IU senior envisions run for U.S. presidency in 2020

Jon Schloesser spends a lot of time Googling the terms "president" and "2020." \nBut Schloesser isn't just fascinated with a presidential campaign more than a decade away. Presuming the next 15 years go according to his plan, the senior education major is staking out the competition. He announced his candidacy for the election -- the first he'll be eligible for -- this summer.\nSchloesser said his Google searches retrieve about four other Web sites from similar students around the country who have declared their candidacy for the 2020 election. He said the candidates communicate with each other, spurring one another to take stances on various issues.\n"It's exciting just to compare ideas with other people," Schloesser said. "It's in the back of our minds, like our own little election. If one person on the Web site makes a statement, how are you going to respond?"\nThe idea for Schloesser's candidacy started during the summer while he was taking an introductory sociology class and a political science class titled "The American Presidency." Schloesser combined a project for the two courses and surveyed small towns, finding that many of their residents had political beliefs different from the ones the towns were traditionally associated with. \nSchloesser turned his work into an online information center, disseminating his views on the issues he learned about. Before long, it turned into his candidacy for president and a 15-year-long campaign road.\n"I have an internal motivation for politics," Schloesser said. "It's not really frustration out of the political system right now, but it just seemed to click. I think somebody maybe mentioned it in passing and I thought it was a good idea and took it from there. It's kind of funny."\nSoon after, Schloesser developed a campaign strategy team to help him spread the word. It even features students from different schools to inform him about issues that affect their fields, including representatives from the business school and the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. \nSchloesser and his team even attended events like the Indiana State Fair and Homecoming festivities, handing out buttons and hoping to chat about the issues. \n"You should see their face when you say you're running for president in 2020 and you're probably half their age," Schloesser said. "They look at you like 'What are you doing?'"\nStill, Schloesser said some people will hear him out. He said older ladies in particular enjoy talking, though sometimes things got "touchy" when controversial topics come up.\nOne thing Schloesser won't talk about, however, is his second-in-command.\n"People always joke 'who's your vice president?" Schloesser said. "But we don't pick that until the primaries."\nSchloesser has a number of supporters who have discovered him by his Web site, www.jonschloesser.com. He said he has heard from professors from as far away as UCLA and even has a small "community base" of supporters in Washington state. \nBut the best part, Schloesser said, is getting the chance to learn and write about issues he thinks are important.\n"I'm real serious about some of the issues I've put down, because of course they're real pertinent to American society," Schloesser said. "It's kind of transformed on its own and a lot of people like the idea."\nThose issues range from commonly discussed fare like national health care and energy management to somewhat more bizarre ideas like offering Cuba and Mexico into the union as states or territories and dealing with terrorism by ignoring it.\nPolitical science professor Jeffrey Hart looked at Schloesser's Web site and said some of the issues make sense, while others don't.\n"He wanted to spend a lot of money and also cut taxes for poor people," Hart said. "That's commendable, but not fiscally responsible." \nHart said he liked Schloesser's idea of running for president on the Web, even if just as a learning experience.\n"You've got to give him credit for putting himself forward," Hart said. "At a minimum, he will learn a lot about the political system. And, I think it's a great way to use the Web. Let's face it - when Jon Stewart is generating some of the best news in broadcast, why shouldn't people run for president on the Web? That's what it's for, playing around with ideas and seeing what works."\nAfter graduating in the spring, Schloesser will student teach at a middle school in Cloverdale, Ind. Then, he might try flight school and is considering returning to school for his master's degree in engineering.\nSchloesser knows there's a lot of time before 2020 and a lot will change before then. But he still thinks there's a good chance his name will be on the ballot. \n"The Web site's only been up four or five months and with the amount of support I've gotten just so far, there's a chance that I could be (running)"