The 2008 Presidential Longshots: No Gin Gene Admonishin’ America

We will continue our series looking at the 2008 Presidential Longshots with the Prohibition Party’s (or at least one faction of the Prohibition Party, which had a rancorous split a few years ago) candidate for the 2008 Presidential election-- one Gene Admonson. Where to start with this guy—I highly recommend his website, which double as his campaign on-line HQ and a personal (highly personal) site. Highlights from his include a chronicle on his divorce, his oil panting and wood-carving, a poem about a love boat cruise he took in 1999, and why he needs a wife by winter (seriously, click this link now; his site makes Green Party candidate Kat Swift's Wonderwoman picture look almost stately). He also has a MySpace page. He has one friend (Tom).

Admonson ran for president in 2004, getting over 1,800 votes, which is downright successful compared to Earl Dodge's 2000 run, where Dodge got just 208 votes nationwide. The Rev has appeared on the Daily Show, Oprah, and other TV shows, and has received some press attention (though it seems to be of the kind your crazy uncle with the collection of 1,245 matchbooks from America's finest Tiki Bars would get). He is very upfront about his campaign platform—no alcohol. No economic plan, no plan for Iraq, no healthcare plan, not a damn thing. Just no drinkin’. Admonson is a minister that dresses like a priest and does presentations and protests across the county—including dressing up like the Grim Reaper outside of an Anheuser-Busch brewery and a skit where he impersonates Billy Sunday, a temperance preacher who was allegedly offered a million dollars by the alcohol industry to stop preaching.

In all actuality, Rev. Admonson seems like a really awesome guy. He is very quirky and has a kind of home-spun sweetness and wit that is pretty endearing. He is the longest of longshots, I think, yearning for what feels were the greatest 13 years of American history. Go get 'em Gene. Hope there's a teetotalling foxy lady out there for you.

"Drinking responsibly is like teaching a pig to eat with a spoon. Can't happen."