Fringe Candidates Make Their Case

These so-called fringe candidates share a few things with their better know counterparts: A love of country, a sense of purpose, and perhaps more to the point, a willingness to shell out the 1000 dollars it takes to get on the New Hampshire ballot……What they don’t share with mainstream candidates anymore, though, is a stage. That practice ended 35 years ago with the antics of a longshot hopeful. NH secretary state Bill Gardner remembers that incident.

"In 1972 one of the candidates, Ned Coll, held up a dead rat by the tail, and made a comment about the other candidates based on that dead rat swinging in front of him. And that got talked about for several years."

And while a candidate named Vermin Supreme is competing in the January 8th primary – no rats appeared at Thursday’s debate …….There was, however, more than a little talk of what the candidates agree is political rot.

"The fish stinks from the head."

That’s Richard “Mad Dog” Caligiuri……a hamburger stand operator from Pennsylvania…….He says if left unchecked, so-called professional politicians will run the country into the ground……Fellow democrat Michael Skok of New York cited different threats—atheistic evolutionists, Islamic terrorists, and red China
It is my opinion that the next president will be the last president and that this country will not have much more than four years..

"In the meantime, Hugh Cort of Alabama --- who boasts of being the number 9 republican in the country – says Americans need to concentrate on national security and stop worrying about man’s contribution to global climate change. Mars has polar ice caps just like we do and they’re ice caps have been shrinking just like ours have been shrinking. And and guess what? There are no cars on mars."

While global warming split the candidates, hopefuls from both parties were lockstep that the current tax system needs to be scrapped. Most proposed replacing the IRS it with a national sales tax…….Republican Albert Howard, a Michigan limo driver, went that one better.

"I would have absolutely no sales tax and no income tax, and I would replace it with nothing."

Immigration – perhaps the most divisive issue facing mainstream candidates this year – also prompted it share of modest proposals. Again, “Mad Dog” Caligiuri.

"I don’t know who talked us into give us your tired, your poor, your wretched excess -- I say give us your rich and your smart and you tall good looking blond women."

A look at past election results shows that it’s a rare fringe candidate who pulls more than a few hundred votes…..…..But as longshot as these guys may be, the state’s top election official, Bill Gardner brought the night to a close by invoking 1976, and reminding them that anything remains possible.

"We’ve had had another candidate who came like some of you have -- relatively unknown, and came from Georgia, and ended up winning this primary in a way that was unexpected, and went on to become President."

But Jimmy Carter never had the luxury of participating the in the fringe candidate’s debate..