Cox Raises $8,385 in Third Quarter, Spends $12,480

The Third Quarter fundraising and expenditure numbers are out for John Cox's fringe presidential campaign, and it doesn't look good. (read the full PDF here.)

The bad news is that Cox is still and ultra-fringe candidate with little public support.

The good news is.... um... well, he raised more than he did in the last quarter, $1,410.

Cox raised $8,385 from individuals, and loaned himself another $90,000.

He ends the reporting period (10/15) with just $1,963.63 on hand, truly a shameful figure for a presidential campaign. But then again, we have to remember that it's really an ego trip, not really a campaign at all.

Here's some breakdowns of his fundraising for this quarter, which came from a grand total of 21 contributors:
Raised in June: $50
Raised in July: $5,735
Raised in August: $2,375
Raised in Sept: $225

Some facts about these donors:

• Most are retirees (his campaign seems to feed off retirees who think he's a legitimate candidate, or feel sorry for him)
• 11 (half) are from Illinois.
• Two gave the "max", $2300. One was a pathologist from Illinois, the other was an attorney from Illinois.
• The lowest contribution was for $5, from a Chicago retiree.
• The head of the Chicago PR firm Cox hired to gin up some excitement about his flagging campaign pitched in $1,000.
• A Cox relative (named Cox) from Florida gave him one of the two $1,000 donations. He also received a $500 and a $25 donation from Florida. It's unclear if these are from relatives too.

Early state round-up:
Total raised in first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa: $10 (yes, TEN)
Total raised in the first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire: nothing (Chris Richter, what ARE you doing with Cox's money up there?)
Total raised in South Carolina: nothing

Elsewhere:
Connecticut: $25
Idaho: $25
Texas: $45
Missouri: $50
New York: $25
Nebraska: $50

Total raised since filing with the FEC on Feb. 13, 2006 = $21,901.51
Total SPENT since filing: $1,021,334.62 (yes, that's ONE million+)

Notable expenditure: Cox spent $2,500 for a South Carolina media company to produce an EMBARRASSING anti-immigration video, which featured a "Clone Warrior" from Star Wars in order to make a lame joke that was lost on its viewers and gave rise to much ridicule online.

Like a vampire needing blood but not getting it from the proper source, Cox kept his cold, atrophied campaign from rigor mortis, and infused with cash, by giving it his own life-giving money frequently:
$30,000 on 7/31
$25,000 on 8/22
$25,000 on 9/5
$10,000 on 9/20

It also bears mentioning here that the FEC has made TWO requests for clarifications about "odd" entries on Cox's past FEC filings. One they noted included expenses for "child support" in Texas. On who's behalf was Cox paying child support, and why was it from his campaign coffers? One supposes it was a paycheck withholding for an employee, but still, it's an odd entry.

Cox Humiliated At New Hampshire Straw Poll

Our New Hampshire correspondent, a former Cox operative, says Cox was humiliated again in a straw poll, this time in Manchester, New Hampshire this Sunday.

Cox attended the poll but got only 3 votes out of more than 170 cast. In contrast, Ron Paul got 114 votes to win it. Cox will still likely crow about tying no-show Tom Tancredo and besting John McCain, who got 2 votes, but has also announced that he hates straw polls and won't compete in them.

Ou man on the ground says:

"Cox attended the event, spoke on the stage, and still only got three votes. How embarrassing! One vote was likely from Cox hanger-on Chris Richter, who was at the event, the other from a friend of Chris's who was helping him, and the other was from a woman who was heard (by me) to say, as she voted at the voting station, "I'm undecided, but I'll vote for this Cox guy, because he's the only candidate who showed up." Cox did show up, to his credit, but then ruined it by rambling on and on and on when he had his chance on the stage, prompting one guy to say "When's he going to shut up!" And yes, he started with his scary-crazy, unfunny 'bitch joke' - "I have four daughters a wife and a female dog" - which every paid operative in three states told him to stop using before they quit in disgust or were fired. The strange, out-of-context joke bombed yet again.

