mar. 1996 and suspended his campaign. This made Buchanan a free agent in the eyes of Phillips, who told a reporter, "My first choice is Pat Buchanan as an active candidate. My second choice is Pat Buchanan as an inactive candidate." The plan, if Buchanan was tied up, was to run someone else for President and still electioneer as the Party of Buchanan. Then, after they won the election, instruct the Electors to brush aside whatever name was officially in the ballot and cast their lots for Pat Buchanan.

For his part, Buchanan was playing coy and openly considered running in the third party if they gained ballot access in all 50 states (they didn't make it). He used that leverage to influence the Republican ticket, saying if Dole did not select a strong pro-life running-mate, then maybe a Party of Buchanan wouldn't be such a bad idea. Dole's subsequent selection of Rep. Jack Kemp was apparently sufficient and Buchanan came on board and endorsed the Republican ticket. So that was the end of that.

So once again the new party turned to Howard Phillips as the Presidential nominee. It would be the second of three runs for him. He described his long range plans for the US Taxpayers Party: "Our main constituencies are pro-lifers, home-schoolers and those concerned with the expansion of government. We want to establish a firm enough position so that as the Republican Party dissolves, as I believe it will, ours will be seen as an alternative."

Platform issues included: Balancing the Federal budget "immediately" -- abolishing the IRS, Dept. of Education, NEA, HUD, ATF, CIA -- Pull the US out of the UN, NATO, NAFTA, GATT -- Impose a moratorium on immigration -- Oppose abortion -- Support states' rights

Phillips opposed what he called the "Satanzation of America." He wrote, "The goal of the New World Order is to remove God from His throne and replace Him with power-seekers who desire not freedom UNDER God, but freedom FROM GOD." He also said, "My comprehensive object is to restore American jurisprudence to its biblical presuppositions and the federal government to its constitutional boundaries."

The campaign had some support from other third parties. The American Independent Party in California had become an affiliate and would remain so for the next decade. The Right to Life in New York, which had endorsed the Republicans in 1992, backed Phillips in 1996. The Concerned Citizens Party, based in Connecticut, signed on as well.

The US Taxpayers Party drafted Herbert W. Titus as the VP in 1996, but Phillips was on the ballot with four other running-mates as well, all considered stand-ins: Albion Knight his 1992 running-mate was on the ballot in Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia -- Joseph A. Zdonczyk in Connecticut and Illinois -- Samuel Blumenfeld in Kentucky -- and Robert J. Meucci Sr. in Mississippi. In Arizona no VP was listed.

The Phillips/Knight ticket finished with: Virginia 0.57% (best percentage for the USTP in 1996), Pennsylvania 0.43%, South Dakota 0.28%, Iowa 0.18%, Minnesota 0.16%, Vermont 0.15%, Tennessee 0.10%

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army Brigadier General, management consultant, Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America, co-founder Church of England (Continuing), author

Buried: Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as third party VPs Merritt Barton Curtis and Edward Moore Kennedy.

Vinton Douglas Tompkins

 1992

 1996

Vinton Douglas Tompkins, November 29, 1948 (Boston, Mass.) -

VP candidate for Natural Law Party (aka Independent aka Unenrolled aka Nonpartisan) (1992, 1996, 2000)

Running mate with nominee (1992, 1996, 2000): John Samuel Hagelin (b. 1954)
Popular vote (1992): 38,780 (0.04%)    
Popular vote (1996): 113,670 (0.12%)
Popular vote (2000): 3,988 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1992, 1996, 2000): 0/538

The campaign (1992):

The Natural Law Party was an astonishingly fast-growing transnational organization in the 1990s. Although Party leaders denied it, it appeared the NLP was acting as the political arm for followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation movement as it  established itself in a number of countries and ran hundreds of candidates for public office. Although the Maharashi described TM as a "path to God," supporters insisted it was not a religious movement. Critics called it a pseudoscience or even a cult. We Boomers remember Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the subject of the Beatles' song "Sexy Sadie," written after John Lennon had become disillusioned by the guru.

