Candidates Focus on Alphabetization, Segregation
Oct. 17, 2004 — -- With all eyes fixed on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, some may forget that there are other candidates, and other important and bizarre elections going on across the country.
During the presidential debates, Americans had the opportunity to hear what President Bush and Sen. John Kerry think about a slew of foreign and domestic issues. But one issue neither candidate has taken a stand on is alphabetical equality.
Tom Zych is a presidential write-in candidate running on a platform to "end the tyranny of alphabetical order."
"With a last name that ends in Z-Y," Zych said, "I spent many years in the back right hand corner of classrooms, at the ends of lines."
Zych also believes he has the answer to what ails the economy -- national double coupon Thursdays.
In Tennessee, John Hart, a Republican candidate for Congress, is running on a platform of racial segregation. Embarrassed GOP leaders are encouraging the party faithful to vote for his rival, a write-in candidate.
Former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry is back in D.C.-area politics. Barry is running for city council, and is considered a shoo-in for the fall election.
Barry is perhaps best known for a 1990 videotape, where FBI agents busted him while he was smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room.
Election watchers note his favorite campaign pitch seems to be asking female voters if they're single.
In Oklahoma, a third-party threat is raising eyebrows in a hotly contested Senate race. One poll gives candidate Sheila Bilyeu 6 percent of the vote. That's despite the fact that she lives in her car and claims that the government has implanted a radio device in her head.
And in Rabbit Hash, Ky., they're keeping things simple and sticking to the two-party system. This year's mayoral race features Republican candidate Higgins the Donkey going hoof-to-hoof against his chubby rival, LuLu the pot-bellied pig.
ABC News' Tamala Edwards and Jason Potts contributed to this report.