A bit of behind-the-scenes drama for your readers: Richter RAN over to an organizer of the event during Cox's rant because he was FURIOUS that one of the bands was breaking down their equipment on stage while his man was speaking on the stage in front of them. Cox was using a microphone, and was nearly yelling (as usual) so it wasn't as if they were drowning him out, but Richter was throwing a highly visible hissy fit in front of the stage because of the indignity of it all. Never mind that a former congressman and a declared '08 candidate for governor had also spoken while two of the bands that performed earlier had broken down their equipment. Cox is FAR too important for that, you know. How sad and pathetic. And typical. Apparently, Richter still worships at the altar of Cox.

Word spread around the event as they asked "What's that all about?" and every Manchester Republican was laughing about Richter by the end of the day. As if what you aptly called his "political suicide note" last week wasn't enough, this killed it for Richter in New Hampshire."

NH Cox Coordinator Writes (Political) Suicide Note

Johnnie Cox's man in New Hampshire, and probable ONLY supporter there, Chris Richter, wrote an amazingly BAD "open letter" to Republicans this past week. In it he condemned state Party Chairman Fergus Cullen for not taking Cox seriously.

After prattling on for about 200 words about his personal history in the party, Richter finally cuts to the chase and starts whining about his man not being taken seriously:

"On September 5th, the New Hampshire Republican Party will co-host the next Republican Presidential Debate. Invitations have been sent out, but once again John has not received one. Of all the debates thus far, we had expected John to be able to get into this debate. The thinking was three fold. First, New Hampshire prides itself on allowing lesser known candidates the opportunity to be heard. Second, John has campaigned in New Hampshire more than many of the other candidates. Third, John has given money to the state Republican Party, many of our local GOP organizations, and has had numerous dinners with State GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen. Apparently Fergus has no apprehensions to take John's money as a Presidential Candidate, just apprehensions to treat him like one."

Let's stop to digest this amazing statement.

New Hampshire allows fringe candidates to be heard, yes. But it does not guarantee them success. Many candidates in the past have campaigned there, and gotten the standard 300 votes out of hundreds of thousands cast. Going to New Hampshire doesn't guarantee votes, either. One politically active friend of this blog tells me that some have actually MOVED to the state, only to stubbornly remain known as "minor" candidates. (In fact, moving to the state seems destined to make one a "minor" or "fringe" player, because of the stink of desperation they then acquire, he says.)

Richter then talks about an email campaign he initated to get Mr. Cullen to change his mind about Cox. We're certain here at John Cox:The Facts that this amounted to about 20 emails, but we digress.

Richter reports that despite being wooed by Cox at dinner "numerous" times, Cullen's reasonable response to all of these has been:

"Thanks for the note. Hard work alone is not enough to give someone free national TV time. John needs to demonstrate an ability to persuade individuals to support him."

BINGO. Kudos to Fergus Cullen for nailing Cox and knowing that unlike in South Carolina, where Cox simply paid $25,000 and got on the primary ballot, or in Iowa, where he somehow convinced GOP officials to insert his name on the Ames Straw Poll ballot, the state party in New Hampshire showed him that they will not be bought.

Cullen also knows that Cox has not built any kind of base of support in his state, any more than he did in Iowa. He also knows that he is polling at a solid zero percent. That's 1 point lower than Brownback, who's at 1 percent or less in state polls.

Cue the lawsuit against the New Hampshire GOP. It didn't work in South Carolina, though, and it won't work in this case to get Cox on the stage with the REAL candidates.

No-Name Ray McKinney Thrashes No-Name John Cox

Well, the results are in from the Texas Straw Poll and they don't look good for Johnnie Cox. Fred Thompson dominated the event, besting naive son Ron Paul, 266 to 217 votes. Huckabee and Guiliani were a distant third and fourth with 83 and 78 votes, repepectively, followed by Romney with 61.

The rest of the field got the same as Romney combined, split between three no-names, the rapidly fading McCain (8 votes), and Brownback and Trancredo, both getting 6 votes for their tire-spinning campaign efforts.

While Cox is likely to issue a news release BRAGGING about beating these three, he'd better watch out for Ray McKinney of Georgia, who clobbered him 28 to 10 votes. McKinney's speech at the Texas event got rave reviews (at least on the McKinney blog).

