James Curtis Frazier II

James Curtis Frazier II, December 11, 1955 (Tulsa, Okla.) - 

VP candidate for Constitution Party (aka Independent aka American Independent Party aka Concerned Citzens Party aka Independent American Party aka American Constitution Party aka US Taxpayers Party aka Conservative Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 97,104 (0.09%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

At their convention in Sept. 1999 the US Taxpayers Party changed their name to the Constitution Party (an alternative name that lost the vote was "American Heritage Party") and for the third time nominated Howard Phillips for President. His running-mate was Joe Sobran. US Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire had previously sought the US Taxpayers Party nomination for President after failing to gain much traction in the national Republican primaries. But shortly before the USTP convention he declared himself an independent candidate for President. That campaign came to an end quickly and he rejoined the Republican Party, endorsing Bush.

Phillips' chief opponent in securing the nomination was none other than his own 1996 running-mate, Herb Titus. Titus said that if he got the nod he would select (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Ellen Craswell as his VP. More on that later.

The Party platform included: anti-choice on abortion, opposed euthanasia, wanted to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve, privatize Social Security, restrict legal immigration, promote states' rights, end US involvement in the United Nations-NATO-and World Bank, cutting the federal budget by 75%, eliminating Affirmative Action, and it declared a "full submission and unshakable faith" in Jesus Christ.

VP nominee Sobran was not without controversy. In 1993 he was fired from his position with the National Review by his mentor William F. Buckley with the chief charge being an anti-Semite but with assorted other unpleasantries tossed in. Although denials were made, shortly after the 2000 election Sobran was among the speakers at a Holocaust-denial group, making his earlier protestations somewhat disingenuous.

Sobran took a leave of absence from his newspaper column in order to run. In his Sept. 9, 1999 piece he quipped, "With a little luck I will be inaugurated as your vice president in January 2001. I look forward to presiding over the Senate and attending funerals of world leaders."

Sobran was back in the columns within six months. In early March he wrote: In life we sometimes do have to choose the lesser evil rather than the positive good. This is the basis of armed robbery. Forced to choose between your money and your life, you give the mugger your wallet. But though you walk away with relief that your life was spared, you'd be a fool to feel it was a profitable transaction for you. For conservatives who vote Republican, every election is like that.

By the end of March, Sobran had concluded running for office was more work than he bargained for and withdrew from the race. Sobran was eventually replaced by Dr. J. Curtis Frazier of Missouri.

In May 2000 Phillips indicated he would be willing to step aside as the Presidential nominee in favor of Alan Keyes if the latter wanted it. Keyes, an extremely Right-wing Christian, was making a remarkably resilient campaign in 2000 in the Republican Presidential primaries. But, the switch in standard bearers never took place for the Constitution Party.

In June 2000 there was another twist to the Constitution Party campaign. A group within their ranks felt the platform and leaders were not pushing the Christian angle enough and so they split and formed the Christian Liberty Party. They had their start by using the already existing American Heritage Party (the same name that had been rejected earlier by the former US Taxpayers Party now known as the Constitution Party) as a foundation.

The American Heritage Party, now called the Christian Liberty Party, spelled out their Christian nationalist origins on their website:

Establishing a National Party: Building an Ark

The vision for a national Christian Liberty Party was birthed in Washington State in the Spring of 2000 when the original Washington state American Heritage Party recognized the need for a unified national and distinctively Christian party. This would be a party unlike any other in American history, free from entanglement with secular politics-as-usual and defensive-minded conservatism. No stone was left unturned in searching for a genuine Christian alternative and the philosophy, method and approach a Christian party must take to avoid the pitfalls of secular politics.

The Washington state party envisioned a national political party with the following distinctives:

    It would develop a comprehensive, unified national vision.
    It would acknowledge the Bible as a blueprint for political action.
    It would identify Biblical principles undergirding the party platform and program.
    It would hold members accountable to their subscription and leaders to the party vision and principles.
    It would develop character, leadership and scholarship qualifications for candidates and party leaders.
    It would charter local Voter Clubs to inspire, educate and mobilize members for the work of renewal in our nation.

