On the campaign trail, December 2011

January 1, 2012

The following is the second in a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2012 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after a brief mention of some of the month's biggest stories.

In this month's edition on the campaign trail: the campaign manager for a candidate already seeking two presidential nominations discusses the likelihood his candidate will run for the Reform Party's nomination; a lesser known candidates forum reveals an alternative fuel possibility and concludes in a dramatic fashion; and the newly nominated candidate for the talks with Wikinews.

Summary
In December 2011, businessman ended his campaign for the Republican Party's presidential nomination amid allegations of sexual harassment and an extramarital affair. Hoping to appeal to social conservatives, Texas Rick Perry released a commercial in Iowa entitled "Strong", in which he states, "there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." While the video received 24,407 likes by the end of the month, it received 725,698 dislikes.

Frontrunner Newt Gingrich had trouble of his own after he suggested during an interview with  that Palestinians were an "invented people". He refused to retract the comments at the final GOP debate before the January 3. Gingrich's lead in the polls disappeared as Mitt Romney won big endorsements from South Carolina, former Senator , and former president.

Meanwhile, Congressman Ron Paul rose in the polls as well, trailing Romney by two points in the final NBC/Marist poll of the year with Rick Santorum surging and Rick Perry close behind. However, Paul encountered his own troubles as the media reported on articles published in his newsletters from the 1980s and 1990s that included incendiary comments about blacks, gays, and Israel. Paul says he did not write the articles and has publicly disavowed them in the past. Additionally, Paul won the backing of Iowa, who previously served as the state chairman for , who continued to sag in the polls since winning the  in August.

Former New Mexico governor, another candidate who had been low in the Republican polls, announced a switch to the to run for that party's presidential nomination. Analysts have suggested that if Johnson wins the Libertarian nomination, he could possibly take votes away from the Republican nominee and help President Barack Obama win re-election.

Possible Reform Party candidate?
Presidential candidate addressed members of the  on December 10 at a joint Reform Party-Tea Party event. The meeting raised speculation that Roemer, who is currently running for the presidential nominations of both the Republican Party and, would also seek the nomination of the Reform Party of the United States of America.

, a member of the New Jersey party's leadership, wrote on his blog that "there are efforts within the Reform Party to draft him [Roemer] as their candidate". However, Roemer, who served as as a Republican, does not seem interested in the nomination. According to campaign manager Carlos Sierra, the Reform Party has "reached out to us...but the Governor does not intend to seek their nomination. He is focused primarily on the GOP nomination. We think once his message gets a stage and an audience, that it will resonate with the Republican Party and Independents. The problem is he keeps getting shut out of the debates."

Industrialist founded the Reform Party in 1995. He won the party's presidential nomination the next year and received over eight percent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for a third party candidate since. After this, the party was plagued by infighting, and decreased in prominence. In 2008, was nominated for president, but appeared only on the ballot in Mississippi and received 481 votes.

For 2012, three candidates have announced their intentions to seek the party's nomination: former college football coach, Earth Intelligence Network CEO , and small business owner Andre Barnett.

Lesser-known candidates forum
On December 19, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics hosted a forum at to present lesser-known candidates for the Republican and Democratic Party presidential nominations. Wikinews covered the Democratic Party forum that showcased candidates challenging President Barack Obama for that party's presidential nomination, including anti-abortion activist and performance artist.

A high point of the forum occurred after Vermin Supreme delivered his final statement. He exclaimed, " told me to make Randall Terry gay" and proceeded to Terry while shouting, "he's turning gay." Terry had earlier affirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage, comparing it to slavery and abortion. Supreme later told Wikinews that Terry "took his glittering like a man, a gay man. I don't know if the fairy dust turned him gay right away, but he took his medicine, and he seemed to enjoy it on some level." Though Terry could not be reached for comment, he wrote on his blog that the glitter bombing "appeared to have no impact on me becoming homosexual." Supreme claims he was threatened by a Terry supporter after the forum and is now "seeking Secret Service protection." He has no plans to glitter bomb anyone else.

Supreme says that he had previously met Terry at the, and "was given the distinct impression that he (Terry) wanted to perform fellatio on me." He says that prior to the forum, he offered "to have 'homosexual gay sex' in the lavatory stall", but Terry declined. During the forum, Supreme said that he planned to write-in Terry, but said afterwards that his support "depends how gay he [Terry] gets."

Dr. Bob Greene, a physicist who also participated in the forum, commented that the glitter bombing "was inappropriate for the circumstances." During the forum, Greene differentiated himself from his opponents by discussing the use of as an alternative fuel, saying "we have enough thorium for all of our energy needs for well over a thousand years." He elaborated further after the forum, explaining that thorium could be used by, after which it. "The fuel", he explained, "is a, really with a couple of stable-izers." Greene says that it is safer and produces less waste than conventional methods, but "the military favored the cycle because you could get lots of  out of it, which they wanted for bombs.  Thorium - not so."

Others that participated in the Democratic forum include writer Ed Cowan, lawyer John Haywood, activist Edward O'Donnell Jr., and lawyer John Wolfe.

Boston Tea Party presidential nomination
On December 23, the Boston Tea Party (BTP) nominated trustee  of Maryland as its second presidential nominee. The BTP was formed in 2006 and "supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose." In 2008, the party nominated boxing manager, who appeared on three state ballots and won a total of 2,422 votes.

Briscoe's platform calls for the legalization of drugs, a repeal of the, and an end to subsidies and foreign aid. Former radio host Kimberly Johnson was selected as her running mate.

Briscoe took some time to speak with Wikinews about her campaign and the BTP.

How do you plan to gain ballot access for the BTP?


 * Briscoe: The BTP is a fairly new political party. Yet, it has great potential. Its message of individual freedom and free markets resonates with a great majority of the American people that do not seem to be content with the current Establishment. We need to campaign massively, which we are already doing, to collect enough petition signatures and get on as many ballots as possible. I will myself contribute financially to help get the party on the ballot in such states as Colorado and Louisiana. At the end of the day, we will probably be able to appear on 14 to 15 states throughout the country, and stay as a write-in candidate in virtually all the others.

Ideologically, how are you different from Ron Paul or Gary Johnson?


 * Briscoe: Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are two great men that have helped the cause of liberty by working from the inside of the government. But they do not reflect the true nature of libertarianism. Paul has become a typical politician, taking to his district to get reelected, wants to restrict immigration, and wants to plague the economy with an entire new series of tax credits and corporate loopholes for energy and health care reform. Gary Johnson, while he did veto more laws than any other governor in the 1990s, also encounters the same problem: he wants to keep  open with the so-called "enemy combatant" inside, he opposes the end of the  that is creating so much troubles with our economy, and even wants to establish a  that would increase consumer prices in a way that will slow economic development. So while I do consider myself as an ideological ally of these two men, I don't believe they're doing the best they can when it comes to promoting the philosophy of freedom.

What do you hope to accomplish with this campaign, and what would constitute a success?


 * Briscoe: Of course, I am not running just to get my name or the party's name out there, even though the latter is also a goal. I am running to show that there are actually some people outside of Washington that still care about the future of our country, to show that all these independent-minded folks are not alone in their daily fight against the federal government. But with 60% of the people wishing to see a third party play a more important role and with an even greater portion saying they would consider voting for a third party in 2012, we might have more chances to reach success than we may think. Of course, the ultimate success would be paving the way to the White House but at this point, I believe only taking away votes from the true "spoilers" that the Establishment represents in a way that would change the ultimate course of the election would already make us proud.