In the United States the NLP seemed to come out of nowhere late in the 1992 campaign season and within a very short time established itself in the top tier of the third parties. Since they already had a pre-existing organized network of followers, they were able to mobilize quite rapidly, not unlike how the evangelicals united for Reagan in 1980.

The NLP nominated physicist John Hagelin of Maharishi University of Management for President and his colleague Vinton D. "Mike" Tompkins as his running mate. Both listed their residences as being in Fairfield, Iowa, which would have posed a Constitutional problem in the event of an electoral victory.

The NLP seemed to say that all problems could be solved, directly or indirectly, if the population embraced TM. In doing so, they stressed how their solutions were "scientifically proven," which in some ways really made this more of a debate for peer reviewed journals than in the political realm. "Americans, as enlightened people," a dubious premise posed as Tompkins continued, "need a political system that is knowledge-based. Natural Law supports principles of intelligence and order in the political system, just as it does in nature ... We believe that all solutions already exist and can be scientifically proven."

Tompkins, who was very active on the campaign trail, told a reporter the role of Transcendental Meditation in the "scientifically proven" process: "Two hundred university studies found Transcendental Meditation has a profound effect on improving health and intelligence. We support it-- in rehabilitation of criminals .. as a powerful strategy in health care ... and as a component in education."

The NLP proposed subjecting all incarcerated criminals to TM. They also promised: " ... The first thing the Natural Law Party will do once elected is create a group of 7,000 experts in Washington (approximately the square root of one percent of the world's population) to re-enliven natural law in national consciousness and to create a life-supporting, harmonious atmosphere in which our government can more effectively govern the nation."

They also wanted to replace Medicaid with a new government health care system, create a national apprenticeship program, end the use of fossil fuels, and abolish the Electoral College. On litmus hot button issues like gun control, abortion, and capital punishment, the NLP sidestepped these controversies by saying that once in office and TM has been nationally implemented for at least six months, the USA  could vote on these topics in a national referendum.

Tompkins was quoted by the press, "People who serve in public office should be those who display the most coherent brain activity in the whole population. They should have EEG testing done to show the level of coherence that their brain activity has."

I'll be blatantly subjective here. I recall in 1992 reading their literature, and not being one who is inclined to follow movements selling Enlightenment, I had a difficult time grasping the specifics of their platform. My initial impression of the NLP was that of an  enormous sales pitch for a corporate New Age business enterprise, what we call today "Spiritual Capitalism." Members of the Party continually denied they were a TM party, but it was not easy getting past their terminology which was that of an encapsulated community. They struck me as a group of well educated, well meaning inoffensive white people who had an unusual political third party organization in the sense they did not seem to demonize any perceived opponents.

During the window of time when Ross Perot dropped out of the race and had not yet re-entered the fray, the NLP was apparently successful in gathering signatures for ballot acccess from disaffected voters who had their hopes dashed but still wanted to support a third alternative.

On the ballot in 28 states + DC, the Hagelin/Tompkins ticket had a remarkable popular vote result considering they were novices with a very new party. They finished in 8th place in an election with two dozen options on the ballots. In Iowa, their headquarters, they actually placed 4th after Perot. Strongest results: Iowa 0.23%, Utah 0.18%, Alaska 0.17%, Arizona 0.15%, South Dakota 0.13%, Mississippi 0.12%, Hawaii ; Vermont ; Washington 0.11% each, District of Columbia ; Nebraska ; New Mexico 0.10% each. They also had significant write-in efforts in most of the states where they were not listed, with the highest local percentages in California, Indiana, Kansas, Oregon, and Wyoming.

The campaign (1996):

The same Hagelin/Tompkins ticket ran in 1996, but this time with a much earlier start, a larger campaign war chest, and with a more ambitious ballot access goal than the previous election. They had hundreds of candidates running for office across the country. Although the platform was basically the same, Transcendental Meditation was not as openly touted as a panacea as it was in 1992. Also, the impression was that the NLP went to great pains not to offend any constituency.