Now for a slight detour. Remember the earlier mention of Ellen Craswell? She had been a Republican State Legislator here in Washington and in 1996 ran for Governor in that party against Democratic King County Executive Gary Locke without any pretense of being anything other than what she was-- a member of the evangelical Right wing. She was crushed in the general election.

In 1998 Craswell's husband Bruce ran for US Congress in Washington's 1st District as a member of the American Heritage Party against Republican incumbent Rick White. Bruce Craswell's impressive 6.1% of the popular vote result was enough to derail White's re-election, handing the victory to the Democrat who is now our current Governor-- Jay Inslee.

End of detour, back to the main topic--

J. Curtis Frazier, who had run for the US Senate in Missouri two years prior under the US Taxpayers Party banner, was selected as a stand-in VP nominee after Sobran bailed. In early Sept. 2000 he was chosen as the official running-mate.

With Frazier quotes like this, it is difficult to understand why a Christian splinter group left the Constitution Party: "All life, liberty and property are protected because the Constitution is rooted in Biblical law ... There is no question whether abortion is legal or not. Abortion is illegal under Biblical law."

2000 was one of the poorer results for the Constitution Party, probably due to Patrick Buchanan's presence in the race. I count the Phillips/Frazier ticket in 40 states plus five registered write-in jurisdictions. Their strongest percentages reveal a national rather than regional appeal: Connecticut 0.66%, South Dakota 0.56%, Utah 0.35%, Mississippi-Wyoming 0.33% each, Louisiana 0.31%, Idaho-Pennsylvania 0.29% each, Montana 0.28%, Alaska 0.21%, California 0.16%, Arkansas 0.15%, Oregon 0.14%, Minnesota-North Dakota 0.13% each, Kansas-South Carolina 0.12% each, Nevada 0.10%.

Election history:
1998 - US Senate (Mo.) (US Taxpayers Party) - defeated

Other occupations: physician, Missouri State Constitution Party Chairman, editor of "These Truths" newsletter, member of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, member of Gun Owners of America, member of The Conservative Caucus, member of Separation of School and State Alliance.

Notes:
In the 1996 election for Washington State Governor I wrote-in my father's name.

Michael Joseph Sobran Jr.

Michael Joseph Sobran Jr., February 23, 1946 (Ypsilanti, Mich.) – September 30, 2010 (Fairfax, Va.)

VP candidate for Constitution Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 923 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Although withdrawn VP nominees normally are not included in this blog, Joe Sobran of the Constitution Party somehow still managed to be on the official ballot in one state for the 2000 election and gained some popular votes, so he is counted as among the third party Vice-Presidential candidates as far as my definition goes.

At their convention in Sept. 1999 the US Taxpayers Party changed their name to the Constitution Party (an alternative name that lost the vote was "American Heritage Party") and for the third time nominated Howard Phillips for President. His running-mate was Joe Sobran. US Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire had previously sought the US Taxpayers Party nomination for President after failing to gain much traction in the national Republican primaries. But shortly before the USTP convention he declared himself an independent candidate for President. That campaign came to an end quickly and he rejoined the Republican Party, endorsing Bush.

Phillips' chief opponent in securing the nomination was none other than his own 1996 running-mate, Herb Titus. Titus said that if he got the nod he would select (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Ellen Craswell as his VP.

The Party platform included: anti-choice on abortion, opposed euthanasia, wanted to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve, privatize Social Security, restrict legal immigration, promote states' rights, end US involvement in the United Nations-NATO-IMF-NAFTA and World Bank, cutting the federal budget by 75%, eliminating Affirmative Action, and it declared a "full submission and unshakable faith" in Jesus Christ.

VP nominee Sobran was not without controversy. In 1993 he was fired from his position with the National Review by his mentor William F. Buckley with the chief charge being an anti-Semite but with assorted other unpleasantries tossed in. Although denials were made, shortly after the 2000 election Sobran was among the speakers at a Holocaust-denial group, making his earlier protestations somewhat disingenuous.