Maybe McKinney should start a nasty, hateful campaign of spite against the media for not playing up his great "victory" in Texas against (as he puts it) "Two Senators, a congressman, a lawyer, and a doctor."

Somehow, however, we don't think McKinney would launch such a campaign. It seems like he actually understands that being positive gets results, and that atacking the media wouldn't work in his favor -- unlike Cox.

Results:
20.5% Fred Thompson (266 votes)
16.17% Ron Paul (217 votes)
6.4% Mike Huckabee (83 votes)
6% Rudy Giuliani (78 votes)
4.7% Mitt Romney (61 votes)

2.2% Ray McKinney (28 votes)
.77% John Cox (10 votes)
.62% John McCain (8 votes)
.46% Sam Brownback (6 votes)
.46% Tom Tancredo (6 votes)
.23% Hugh Cort (3 votes)

Cox Blasted by Human Events Writer

Craig Tufty of Human Events reviewed John Cox's pathetic performance at the Ames Straw Poll:

John Cox: is a good conservative successful businessman but doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s trying to do. He thinks government should be run like a business. (He’s apparently the new Mory Taylor. What is it with these Illinois businessmen thinking they can be president?) Sorry, Mr. Cox, but Washington is a one industry town and it is “politics.” If you want business go to New York and run the NYSE. Cox seems naïve and egotistical. He had maybe one or two supporters in crowd

Wow, he nailed him. It's almost as if he's met him - or worked for him. Except for that "good conservative successful businessman" sop. Truth is, he's likely a pretender in both realms.

Wokette On Cox

I thought I'd post the latest blog posting from the liberal Wonkette here, trashing the John Cox video on immigration - and featuring a Star Wars Clone Warrior - so that when the Cox campaign blogger posts it 6 months from now claiming it's "new" (or worse, "news") I can refer to it here.

It's hard to choose the best response to the Wonkette posting. Read them all, but here's a sample:

"I'm trying to set the whole Cox saga to Stairway to Heaven; here's as far as I've got:

I-in 2004/
Cox got beat bad by Moore/
41-59 in Cook Cou-oun-ty"

"Lost races for House in '00; Senate primaries in '02 & Cook County Recorder of Deeds in '04.
Because MEXICANS took those jobs!"

"As they say, a good way to start a presidential campaign is with a copyright infringement suit." (referring to Cox's use of a Led Zeppelin song.)

Attention-Magnet Cox Remains Fringe Candidate

Despite a pathetic result in the Ames Iowa Straw Poll Saturday (dead last, 41 votes out of more thand 14,000 cast) fringe candidate John Cox said he is continuing his race so he can get some more attention.

As he told KCCI-TV:

"In the straw poll, I think my chances are pretty bad. I'm probably going to be in the bottom somewhere," said candidate John Cox. Cox said a less-than-stellar showing at the straw poll does not mean he will drop out.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy," Cox said.

Cox said he sees the poll as a chance to be seen by national media who flock to Iowa for the historic event, and to get Iowa voters to take notice before they cast a more meaningful vote in the Iowa caucuses.

Those of us who have been following Cox's hopeless, often comical, bid for the White House - after losing three minor elections in a row - can't help but feel sorry for him.

We also feel sorry for 41 people who paid $35 a piece to attend the event, only to vote for such a fraudulent candidacy as Cox's.

Finally, we feel sorry for his business associates, his wife, his daughters and yes, even his bitch dog (it's in his stump speech) all of whom must be very embarrassed by this man's antics over the last 17 months - 17 months that has yielded him very, very little. A few fourth-place finishes at a few poorly attended straw polls, less than 1 percent in the polls (often no mention at all) and now this 41-vote disaster.

It's hard to get inside the head of someone who would put himself and his family through so much for so few results. If he thinks his campaign is "taking off," his has completely deluded himself.

We also wonder how, for someone with $11,000 in the bank at the end of June, Cox could have raffled off an $11,000 vacation. Hmmmm.

Cox Dead Last in Ames Straw Poll

A measly 41 votes went to fringe presidential candidate John Cox in today's Ames Straw Poll, the real test of strength in the 2008 race. Everyone (except these deluded 41 people) now understands that this guy is a fraud and a poeser, and needs to go home to Chicago and leave the people of Iowa (and New Hampshire and South Carolina) ALONE.

