Ron Paul's California write-in votes will be tallied
Martin Wisckol
The Orange County Register
Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008
The renegade Republican didn't win the GOP nomination, but he did qualify as a write-in and many of his backers are expected to vote for him.
Republican iconoclast Ron Paul's legion of Orange County supporters can write his name on the ballot and rest assured those votes will be tallied.
Paul is not one of the six party nominees who appear in the presidential election-portion of California's ballot, but he is one of four to qualify as a write-in choice. That's thanks to San Luis Obispo's Gail Lightfoot, who was in Anaheim to visit family and gave me a ring to make sure I knew. Lightfoot was the one who handled the paperwork and gathered the 55 required signatures to make Paul official.
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"I'm not going to vote for the lesser of two evils," Lightfoot said. "I believe in justice and freedom, and I want to vote for what I believe in."
Not coincidently, Lightfoot qualified herself to be Paul's running mate in California. She's a Libertarian, and has run for U.S. Senate, but is turning her back on her party this year.
"I may get more votes as Ron Paul's running mate than I did as a Libertarian candidate," Lightfoot said. "And a lot of Libertarians are going to be upset with me."
Other voices, choices
Libertarian – and former Republican – Bob Barr is among the six party nominees listed on the ballot in California. So isAlan Keyes, nominee of the American Independent Party – with Orange County's own Wiley Drake as his running mate.
"There's a gentleman named Alan Keyes," said Joe Wurzelbacher, better known these days as Joe the Plumber. "I have no doubt he'd probably fix this country in two years."
The American Independent Party has been the California arm of the national Constitutional Party. But the AIP was particularly independent this year, which forced the Constitutional Party to field its candidate, Chuck Baldwin, as a write-in.
Another write-in is Socialist Workers' James Harris. Finally, there's Frank Moore, who wants free public transportation and – in place of welfare and Social Security – and guaranteed minimum income of $1,000 per person.
Branding the candidates
If raising the most money meant you would have the most successful campaign, Mitt Romney would be running against Barack Obama.
But does running the best campaign lead to the best man winning?
Maybe it does, said Cheri Hendry, CEO of the Irvine-based marketing company Brandtailers. While policy and leadership issues may be more important to the nation's well-being than a campaign advertising strategy, Hendry said the races offer the candidates a trial run at operating on a national scale.
"They hire people for their administrations just like they hire people for their campaigns," she said. "But ultimately, they're responsible. They can't point at the campaign team afterward and say, 'It was your fault.' He hired them."
Hendry, a Republican who was undecided on a candidate when I spoke to her last week, has some very specific critiques on each campaign's success in marketing its candidate.