Sobran took a leave of absence from his newspaper column in order to run. In his Sept. 9, 1999 piece he quipped, "With a little luck I will be inaugurated as your vice president in January 2001. I look forward to presiding over the Senate and attending funerals of world leaders."

Sobran was back in the columns within six months. In early March he wrote: In life we sometimes do have to choose the lesser evil rather than the positive good. This is the basis of armed robbery. Forced to choose between your money and your life, you give the mugger your wallet. But though you walk away with relief that your life was spared, you'd be a fool to feel it was a profitable transaction for you. For conservatives who vote Republican, every election is like that.

By the end of March, Sobran had concluded running for office was more work than he bargained for and withdrew from the race. Sobran was eventually replaced by Dr. J. Curtis Frazier.

Yet, the Phillips/Sobran ticket remained on the ballot in Kentucky, where they placed 7th out of 7 with 0.06% of the popular vote in the Bluegrass State.

Election history: none

Other occupations: journalist, columnist, radio commentator

Buried: Andrew Chapel Cemetery (Fairfax, Va.)

Notes:
Believer in the Oxfordian theory that Edward de Vere actually wrote the plays attributed to William
 Shakespeare.

Laura Ruth Ticciati

Laura Ruth Ticciati, March 7, 1952 - 

VP candidate for Natural Law Party (aka Independent) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: John Samuel Hagelin (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 4,663 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

John 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 (the running-mate in 1992 and 1996) was campaigning in Ohio, identified as the Natural Law Party 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.

A fellow devotee of Transcendental Meditation with Hagelin, Goldhaber is the son of Jewish refugees who were respected physicists. He was raised in Berkeley, Calif.

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.

Ticciati said her goal in entering the race was a "desire to make the hazards of genetic engineering a central issue of Campaign 2000." In the late 1990s she and her husband Robin had co-authored Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide.

Hagelin still considered himself representing a fusion of the NLP and Reform Party and indeed was listed as a Reform candidate on the ballot in Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin and perhaps a few others. In New York, the old New Alliance Party leaders Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani were now using the Independence Party as a vehicle and in that capacity ran Hagelin/Goldhaber under their banner. Fulani had made an earlier attempt to be Hagelin's running-mate. Interestingly, Newman and Fulani had originally endorsed Pat Buchanan but changed their minds.

Overall the NLP finished with 83,710 votes (0.08%) in 2000, a decline from their 1996 result. The Hagelin/Ticciati ticket finished with a popular vote vote of: Kansas 0.13%, New Jersey 0.07% and Louisiana 0.06%. There would have been a problem with the Constitution in the event of their vistory sonce both candidates were residents of the same state-- Iowa.

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: author, founded Mothers for Natural Law (M4NL) 1996,

Notes:
The only woman ever on a NLP ticket.

Amos Nathaniel Goldhaber

Amos Nathaniel Goldhaber, February 15, 1948 (Wisconsin)  -

VP candidate for Natural Law Party (aka Independent aka Reform Party of the United States of America aka Independence Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: John Samuel Hagelin (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 77,439 (0.07%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

John 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 (the running-mate in 1992 and 1996) was campaigning in Ohio, identified as the Natural Law Party 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.

A fellow devotee of Transcendental Meditation with Hagelin, Goldhaber is the son of Jewish refugees who were respected physicists. He was raised in Berkeley, Calif.

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.

Hagelin still considered himself representing a fusion of the NLP and Reform Party and indeed was listed as a Reform candidate on the ballot in Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin and perhaps a few others. In New York, the old New Alliance Party leaders Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani were now using the Independence Party as a vehicle and in that capacity ran Hagelin/Goldhaber under their banner. Fulani had made an earlier attempt to be Hagelin's running-mate. Interestingly, Newman and Fulani had originally endorsed Pat Buchanan but changed their minds.

Overall the NLP finished with 83,710 votes (0.08%) in 2000, a decline from their 1996 result. The Hagelin/Goldhaber portion of the NLP vote came to 77,439 popular votes by my estimation. Their strongest showings were: New York 0.36%, Alaska 0.32%, Idaho 0.23%, Wyoming 0.19%, Iowa-Oregon 0.17% each, Montana 0.16%, Colorado-Ohio 0.13% each, Arkansas-Washington 0.12% each, California-Kentucky-North Dakota-Utah 0.10% each

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: venture capitalist, computer entrepreneur, special assistant to Lt. Gov. William Scranton III (Penn.),

Notes:
Private pilot.
Father of triplets.
Austrian mother, German father who met in Israel.