Tompkins described their place in the political grid: "The message is fresh; it's new. It's new ideas, new solutions. It's not the same old tug of war between the liberal and conservatives at the two ends of a one-dimensional spectrum ... I would say we're not left, right or center. I'd say we're introducing a new element. It's like if the problem is darkness, you've got to switch on the light."

Dropping the national public referendum idea on abortion and gun control, the NLP in 1996 took a moderate position on both.

As in 1992, the NLP distinguished itself among all the political parties by running a positive campaign without attack ads or negative electioneering, demonstrating that they did walk their talk to a certain degree. And it looked as if it paid off for them given their popular vote results.

Advancing to a 7th place finish in 1996 they basically tripled their 1992 result. On the ballot in 44 states + DC and significant write-ins in Florida and Indiana, they saw their strongest results in: Montana 0.43%, Idaho 0.33%, Alaska 0.30%, Wyoming 0.28%, Iowa ; Washington 0.27% each, Massachusetts ; Ohio ; Oregon 0.20% each.

The campaign (2000):

Hagelin was running for a third time for President in 2000, but what exact party and who the running-mates were takes some sorting out.

As early as November 1999, Mike Tompkins was campaigning in Ohio, identified as the NLP VP. As late as August 2000, when Hagelin was fighting Pat Buchanan for the Reform Party of the United States of America nomination, Tompkins was called the former's running-mate in Iowa. In the same month, when Hagelin was removed from the Indiana ballot as the Reform Party candidate, Tompkins was listed on the ticket. A Hagelin/Tompkins NLP 2000 campaign button was even produced.

But something happened and I could not find any sources that spelled it out.

It was in August 2000 that Hagelin told the press he was considering either Silicon Valley multimillionaire entrepreneur Amos Nathaniel "Nat" Goldhaber as his running-mate, or NASA scientist Bob Bowman. This was right after Pat Buchanan was declared the official Reform Party nominee, a nomination disputed by Hagelin. So at a parallel splinter group Reform Party convention, Goldhaber was nominated as Hagelin's VP. Two weeks later Goldhaber was officially nominated the second spot at the NLP convention as well. Shortly after all of this, the FEC granted the Reform Party nomination to Buchanan, along with the matching funds.

Still, Tompkins ended up on the ballot with Hagelin in two states. In Massachusetts they were presented as "Unenrolled" and gained 0.11% of the vote. In Missouri the Hagelin/Tompkins ticket, under the NLP banner, had 0.05%.

Laura Ticciati was on the ballot with Hagelin in Kansas, Louisiana, and New Jersey. In several other states Hagelin was on the ballot with no VP at all.

Overall the NLP finished with 83,710 votes (0.08%) in 2000, a decline from their 1996 finish. It was their final nationwide election effort. The Party eventually scattered into local chapters, with Michigan remaining the most active.    

In 2004 the NLP endorsed Rep. Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic Party primaries.

Election history: none

Other occupations: associate director of the Institute of Science Technology and Public Policy, author, editor

Notes:
Ph.D. in Science of Creative Intelligence, from Maharishi European Research University, 1984.
Called "Mike" because he looked like the derogatory caricature pug-nose "Black Irishman" when an
 infant.
Last known to be living in India.
Probably no doubt while repeating a long held family story, Tompkins was touted as a direct
 descendant of President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams, and Vice-President Daniel
 Tompkins. However online genealogical sources have different information. From what I found, if
 the sources are reliable, Tompkins is actually a cousin to both Presidents, the closest shared direct
 family connection being Joseph Adams Jr., the grandfather of our second President, John Adams,
 which is still pretty darn close. All of this also means Tompkins is related to two other third party
 Vice-Presidential candidates, Charles Francis Adams Sr. (Free Soil Party 1848) and John Quincy
 Adams II (Straight-Out Democratic Party 1872). No word if he is also related to third party VPs
 Douglas Glenn Adams (Anti-Doughnut Party 1984) or Megan A. Adams (Independent 1992). As for
 Vice-President Daniel Tompkins (who served under President Monroe) being a direct ancestor, the
 sources say that is not the case. I ran across "family story vs. fact" quite frequently when I assisted
 people during my librarian days. It is pretty common, even in my own family.

