Richard Grayson's presidential campaign is covered at the end of the article "Why all those others run for president. (Politics '84)" by Thomas J. Foley on page 91 in U.S. News & World Report this week (July 16, 1984):
Why all those others run for president. (Politics '84)
by Thomas J. Foley
Voters who don't think much of either Ronald Reagan or Walter Mondale for President might ponder the merits of Earl Dodge, Richard Grayson or Alphonso Steward.
Those three are among the some 200 announced candidates for the White House. Most take themselves seriously, but only one or two have a chance to win more than a few thousand votes.
What motivates them? Some are members of established political parties. Others are plugging special causes. For many, it's ego, a love of publicity or simply a joke. Running for President is simple enough. All it takes is a 20-cent stamp on a letter to the Federal Election Commission, although actually getting on the ballot is much harder.
The biggest November vote getters among the also-rans could be the Libertarians, amking their fourth run at the White House, this time with attorney David Bergland of Costa Mesa, Calif., as their presidential candidate. In 1980, they came in fourth behind Reagan, Jimmy Carter and John Anderson when presidential nominee Ed Clark won more than 900,000 votes.
The Citizens Party, which got more than 230,000 votes in 1980 with environmentalist Barry Commoner as its presidential candidate, is back with a new champion--Sonia Johnson, a feminist who was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for promoting the equal-rights amendment and other women's issues.
One of the most visible of the minor campaigns is that of Lyndon LaRouche, founder of the U.S. Labor Party, who is making his third try, this time as a Democrat. He claims to have raised 3 million dollars so far, including more than $450,000 in federal matching funds. Eight years ago, LaRouche received slightly more than 40,000 votes.
Some White House hopefuls are hardy quadrennials.
Former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, who is now 77, first ran for President in 1944 and has been throwing his hat in the ring nearly every four years since. At least 13,000 Republicans in West Virginia's June 5 presidential primary took Stassen seriously enough to mark his name on their ballots.
Gus Hall, general secretary of the U.S. Communist Party, is in the race for the fourth time. As in 1980, his running mate is black activist Angela Davis. They drew 45,000 votes four years ago.
The Hall campaign operates under a unique status: It need not list its contributors with the FEC, even though it collects and spends more than the $5,000 that triggers federal reporting requirements. The Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that such a listing would subject supporters to harassment and would be a violation of the supporters' First Amendment rights.
Earl Dodge, a 50-year-old father of seven, will carry the banner of the Prohibition Party.
Olympian challenge. The ultraconservative American Indpendent Party is not fielding a candidate this year but instead is backing former Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards, candidate of the Texas-based Populist Party.
Ben Fernandez, a wealthy California business executive, is trying for the second straight time to win the Republican nomination.
Some candidates for President seem to be in the race just for fun.
Larry Harmon of Los Angeles, creator of Bozo the Clown, announced his write-in candidacy in costume at Washington's National Press Club.
Alphonso Steward of Garysburg, N.C., boasts a campaign committee called Students for ADS Project Love (a Masters Peace). Before he decided to get an unlisted telephone number, the 54-year-old college student told reporters he planned to make Jane Fonda his Secretary of Energy and Cary Grant Secretary of Agriculture.
Garrett Trapnell is running again this year, but from a different constituency. Serving a life sentence for hijacking an airliner, he is now in the Atlanta federal penitentiary. Four years ago he was in prison at Marion, Ill., when he won a court challenge allowing him to run as a write-in candidate.
Cyril Sagan, a chemistry professor at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania, has a simple platform: He would bar lawyers from becoming judges.
Philip Baker of Shively, Ky., promises voters they will be able to shuttle to the moon and planets.
Lester Byerley, Jr., of Manahawkin, N.J., has a more earthly pledge. He would give every citizen $10,000.
J. John Gordon of Worcester, Mass., pledges to wipe out the national debt in 1 hour. The first step would be to substitute alcohol for oil as an energy source.
Hugh Bagley of Keyes, Calif., takes his stand on annexing Mexico.
Then there is "Hymie the Waiter." Hymie Meyer of San Francisco notes there has never been a waiter behind the desk in the Oval Office, adding: "I looked at the current political situation and realized I was as unqualified as any of the other candidates."
Donald Badgely of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a 1980 contender, is back again with his long white hair, beard and shepherd's staff. He is campaigning for a six-day week and a 360-day year.
Susanna Dakin, an artist in Venice, Calif., suggests world peace might be guaranteed if the leaders of nuclear nations were wired to detonate first in the event of attack.
Richard Grayson, an unemployed English teacher from Davie, Fla., who wants to move the nation's capital from Washington, D.C., to Davenport, Iowa, is one minor candidate who thinks ahead. Conceding that defeat is likely this year, Grayson says: "I'm thinking of moving to New Hampshire now to get an early start for 1988."
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