Margaret Jane Trowe

Margaret Jane Trowe, February 19, 1948 -

VP candidate for Socialist Workers Party (aka Independent) (2000, 2004)

Running mate with nominee (2000, 2004): James Edward Harris Jr. (b. 1948)
Popular vote (2000): 7,039 (0.01%)
Popular vote (2004): 7,108 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign (2000):

The ticket of James Harris for President and Margaret Trowe for Vice-President continued a practice the Socialist Workers Party had continuously employed since 1980 of nominating an African American male as the standard bearer with a Euro American female as the running-mate.

By the dawn of the new millennium the SWP had already started to look like a living museum piece. The Castroist group had pretty much put their days of tumult behind them as various factions split away into their own political parties. Some critics and ex-members described the SWP as an encapsulated cult.

The SWP had a policy of moving their most ardent followers around like missionaries, assigning cities for them to reside in for short periods of time as they worked to organize the working class. This is a possible explanation for Trowe's frequent change of residence. In 2000 she was in Minnesota.

Trowe visited Australia and New Zealand as part of her campaign while Harris apparently visited Europe in an effort to gain international support. Other SWP candidates had done this in the past. In the former country in August 2000 she told an interviewer about some of the realities of third party electioneering: "All right, we have a modest budget, $US100,000 for two people to travel for six months. We travel by car and we stay on futons a lot, but we're meeting fighting workers and farmers and people struggling for important social issues who are encouraging us. And we also are finding that there's an increase in resistance."

On the ballot in 13 states + DC and recorded write-ins in 3 others, the Harris/Trowe ticket's highest popular votes percentage could be found in District of Columbia, Louisiana, and Mississippi-- each with 0.06%. They placed 8th nationally.

The campaign (2004):

The official SWP ticket faced a double whammy as far the Constitution was concerned. The Presidential nominee was Róger Calero, who was born in Nicaragua, and the VP was Arrin Hawkins, who was in her late 20s, little details that made both of them ineligible to hold the offices they sought. Many states would not allow the duo to be listed on their ballots, so the Harris/Trowe ticket returned as stand-ins. As it turned out there were more states with the substitute team than there were with the official 2004 nominees.

By 2004 Trowe was now in Massachusetts.

This double ticket situation takes some figuring, and it doesn't help that several trusted sources have conflicting information. From what I can sort out Harris/Trowe were on the ballot in Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. They were write-ins in Delaware and Ohio. Calero/Hawkins were on the ballot in Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. They were write-ins in Connecticut. Math is not my strongest subject but I count 7108 votes for Harris/Trowe, 3689 for Calero/Hawkins.

Harris/Trowe's strongest percentages were in Mississippi 0.11%, District of Columbia 0.06%, and Louisiana 0.05%.

Election history:
1977 - Mayor of Seattle (Wash.) (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1998 - US Senate (Iowa) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
2005 - Mayor of Boston (Socialist Workers Party) - failed to attain ballot status
2006 - US House of Representatives (Fla.) (No Party Affiliation) - defeated
2010 - Iowa Secretary of Agriculture (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
2013 - Des Moines (Iowa) City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2017 - Mayor of Albany (NY) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
2018 - US Senate (NY) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated

Other occupations: bus driver, sheet metal grinder, welder, meatpacker, printing work, union activist

Notes:
1977 opponents (Washington State triva alert!!!) included Charlie Royer (winner), Paul Schell,
 Wayne Larkin, Phyllis Lamphere, Sam Smith, John Miller, and Richard Van Horn. I was also living
 in Seattle during part of 1977.
Winner in the 1998 election was Chuck Grassley.
Was a write-in in the 2006 and 2018 elections.
Speaks Spanish and French.

Vincent Anthony Suprynowicz Jr.