Asiba D. Tupahache

Asiba D. Tupahache, January 16, 1951 (Long Island, NY) -

VP candidate for Campaign for a New Tomorrow (aka Peace and Freedom Party aka Independent aka Equal Justice and Opportunity aka Labor-Farm/Laborista-Agrario Party) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Ronald Daniels (b. 1942)
Popular vote: 27,884 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ron Daniels had been the Executive Director of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and was involved in Jackson's 1984 and 1988 Presidential primary campaigns, serving as deputy campaign manager in the latter effort. He was also a political science professor, so he was definitely going into the electioneering with no illusions.

With the goal of building a truly multiracial movement dubbed Campaign for a New Tomorrow, he announced his intention to run on Columbus Day 1991 to call attention to the fact that Americans celebrated a day devoted to a man who enslaved and killed people in the civilizations he "discovered."

With Jackson declining to run in 1992 many of his followers felt that Bill Clinton was much too centrist. The Campaign for a New Tomorrow wanted to pick up where Jackson left off. They advocated universal health care, strict environmental laws, inner city restoration programs, cutting the military budget, and increasing taxes on the wealthy.

But instead of having the opportunity to focus on the major parties, Daniels' campaign ended up mostly in conflict with the New Alliance Party. Nowhere was that more evident than in California.

NAP nominee Lenore Fulani was running for President again in 1992, and for a second time won the Peace and Freedom Party primary in California only to be denied the final nomination at the convention. In 1988 the PFP actually melted down and did not have an official nominee, something they did not want to repeat in 1992. Many of Fulani's critics felt the NAP was a cult attempting to take over the PFP and was not actually a true Left wing movement. Fulani provided her own version of events in an article written in 2000:

By 1992, I was running for president for a second time. I sought the California Peace and Freedom Party nomination again. Ross Perot was running for president, too, and the two-party system was about to come face to face with his formidable independent challenge. In liberal and progressive political circles there was feverish concern about the presidential election. Rev. Jesse Jackson had run twice -- in 1984 and in 1988 -- raising and then dashing the hopes of black and progressive Americans that our political power could be expanded through the Democratic Party. But in 1992 Jackson did not run for a third time; instead progressives -- including African Americans -- were being primed to support Bill Clinton, who cut his teeth in national politics by playing the race card. He seized an opportunity to publicly upbraid Jackson to demonstrate that he wasn't sympathetic to black and liberal concerns. This was part of Clinton's strategy to win Reagan Democrats back into the fold. Black and progressive leaders, who had given the Democratic Party a political "blank check," had to figure out how to make Clinton "fly" for their constituents.

Mainstream liberals figured they'd have no problem because their constituents would still feel they had nowhere else to go. But, the left establishment (i.e. the old left) was worried that ordinary progressives and blacks might defect to independent politics. When I threw my hat into the ring again in 1992, the old left needed a candidate to face me down. What better choice than Jesse Jackson's former deputy campaign manager, Ron Daniels, to run as the "official progressive" presidential candidate, but under "black cover."

Daniels puttered around the country, getting on the ballot in only 10 states, and wheeling out every piece of trash the old left had manufactured against me for 15 years, announcing that his goal was to destroy me ... But nowhere was the confrontation between Daniels, the black puppet of the white fringe left and me, the black progressive trying to bring minority voters into the nascent independent movement, sharper than in the 1992 California Peace and Freedom Party primary.

This contest was a three-way between Daniels, myself and a Latina woman whom Daniels' supporters had recruited to siphon off Hispanic and female voters from me. In spite of his vicious cult-baiting, attempts to hijack the party and other forms of political garbage, I won the three-way preferential primary with 51 percent. Daniels polled 32.5 percent and the "planted" candidate 16 percent. Many of my voters came from the black and Latino registrant base -- which had continued to grow since 1988 -- and from white progressives who wanted the party to be more relevant.

