I'mma Let You Finish

 For this year, to be such an unusual one, this seems like the most uneventful campaign in recent memory.  My intent for this blog has always been to highlight one of three things- unusual stories, musical stories and local stories.

Even with virtual conventions being the norm, the two leading candidates were the obvious ones, and it would be hard to find an  American who hasn't formed an opinion of both long ago.  Nor is it a very musical election.  In a primary that featured musician Pete Buttiegeg, singer Marianne Williamson, and indie rock fans like Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang, not to mention brief musical  diversions like Melissa Ethridge, the Isiserettes drum corps and TikTok, the two parties pick the two least musically inclined candidates possible.

So, Kanye West running for President checks off a lot of those boxes.

He said many times that he would run. At the 2015 VMAs, he said he would run in 2020. In May of 2018, he said he planned a run in '24, mixing the unlikely combination of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.  In both cases, he was talking about a future that seemed like a pronouncement of self-promotion, and the media jumped on it as they have variously considered Oprah or The Rock.  Kanye famously would show up and meet Trump at the White House in a MAGA hat in October of that year. 

On the off chance, you might have forgotten

It was already late in the current cycle, when Kanye would tweet on July 4 that he was running for President in November.

So was he serious?  Well, he held a campaign rally a couple weeks later in Charleston, South Carolina- famous now for his remarks that Harriet Tubman never freed slaves, that she "just had them go work for other white people."

Do people want him to run?  Elon Musk has endorsed him as has football players Dez Bryant and Darelle Revis and rappers 2Chainz and DaBaby.  A rapper did 'run' for President in 2016 sort of, but we can't pull much out of Wakka Flocka Flame's campaign as it was later revealed that the campaign was a stunt put together by Rolling Stone magazine, and though media picked up on the campaign as legitimate (with pro wrestling legend Ric Flair as his running mate) , Wakka wasn't technically old enough to become President in the first place  

These could have been our nation's leaders, but you were playin'

West has a campaign website, though it is mostly generic- more in line with perennial candidate and conspiracy theorist Jeff Boss's website than the cookie cutter websites that are the norm for today.

It lists ten principles (with corresponding quotes from scripture) like justice reform and reducing debt, and has a spot to sign up for the campaign and donate.  Other than this picture and those things, there is nothing else there- no bio, no event calendar, no indepth plans.

 Where's the Dropout Bear?

West's campaign released a campaign video this week, which bizarrely adds Kirsten Dunst into the mix (a mix she didn't want to be part of) 

So what to make of West's run as a member of the Birthday Party (you got to admit that's great, right? I can't find anyone who has used it, but surely someone has)  He doesn't seem to be as active since his rally in July, and his wife issued a mea culpa of sorts after that- asking for compassion for Kanye's mental health saying 'those who are close with Kanye know his heart and understand his words some times do not align with his intentions" .  But the campaign is real enough.

Real enough in fact, my social media went crazy on August 14 as West supporters seemingly descended on Des Moines suburbs gathering signatures to get him on the Iowa ballot.  At least that is what it sounded like on social media.  Aliens would have surely drawn less attention.

I will link to the Iowa Starting Line piece since they are so much better at this, but suffice to say social media went wild as the groups were spotted at malls and big box stores in the area.

A post I read stated as many as 25 supporters were at the local Target.  Surely an exaggeration, but all over, people admitted they had indeed been approached.  Some reports indicated that the West gatherers were also attempting to get Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins on the ballot as well (the ISL article mentions something similar). One account reported that they were told it was to make Trump's reelection chances harder.

In any case, petitions were delivered to the Secretary of State and will be verified.  One report links a West Des Moines lawyer who is a long time registered Republican (though the ISL article quotes him as saying he only dropped them off, and of note, all of his pledged electors are Republicans.  (Similarly, in Wisconsin, an attorney who had worked for Trump's campaign handed in the signatures).

West has submitted petitions to appear on as many as 12 state ballots at last count- a variety of red and blue states.  His popularity seems to top out at two percent on individual state polling so far.