Vincent Anthony Suprynowicz Jr., April 26, 1950 (New Haven Conn.) -

VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Arizona Libertarian Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Lester Neil Smith III (b. 1946)
Popular vote: 5,775 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Although L. Neil Smith of Colorado and Vin Suprynowicz of Nevada were a Libertarian Party national ticket in 2000, they were not THE Libertarian Party ticket in 2000. Both of these gentlemen, who are well known writers, were on the ballot only in Arizona. The candidates and locale gave the entire campaign a Far West regional flavor.

Harry Browne, the 1996 Presidential nominee of the Party, was making a try in 2000 as well. Although Browne was viewed as part of the Establishment Libertarians (for want of a better term) he still had some spirited challengers within the LP. It didn't help that some of the divisions from 1996 had erupted into outright civil war four years later. Accusations of conspiracies and unethical behavior directed toward the Party leaders and staff by the insurgents flew thick and fast.

Browne would emerge as the official choice of the Party-- except in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State was home to two LP factions.

L. Neil Smith had been involved with the Libertarian Party since the early 1970s, but by 1999 he followed his own path. On July 4 of that year he announced his intention to run an independent campaign for President if his supporters could gather a million online signatures which he said would "convince me I'm not wasting everybody's time and energy." In the end he apparently gathered less than 1,500 participants.

Smith had said in his July 4 announcement, "I've been asked about my independent candidacy -- whether I'd refuse the nomination of the Libertarian Party, which I joined in 1972. (I've learned only recently of a group who want to draft me as the LP candidate for President.) I believe the LP has reached a point where, if I were to walk into its convention with a million petition signatures, or five million, or ten million, the clique that owns the party would still find an excuse to reject my candidacy."

Even so, his name was offered as a potential LP Presidential nominee anyway, but Browne had the game sewn up.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Libertarian Party, which had a contentious relationship with the national Libertarian Party, was in a state of turmoil. On August 6, 2000 the Arizona LP nominated Smith over Browne. The national LP made a legal challenge but the courts decided with the Arizonans and said Browne would have to run under the "Independent" label, but time had run out in order to file. Browne decided not to run in that state, even as a write-in, and on Sept. 25 told Arizona voters to vote for Smith.

Smith's running-mate was Vin Suprynowicz, at the time a newspaper columnist in Nevada who championed libertarianism. Suprynowicz's name would not appear on the ballot since it was Arizona practice to list only the Presidential candidates and not their Vice-Presidents.

Harry Browne weighed in on the Arizona situation on Sept. 13, 2000 in his Campaign Journal:

On the road to La Crosse I hear by cell phone that the Arizona Supreme Court has rejected our plea to have me listed on the Arizona ballot as an independent candidate. The "official" Arizona Libertarian Party is not the organization affiliated with the national Libertarian Party, and it decided to put L. Neil Smith's name on the ballot as the Libertarian candidate for President. We filed petitions containing more than enough names to qualify as an independent candidate, but the signatures had to be filed before I was the LP's nominee. We applied for an extension, a procedure that almost all court precedents have upheld — but the judge hearing the case misread the precedents and the state Supreme Court refused to hear our appeal.

It's unfortunate that some Libertarians are more concerned with proving they're superior to other Libertarians than they are with bringing about a Libertarian America. But this sort of posturing and back-biting happens in almost any large organization, and we should not expect to be exempt from the norms of human nature.

The Smith/Suprynowicz ticket placed 5th out of 7 in Arizona, with 0.38% of the popular vote in that state. Smith began a second Presidential campaign in late 2003 but quickly abandoned the idea.

Election history: none

Other occupations: journalist, editor, novelist, columnist, lecturer

Notes:
In subsequent years Suprynowicz would support the Free State Project.

Mary Cal Hollis

Mary Cal Hollis, January 13, 1952 (Pine Bluff, Ark.) -

VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Socialist Party aka Liberty Union Party aka Independent) (2000)
VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (2004)

Running mate with nominee (2000): David McReynolds (1929-2018)
Running mate with nominee (2004): Walter Frederick Brown (b. 1926)
Popular vote (2000): 5,602 (0.01%)
Popular vote (2004): 216 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2000, 2004): 0/538

The campaign (2000):

Mary Cal Hollis of Colorado had been the Socialist Presidential candidate in 1996, but in 2000 she joined a small subset of former standard bearers who took the second place on the ballot in a subsequent election. David McReynolds had been the Socialist nominee in 1980 and two decades later was making another run for the White House. 