But Daniels and his ultra-left political allies weren't done. They once again mobilized support at the state convention to reject the wishes of the membership and gave Daniels the Peace and Freedom line. Once again, these left leaders preferred to disempower the rank and file to pursue their own narrow goals. When the Perot movement hit it big, and 20 million Americans went independent, I was able to take my networks and followers into a new coalition with Perot voters. Peace and Freedom, its fringy ideologues and Ron Daniels were all left behind in the sectarian dust.

It should be noted Daniels had a long career in civil rights activism including participation with the National Black Independent Political Party before his involvement with the Democrats. Also, in 1987 Fulani said the NAP was prepared to endorse Jesse Jackson in the event he won the Democratic nomination, but in case he didn't her campaign was forging ahead. Jackson himself endorsed Clinton in 1992.

Asiba Tupahache, a Matinecoc Nation Indigenous American activist from Long Island, NY, was selected as the VP nominee. Daniels explained his philosophy in his choice of a running-mate during a campaign speech:

So we're talking about using this candidacy. Let’s be clear that it’s an educational vehicle, a vehicle to mobilize the unmobilized, register the unregistered, and more than anything else, to build permanent organizations. And that’s what we're doing in city after city.

This is a movement prepared to work with other initiatives. It's distinguished, however, by the fact that it comes essentially out of the Black community. It's reaching out to people of color in very emphatic and decisive ways. Within the next weeks I hope to announce something we've talked about throughout this campaign, a Native American woman as a running mate.

This is important, both because the issue of Native Americans is crucial and because it's important to have a woman as a co-partner in this process. In 1992, 500 years after the Columbus fiasco, we need someone who will tell the experiences of Native Americans. Let America know what happened 500 years ago, but also that Native Americans are being exploited, preyed upon, dispossessed even as we speak tonight.

It is difficult to find any sources discussing Tupahache's role in active campaigning.

Two years after the election, Daniels was interviewed by Against the Current and he talked about the 1992 campaign:

ATC: What are the lessons that you draw from your own campaign? What you’re talking about here sounds a lot like what you did in 1992. What are the obstacles you met and how could you overcome them?

RD: [Laughs.] Well, no, what I did in 1992 was run. What I'm talking about here is unfinished parts of what we tried to do. In 1992, it was important to try to run to lay out some ideas, which I feel perfectly vindicated about. In fact, I think a lot of people now feel that I was absolutely correct. People who wouldn't touch it. They were into "defeat Bush at all costs." I kept saying that any difference between Bush and Clinton would be incremental and not fundamental.

ATC: In many ways, he's worse than Bush.

RD: Yes, because Bush could not talk about taxing unemployment benefits. There probably would have been more resistance to NAFTA had there been a Republican running it. And then labor just fell for the okie-doke, man. On health care and NAFTA! After NAFTA: "We’re angry. We're going to punish him." He dangled worker replacement legislation in front of them. "Hang on." Then he didn't do a damn thing for it. He just cut labor's throat, and labor went for it. So you're right, having a Democrat is even worse, because there's this illusion.

I think that the key problems of running a candidate are still resources, ballot access. We've got to be able to break this media thing. There would be times when I was making speeches, when I'd be in the stratosphere – to twenty people! I was convinced that if I could have made that same speech on national television, it would have gotten them. We've got to find a strategy that allows us to get our message out. We cannot get around the problem of the dictatorship of the corporate, for-profit media. I think that if we could get a consensus behind someone in 1996 and work out a broad-based coalition of groups that would support a candidacy, then we would have a much better impact than my campaign had. My own game plan would be to see if we can strengthen Campaign for a New Tomorrow and see it as one of the critical centers, because it is a predominantly African-American, person of color formation. If there were a strong affirmation or demand, then I'd be open to running in the year 2000. I'd like to close the century with a campaign that would point to some new directions for the 21st century.

