Unlikely candidates for Oval Office

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, the ideal that anyone can become president is a time-honored mantra repeated in classrooms and polling locations.

While the majority of the national debate will be between two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican, these Americans have begun campaigns to become the leader of the free world. You may not hear their names in headlines and on TV, but these lesser-known candidates are still in the race for the White House.

VERMIN SUPREME

Supreme has been running for president with outlandish clothing and a giant boot on his head since the Reagan era. This year, he’s going up against incumbent President Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination with the campaign slogan “ride our ponies into the future.” Supreme wants to give every American a pony and runs on a platform of dental hygiene to keep Americans safe from cavities.

JIMMY MCMILLAN

This bearded, gloved, Internet celebrity runs under the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.
He made waves in 2010 at the New York gubernatorial debate. He runs on one main platform: That the rent is, well, too damn high. He’s a Vietnam War veteran and a karate expert. He lost the race for the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, N.Y., but now he’s got his eyes on the White House.

KATHYERN LANE

Lane is an independent Hoosier, but she is running for the GOP nomination because “Kathyern knew an Independent had no chance of a win and so she flipped a coin ... a Texas lonestar quarter. It came up heads, which meant Republican.” Lane is a native of Paoli, Ind., and has worked as a “babysitter, waitress, security guard, real estate agent, aircraft electrician, avionic lead and as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross and as a community organizer,” according to her website.

ROBERT BURCK, THE NAKED COWBOY

Any trip to New York City’s Times Square is incomplete without seeing the Naked Cowboy perform with an acoustic guitar in his skivvies, boots and a hat.
In 2012, Bruck, the Naked Cowboy himself, is running as an independent with a conservative platform. He even ditched the whitey-tighties for a suit for his Times Square campaign announcement.

— Charles Scudder