A former Democrat, Hollis put ideology over party loyalty and belonged to not only the Socialist Party USA but also the Green Party and Labor Party. "We need to educate the people that ninety percent of us have a lot in common, we shouldn't be splintered as the ruling class makes us, she said. "We need to give up the idea that a coalition means 'Quit your group and join mine.'"

In Vermont the Socialists managed to secure the nomination of the Liberty Union Party.

The McReynolds/Hollis ticket made the ballot in 7 states and had recorded write-in votes in an additional 7. Best showings: New Jersey 0.06%, Vermont 0.05%, Colorado and North Carolina 0.04% each, Washington 0.03%, Rhode Island 0.01%. What is impressive is that their North Carolina result was entirely a write-in effort with 1,226 votes.

The campaign (2004):

In 2004 the Party nominated attorney Walter F. Brown, a former Democratic State Senator in Oregon (PNW trivia alert!!!) for President and Mary Alice Herbert for VP. Hollis was the runner-up in the Vice-Presidential contest, but she was on the ballot with Brown only in the State of Colorado, where they finished with 0.01% of the vote in that jurisdiction.

Election history:
1996 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for US President - defeated
1996 - Green Party nomination for US President - defeated
1996 - US President (Socialist Party of the United States of America) - defeated
2003 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for President - withdrew
2003 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for Vice-President - defeated

Other occupations: special education

Notes:
The first Arkansas-born third party VP to achieve ballot status in a national election.
"Debs felt that US citizens had fought two revolutions, one against royalty and one against slavery.
 He felt that the Third American Revolution would be against the wealthy ruling class. So, here's to
 the Revolution-it is surely inevitable. I just hope it can be done peacefully this time."--Mary Cal
 Hollis, 1997

Sabrina R. Allen

Sabrina R. Allen, July 17, 1959 -

VP candidate for Independent Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Cathy Gordon Brown (b. 1965)
Popular vote: 1,606 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Cathy Gordon Brown of Old Hickory, Tenn. said she "always wanted to be the first woman President." Her running-mate was her sister, also a Tennessee resident, Sabrina R. Allen. Information regarding their platform is not available.

This might be the first ticket I have located comprised of sisters, although I have previously discovered other sibling combination teams. In their home state, the only place where they were on a ballot, they placed 6th out 9 with 0.08% of the popular vote there. Apparently they had recruited only a single Elector. In the event of their national victory there would have been a problem with the Constitution since both candidates were residents of the same state.

Election history: none

Other occupations: property management

Notes:
Rather unusual to have so little info on a ticket that had ballot access. Anyone care to contribute a comment?

Dale Duane Wilkinson

1992

 1994

 1998

Below: Denny Lane

Dale Duane Wilkinson, November 20, 1966 (Park Rapids, Minn.) -

VP candidate for Vermont Grassroots Party (aka Grassroots Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Dennis Lane (1947-2013)
Popular vote: 1044 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Vermont Grassroots Party was formed in 1994 and dissolved in 2004. They ran a slate of candidates for statewide and federal offices.

VGP Presidential candidate Dennis "Denny" Lane spelled out his platform in a long advertisement shortly before the election-