The Daniels/Tupahache ticket could be found on the ballot in seven states plus DC and received recorded write-ins in four others. For some reason Daniels had no running-mate listed on the Utah ballot so the 177 votes in the Beehive State are subtracted from the total. The team's strongest results: District of Columbia 0.52%, California 0.17%, Louisiana 0.09%, Wisconsin 0.07%. 1992 was the last election where either candidate ran for public office.

Election history: none

Other occupations: teacher, author, editor, publisher, video artist

Notes:
Advocate of home schooling.

Elliot Israel Greenspan

Elliot Israel Greenspan, June 1, 1949 -

VP candidate for Six Million Jobs (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019)
Popular vote: 2,095 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In 1992 Lyndon LaRouche joined the ranks of Presidential candidates running for the office from behind bars. It was his fifth run for the White House. His followers called him a political prisoner, but the courts convicted him of fraud and income tax evasion. For awhile he shared a cell with another convicted fraud, televangelist Jim Bakker. Bakker would later reflect, "To say that Lyndon was slightly paranoid would be like saying the Titanic had a bit of a leak." Even though LaRouche was incarcerated in Minnesota at the Federal Medical Center, Rochester (FMC Rochester) serving a 15 year term starting in 1989, he listed his residence as Round Hill, Va. for the ballot.

Although Wikipedia says LaRouche's run "was only the second-ever campaign for president from prison," that is inaccurate. By 1992 there had already been several Presidential campaigns by prisoners, although all of them including Eugene Debs had lacked the financial resources of the LaRouche organization.

As per his M.O., LaRouche initially ran in the Democratic primaries and then moved to an independent campaign.

LaRouche's official running-mate in 1992 was James Bevel. The one exception to Bevel sharing the ballot was in New Jersey, where Elliot I. Greenspan was listed as LaRouche's VP under the banner of Six Million Jobs.

Greenspan was an early LaRouche loyalist dating back to the US Labor Party days. News accounts of Greenspan's campaigns in the 1970s mention occasional shouting matches, physical attacks, and being escorted off premises.

A frequent candidate for public office, he was a running in the Democratic primary for US Congress in New Jersey when he became a person of interest along with others during an investigation that ultimately resulted with LaRouche's prison sentence. Greenspan actually had a little jail time in the course of those events.

The LaRouche/Greenspan ticket placed 8th out of 13 in New Jersey with 0.06% of the popular vote.

Election history:
1975 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1976 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (US Labor Party) - defeated
1977 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1978 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (US Labor Party) - defeated
1979 - New Jersey General Assembly (US Labor Party) - defeated
1983 - New Jersey State Senate (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1984 - US Senate (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1985 - Governor of New Jersey (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1986 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1990 - US House of Representatives (NJ) (Democratic) - primary - defeated
2001 - Governor of New Jersey (Democratic) - primary - defeated

Other occupations: teacher, activist for LaRouche organization

Notes:
Winner of the 1984 race was Bill Bradley.
Winner of the 2001 race was Jim McGreevey.
Still a LaRouche activist to the present day.

James Luther Bevel

James Luther Bevel, October 19, 1936 (Itta Bena, Miss.) – December 19, 2008 (Springfield, Va.)

VP candidate for Independent (aka Independents for Economic Recovery aka Justice, Industry & Agriculture aka LaRouche for President aka Independents for LaRouche aka Freedom for LaRouche) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019)
Popular vote: 24,217 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In 1992 Lyndon LaRouche joined the ranks of Presidential candidates running for the office from behind bars. It was his fifth run for the White House. His followers called him a political prisoner, but the courts convicted him of fraud and income tax evasion. For awhile he shared a cell with another convicted fraud, televangelist Jim Bakker. Bakker would later reflect, "To say that Lyndon was slightly paranoid would be like saying the Titanic had a bit of a leak." Even though LaRouche was incarcerated in Minnesota at the Federal Medical Center, Rochester (FMC Rochester) serving a 15 year term starting in 1989, he listed his residence as Round Hill, Va. for the ballot.

