WASHINGTON — The election is nearly two years away, but Rutherford B. Hayes is readying his presidential campaign. That's Rutherford Bert Hayes, a 42-year-old Navy veteran who runs a gutter business and is no relation to the nation's 19th president.
Hayes is one of the 76 people who have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to start raising money for the 2012 presidential contest. Their ranks don't yet include high-profile political figures, such as Republicans Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty, former governors who are widely viewed as weighing a challenge to President Obama.
Instead, the early filers are Randy Crow, a North Carolina Republican who is making his fourth White Housebid, and Dennis Knill, a home remodeler from Sedona, Ariz., who can't remember exactly the last time he voted.
Under federal campaign law, they don't become official candidates until they actually raise or spend $5,000, but nothing stops them from filling out the FEC's one-page "statement of candidacy" long before the election.
In the 2008 election, a total 366 individuals, ranging from Hillary Rodham Clinton to a Florida resident named Emperor Caesar, completed the presidential paperwork. That's up from 223 four years earlier.
Asked why he is running, Knill, 56, said: "I don't want to, but I feel that I have to because we have a bunch of idiots in Washington. They are ruining the country, and somebody has to stop it."
Knill, who is seeking the Republican nomination, said he is dismayed by increasing federal regulation in areas such as the environment and health care. He has raised $349, federal records show, and has established a website, friendsofdennisknill.com, to promote his campaign.
Crow, a 64-year-old investor who says he is a descendent of Pocahontas, offers a five-point platform on his website that includes opposition to tax increases and the war in Afghanistan.
He said he has run for public office, from his city council to the presidency, 16 times without success, partly to highlight perspectives he says are missing in partisan politics. Crow appeared on the presidential primary ballot in New Hampshire in 2000, 2004 and 2008, election records show.
"It's not nearly as difficult as someone might think," to run for the White House, he said.
To appear on the New Hampshire ballot, candidates complete a "declaration of candidacy" and pay a $1,000 fee. The hurdle is higher in many other states, such as South Carolina, where candidates who are not endorsed by a political party must collect signatures from 10,000 active, registered state voters before they can appear on the ballot.
Hayes, an independent, said he's concerned about growing federal debt and the United States' standing in the world. "You hear politicians say, 'We are going to have a new world order.' I'm not for a new world order," he said. "I'm for America's sovereignty and the way we live."
Hayes owns a gutter-installation business in suburban Seattle and serves as chief financial officer of Miss Liberty America, a beauty pageant focused on "elite feminine patriots" that is slated to debut in Las Vegas next year. Contestants must know CPR and demonstrate they can handle a firearm.
For his part, Knill acknowledges that his White House bid is a "long shot, but I think I'm going to win. People are tired of politicians."
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