My energy, environmental, drug and foreign policy views all overlap. I want an energy policy that is clean, renewable, sustainable and safe. I want American farmers to grow hemp as biomass to produce methanol, methane and charcoal. Methanol gas at 75 cents a gallon to fuel our cars, methane to heat ur industrial plants and charcoal for the industrial midwest to burn instead of dirty coal producing acid rain, can be produced by using hemp. I want end America's oil addiction and change from a fossil fuel to a hemp based economy. This will change our foreign policy. No more war for oil! Let's get rid of OPEC and the oil cartels who overcharge us to drive cars and heat our homes. I also favor development of small scale hydro, solar and wind energy so that we are energy self-sufficient. Hemp has over 50,000 industrial uses besides being food, fuel, fiber and medicine. I want to end cannabis, hemp aka marijuana prohibition to allow for the use of the most versatile premier plant on the planet. We had a "noble experiment" prohibiting the drug alcohol from 1919 to 1933. It gave rise to crime, corruption and violence. We are doing the same thing today- spending $150 billion annually on the War on Drugs and have arrested over 14 million people since 1965 on cannabis charges. To show how upside down our country has become, our founding fathers- Washington and Jefferson (premier hemp farmers of their time) would have Mt. Vernon and Monticello stolen under forfeiture laws and they would be executed under current federal law. I am against the New World Order- i.e. One World Government and am against the global plantation masters and international banksters who run the show. We must retire America's debt and preserve our inalienable rights. We must reprioritize our spending, restore the Bill of Rights, end partisan bickering and gridlock and make government work for the people and not the other way around. When a government fears its citizens we have democracy and when the citizenry are afraid of government we have tyranny. Power to the people! Remember a wasted vote is one that is cast for someone whose principles you don't share and if you vote for the lesser of two evils you still wind up with evil.

Lane's running-mate was Dale Wilkinson, the chair of the Grassroots Party in Minnesota. Like Lane, Wilkinson had also run for state offices as a Grassroots candidate.

Only on the ballot in the Green Mountain State, the Lane/Wilkinson ticket placed 5th out 10 on the ballot with 0.35% of the vote there. In the event that they somehow won the national election, Wilkinson's age would have been an issue since he would have been 34 on Inauguration Day, a year shy of the required age mandated by the Constitution.

In 2001 Denny Lane resigned from the VGP. His next run for pubic office was under the Libertarian Party banner (for Vermont Auditor) in 2002. In his younger years Lane had been a William F. Buckley/Barry Goldwater Republican.

Election history:
1992 - Minnesota State Senate (Grassroots Party) - defeated
1994 - Minnesota Secretary of State  (Grassroots Party) - defeated
1998 - Minnesota House of Representatives (Grassroots Party) - defeated

Other occupations: machine operator

Notes:
2000 was Wilkinson's final run for office from what I can tell.

Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly, ca1952 -

VP candidate for Independent (aka American People's Grassroots Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Randall Alan Venson (b. 1960)
Popular vote: 535 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Two progressive community activist gentlemen, one an African American and Muslim, the other white and Christian, ran an independent campaign for the Presidency/VP only in Tennessee. Although listed as "Independent" on the ballot, Presidential candidate Randall Venson told the press that he likes to call his effort the American People's Grassroots Party.

Venson felt that Ralph Nader's Association of State Green Parties 2000 campaign had a limited appeal in terms of building a true grassroots movement. "Nader's brand of progressivism attracts mostly white liberals [and is] not ethnically diverse enough," he said. Venson saw his own electioneering as an attempt to "to wake people up."

Gene Kelly, his running-mate, was an environmental and labor activist, involved with the Nashville Peace and Justice Center.

Venson speculated that he might be the very first Muslim Presidential candidate. He addressed a large crowd at a Muslim organization in Chicago during the campaign and expressed a desire to attend Louis Farrakhan's Million Family March, although I can't verify if he made it there. It is hard to say if Venson was indeed the first Muslim to run for US President since we have so little biographical information on hundreds of candidates, but he does seem to be the first to attain ballot access with a running-mate and attempt to cultivate voters of the same faith, getting them more involved with the electoral process.

In Tennessee the Venson/Kelly ticket finished with 0.03% of the popular vote, placing last out of nine. If they had somehow won the national election, the fact they were residents of the same state would have posed a Constitutional problem.

Al Gore also failed to carry his home state.

Election history: none

Other occupations: Greenpeace field manager, Chair of the Board - Nashville Peace & Justice Center, community and union activist, political campaign manager

Notes:
Supported Charlie Crist for Gov. of Fla., 2014
Supported Bernie Sanders as Northeast SC field director in 2016

Robert Leo Beck

 Above: The claim ; Below: The source

Below: Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), Sept. 14, 1989

Robert Leo Beck, June 5, 1934 (Centerfield, Utah) - February 12, 2013 (Yuma, Ariz.)

