If it seems as if new candidates are announcing their presidential runs every day, well, that’s because they are.
Last week saw the
announcements of Rick Perry, Lincoln Chafee and Senator Lindsey Graham
of South Carolina. But then there’s Kevin Deame, who filed his papers in
April to run under the “Pirate Party.” And John Green Ferguson of
Texas, who has called for recycling every piece of trash in the country
and whose campaign website features all-caps diatribes and neon fonts
(it also sells some green-living hardware).
And Princess Khadijah
M. Jacob-Fambro is a Revolutionary Party candidate from California who,
asked to give the name of her presidential campaign committee, used it
to make a marriage proposal to the rapper Lil Wayne and put in a
smiley-face emoji for good measure.
All told, 366 people
have filed a Form 2 statement of candidacy with the Federal Election
Commission, and that number is growing by the day. Most of the
candidates are better defined as no-shots than long shots, but they do
add plenty of character to an already colorful cast of candidates.
Some of the more
obscure candidates have been able to build a noticeable level of
support, or at least attention. Thomas Keister, for example, who is
running under the banner of the Marijuana Party, has more Twitter
followers than Mr. Chaffee, a former Rhode Island senator and governor.
And Vermin Supreme, a
performance artist who ran as an alternate candidate in New Hampshire,
often clad with a rubber boot for a hat and holding a bowl of candy for
voters, even placed third in the New Hampshire Democratic primary in
2012, with 833 votes. (That year, of course, President Obama was up for
re-election and did not face significant opposition.)
One reason there is
such a vast pool of “official” candidates is that the barrier for entry
is quite low: All a candidate needs is some free time to fill out the
required F.E.C. forms; and with the advent of the web form, not even a
postage stamp is required anymore.
“The only requirement
to file that form is if they raise or spend more than $5,000,” said
Christian Hilland, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission.
“But they can certainly file before that, and I would imagine that some
of them have not reached that threshold yet. Anyone can file that F.E.C
form.”
Most of the candidates
have an online presence, although the sophistication of their sites
varies. Arthur Herbert Brooks Jr.’s website has some of the features
common to a presidential candidate’s page – issues, action and media
tabs – but each page only has stock images and “TBA’s” (for To Be
Announced) where the content would be. Many others, like Brittany Clark
from California, have opted just for a Twitter page.
And there’s HRM Caesar
Saint Augustine de Buonaparte Emperor of the United States of Turtle
Island (yes, that is his official candidate name). Mr. Saint Augustine
de Buonaparte has actually run for president during every cycle since
1996.
He recently took his
platform to YouTube, where he streams under the username
“realitiesupremebeing” and, clad in a straw hat, sunglasses and orange
suspenders, offers his thoughts on everything from civil rights to the
efficiency of the Microsoft customer service lines.
But the alluring name and colorful clothing are unlikely to portend success in raising money for a viable campaign.
“Any U.S. citizen over
the age of 35 can run for president of the United States and every four
years hundreds of them file statements of candidacy with the F.E.C.,”
said Brett G. Kappel, partner at the law firm Akerman LLP, who focuses
his practice primarily on political law.
“Of the 300 who have
registered so far, less than 10 percent will raise or spend the more
than $5,000 that would require their campaign committees to register
with the F.E.C. – and that’s only because there will be more than 10
serious candidates running for the Republican nomination.”
In a sense, it’s the American dream fulfilled: anyone really can grow up and run for president.
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