Although Wikipedia says LaRouche's run "was only the second-ever campaign for president from prison," that is inaccurate. By 1992 there had already been several Presidential campaigns by prisoners, although all of them including Eugene Debs had lacked the financial resources of the LaRouche organization.

As per his M.O., LaRouche initially ran in the Democratic primaries and then moved to an independent campaign.

LaRouche's running-mate in 1992 was James Bevel, who had a courageous and notable career in the 1960s as a civil rights and anti-war activist working alongside Martin Luther King. After King's assassination in 1968 (Bevel was present at the tragedy) Bevel went through a political and mental transformation that puzzled many of his admirers and isolated him from his colleagues.

Tracking his shift from Left to Right seems to begin with Bevel leaving the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1970. Apparently he was forced out of the organization for behaviors deemed erratic and bizarre. He became quite adamant that James Earl Ray, the man who was convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King, was innocent, being railroaded and his case should be reopened. Bevel even offered his services to the defense team.

In 1972 he suggested a Presidential ticket of George Wallace with Shirley Chisholm as his VP. Bevel told the press, "Indeed it is a serious effort. It is an effort to help our country. Those who assume it would be funny for a white Alabama governor to run with a black woman from New York assume there are different kinds of people in this country. To us, there is one kind-- Americans." He planned to take this concept to the Democratic Party convention. Back in 1965 Bevel had called for Gov. Wallace's impeachment.

According to Rep. John Lewis, Bevel once declared himself a prophet to college students and asked them to drink his urine as a loyalty test.

In 1984 Bevel ran for US Congress in Illinois as a Republican. By this period he was in the pro-Reagan camp and a critic of Affirmative Action. In 1989 he was a co-founder of the National Committee Against Religious Bigotry and Racism, an organization that was considered a political front group for Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church cult. It appears Bevel's drift into the Right wing orbit brought him into Moon's sphere in the mid-1980s. Bevel also became associated with Lyndon LaRouche, endorsing the latter's independent run for US Congress in 1990.

Some quotes from Bevel in a 1992 campaign interview--

So, if they say that prayer is an encroachment on your individual rights, we have been duped by a lady who was a communist, who filed a suit in our school system saying that prayer was a violation of her rights. Russia, the communist nation that did not pray- they fell into their own stew. Now, why would we be insane enough, as a people, to take out that which has made, our nation great? All of our great scientists, all of our great generals, all of our great educators, all will tell you, that the greatness, and the contribution they made, is a direct result of their prayer lives. If you go and read the biography of any of the great scientists, they will tell you: It is their prayer lives that allowed them to contribute as much as they did to humanity.

One of the things that Lyndon LaRouche has been working on, and trying to get the American people to see, is how to build an economy without turning an ethnic group into slaves and prostitutes. Now, all America has to admit that they have not been able to achieve that. Under slavery, black people were slaves, and the women were prostitutes- and a host of young white women were prostitutes. Under segregation, you have a whole race subjected to economic exploitation. And LaRouche comes and says, "Look, if we develop the minds of all of our children, scientifically, since the real wealth is the creative mind- it increases wealth without violating the environment or without violating people." So  let's do that. He's calling for scientific education for all the children. Then he's calling for an  economic system that is not built on the backs of an ethnic group or of other nations.

When you love all of the people, and when you love and obey God, it provides the basis for the science of government. And because we do understand the science of government, and because we're willing to serve God and our people, using constitutional democratic republic  means, we are eminently qualified- in fact, we are more qualified than any of the other candidates. That's why the major media are working so tenaciously to make sure that our message is not heard.