VP candidate for Unaffiliated (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Louie Gene Youngkeit (1936-2003)
Popular vote: 161 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Louie G. Youngkeit of Provo, Utah was making his third run for the Presidency in 2000. Although he had previously made campaigns in 1988 and 1996, this was the first one where a running-mate was named.

Prior to his national runs, Youngkeit had been in the news in the mid-1970s for being active with the American Party, then later in the late 1970s for being one of the claimants to the fortune of the Howard Hughes estate. Youngkeit and his mother produced a photo of Hughes and Noah Dietrich they said was taken by their now deceased father/husband, but it seems the snapshot might have actually been lifted from Dietrich's 1972 book, Howard : the Amazing Mr. Hughes.

In 1988 Youngkeit made it to the ballot (without a Vice-President) in Utah where he finished with 372 votes, 0.06% of the state total. During that campaign he said he and his brother were tortured by the CIA in a theater in Anaheim, Calif. in 1948 and it was connected to the 1963 assassination of JFK. He also said many of the other Presidential candidates had been "bought" by the Contra rebels.

In 1996 he ran as write-in candidate, earning 19 votes. The Wall Street Journal carried this short blurb about his effort:

"I'm hoping that Perot will name me his vice president," Louie Youngkeit tells me outside the Long Beach Convention Center. Anything's possible, but Mr. Youngkeit's only qualification seems to be his obsession with Howard Hughes. He hands me a monograph he and his mother wrote in 1978, which claims that in 1949 Mr. Youngkeit's father looked after Hughes's car for a few days and allowed Hughes to drill an oil well on his property. In repayment for these kindnesses, the monograph says, Hughes promised to leave half his estate to the younger Mr. Youngkeit. When Hughes died in 1976, Mr. Youngkeit, to his dismay, was not named in the will. The monograph draws the obvious conclusion: Someone altered the will after Hughes's death. "This is the reason JFK was assassinated," Mr. Youngkeit adds, inexplicably.

When Youngkeit announced he was running in 2000, the Our Campaigns website commented:

Youngkeit -- a rather eccentric candidate -- claims he is "the Heir Apparent of the [late billionaire] Howard R. Hughes' Estate." You see, Hughes was secretly murdered in 1970 -- and his body was frozen for several years until his death was announced in 1976 -- and JFK was assassinated in 1963 because of Hughes's money -- and it was also the reason for the Watergate break-in -- and President Bush and Hillary Clinton are part of the scheming -- all that and lots more can be found in Youngkeit's conspiracy theory (see his website for more details). As a write-in candidate in the 1996 Presidential race, Youngkeit earned only 19 votes. Having secured ballot status in his homestate of Utah, he is guaranteed to score a better performance in 2000. Youngkeit's Vice Presidential runningmate is Robert L. Beck.

In a 2000 interview, Youngkeit told a reporter, "I want to be the first LDS President of the United States ... I am standing on the principles I have learned as a member of the LDS Church ... The church teaches us to 'choose the right,' that's the most important thing to remember – presidential campaign or not."

His brother-in-law Robert Leo Beck of Yuma, Ariz. was his VP choice. "He is an impressive person," Youngkeit said. I could not ascertain any campaign activity undertaken by Beck.

On the ballot only in Utah, the Youngkeit/Beck ticket placed 9th out of 9 with 0.02% of the state vote. In the event of their victory, Beck would have assumed the Presidency upon the death of Youngkeit, May 12, 2003.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Marines

Buried: ?

Notes:
Brush with Fame. Rival Hughes claimant Melvin Dummar was a regular guest at the Clown Motel in
 Tonopah, Nev. When I stayed there awhile back I was hoping to run into him but the manager said
 my timing was off. Dummar has since died.
Brush with Fame 2: When Hughes was hiding in the Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, BC in 1972, I
 recall visiting that city and seeing the top floors with all the drapes pulled and men in business suits
 patrolling the balconies.