Somebody asked me, "Bevel, if you had the option to be on the ticket with George Bush, would you be on it?" No. "If you had an option to be on the ticket with Clinton, would you be on it?" No. Because I will not work with unprincipled people. I work with Lyndon LaRouche, because he is a principled person. When history records the facts 50  years hence, Lyndon LaRouche will be the father of the American new nation that does not have slavery, prostitution, racism in  it, but has an economy that dignifies man. He will be the father of  that economy. And George Bush and these guys will be seen as the same small-minded criminal types that killed Socrates and Jesus, and the Gandhis and the Kings. They will be seen in that light. So, though he's in jail, I would be amiss, I would miss history, not to be a part of this man's struggle.

The LaRouche/Bevel ticket was on the ballot in 16 states + DC. They were also recorded write-ins an additional 13 states. The exception was New Jersey, where LaRouche loyalist Eliot I. Greenspan was the running-mate on the ballot. Their strongest results: Virginia 0.47% (LaRouche's base of operations), North Dakota 0.21%, Alaska 0.18%, Utah 0.15%, District of Columbia and Rhode Island 0.11% each. In Delaware, Bevel himself had five write-in votes for President.

Bevel was convicted of incest and sentenced to 15 years in prison shortly before his death in 2008. During the trial it was testified the criminal instances began during the 1992 campaign.

Election history:
1984 - US House of Representatives (Ill.) (Republican) - defeated

Other occupations: steel mill worker, plantation laborer, pop singer, Baptist minister, civil rights activist,

Buried: Ancestors Village (Eutaw, Ala.)

Notes:
Buried in a 17-ft. canoe.
Named the small cemetery where he is buried, which is operated by the Greater Christ Temple
 Apostolic Church in Eutaw, Ala.

Estelle Christine DeBates

Estelle Christine DeBates, February 24, 1960 (Sioux Falls, SD) -

VP candidate for Socialist Workers Party (aka Independent) (1992)

Running mate with nominee: James Warren (b ca1952)
Popular vote: 20,823 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

It was the second Presidential run in a row for Socialist Workers Party nominee James Warren of Chicago. Warren's running mate in the now much more depleted SWP was Estelle DeBates, a Brooklyn-based staff writer for The Militant, a SWP organ. DeBates was 32 years old, younger than the minimum age mandated by the Constitution for Vice-President. On this basis there were some states that would not allow her name on the ballot, so 1976 VP Willie Mae Reid was brought back to act as a stand-in VP in those jurisdictions.

DeBates, who had grown up on a farm in South Dakota, had been an activist for the pro-choice movement, against the US involvement in Central America, and had already run twice for public office under the SWP banner.

She had no illusions about winning. Debates told a reporter, "The aims of the Communist Manifesto won't be realized overnight. But we want to reach out to the small layer of people who are receptive to our ideas and build the leadership of the working class."

Underlying her sense of internationalism, DeBates spent part of her campaign in other nations  including Canada, North Korea, South Africa, Japan, and Sweden.

In Utah, where Reid was actually listed as the VP on the ballot, DeBates spoke at a rally against the death penalty in connection with a contemporary case: "History has shown it is used against working people. We'll go back to a day when union organizers are executed, fighters for women's rights. These are the people who will be on the death row in the future." However, revealing the SWP bias in favor of Castro, she would not condemn Cuba's use of executions, which she claimed were "extremely rare and are only carried out for extreme acts which endanger the revolution."

In the 1980s the SWP counted US Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as one of their own, but they basically condemned him in the 1992 election due to his endorsement of the Clinton/Gore ticket.

The 1992 election total popular vote results of 23,096 for the SWP would be the last time until 2016 (where they earned 12,467 votes) when the Party finished in the five-figure category. The Warren/DeBates portion of the campaign was on the ballot in seven states + DC and write-ins in six others. In New York they finished with an impressive 4th place out of 11 (0.23%). Other results: New Jersey and North Dakota 0.06% each, Alabama and District of Columbia 0.05% each, Minnesota 0.04%, Vermont 0.03%, Washington 0.02%.

Election history:
1986 - US House of Representatives (Ky.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1991 - Chicago (Ill.) City Clerk (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated

Other occupations: Staff writer for the Militant, worker in garment and machine tool industries

Notes:
Joined the Young Socialist Alliance in 1982