Mitt Romney 4516 31.5%
Mike Huckabee 2587 18.1%
Sam Brownback 2192 15.3%
Tom Tancredo 1961 13.7%
Ron Paul 1305 9.1%
Tommy Thompson 1039 7.3%
Fred Thompson 203 1.4%
Rudy Giuliani 183 1.3%
Duncan Hunter 174 1.2%
John McCain 101 1.0%
John Cox 41 0.1%

Latest Cox Video Draws Guffaws

Even for avid Cox-Watchers, the recent video for fringe Presidential Candidate John Cox is a knee-slapper of epic proportions.

With hard-driving rock and a confusing message (is it anti-Illegal, xenophobic and anti-immigrant in general, anti-Union, post-apocalyptic?) and even a voice-over from one of Cox's dreary, Castro-like four-hour speeches, this unintentionally funny video is one of those things that has the Internet chatting. Though nothing good is being said about Cox.

Take a look:




In one scene, notice all of the enemies of border protection. Whoever dreamed up this vieo got them right, I'll grant them that. But they also must have been a Star Wars fan, too, since they included a CLONE TROOPER from the prequels in the upper lefthand corner of the shot:

"Those DAMNED CLONE TROOPERS! They don't want to protect our Borders!"

Did someone think that this was actually a FUNNY video? More to the point, did someone think it was EFFECTIVE, and would win votes in conservative Iowa? It looks more like a racist Whites Only militia group created it.

Cox's latest attempt at drawing attention to himself has, predictably, yielded the same kind of attention he always gets him -- negative attention.

The Huffington Post's Cliff Schecter gets in his digs, so does South Carolina's Palmetto Scoop, which opines:

"It seems like Cox is presenting this as some sort of cry for help for America. But it’s more
likely that this is a cry for help for Cox: 'Hello? My name is John Cox and I want attention.
Will somebody please acknowledge my existence?'"

The Shot, more indelicately, headlines the video: "Rock out with Your Cox Out."

Droning Cox Speech Not Anticipated

Iowa columnist Todd Dorman has a hillarious column discussing (hypothetically) what will happen during the day of the Ames Straw Poll, including the speeches by presidential candidates. Pay special atention to what he says about Cox. He nailed it.

• 12:45 p.m. – Candidate speeches:
• Mitt Romney – “Fake Left, Run Right and Cross the Goal Line to Victory”
• Tom Tancredo – “Good, Heavily Armed, Very High, Razor-Wired, Fully Electrified Fences Make Good Neighbors.”
• John Cox – “A Good Time to Head for the Concession Stand.”
• Ron Paul – “Hey, Don’t You Dare Groan When I’m Talking to You.”
• Mike Huckabee – “I’m Reasonable, Articulate, Conservative, Smart and This is Probably My Last Speech as a Candidate.”
• Duncan Hunter – “Geez, Quit Checking Your Watches.”
• Tommy Thompson – “I’ve Been to All 99 Counties, I Ate 127 Tenderloins and I Know How to Pronounce Nevada. You Owe Me."

One Vote for Cox in Crawford County Straw Poll

Crawford County Republicans held a Presidential Straw Poll at their Crawford County Republican Fair Booth July 19-22, 2007. Results over the four days were as follows:

34 Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin
25 Mitt Romney, Massachusetts
17 Fred Thompson, Tennessee
15 Rudy Giuliani, New York
10 Tom Tancredo, Colorado
9 John McCain, Arizona
3 Sam Brownback, Kansas
1 John Cox, Illinois
1 Mike Huckabee, Arkansas
0 Duncan Hunter, California

To Cox's credit, he got about 12 votes in the Madison County Fair straw poll this past weekend. Of course, his Website is touting exaggerations to make this seem like a bigger victory.

They say Romney got 50% of the vote, Tommy Thompson got 23% and Cox got 12%, along with Huckabee and Brownback.

In fact, about 150 people participated in this totally unscientific "drop by the booth and vote" survey, with Romney getting 50 VOTES (or about 33%) and Thompson (IowaRadio.com says FRED) getting 25 votes. That means, if we're consistent here, Cox got about 12 votes, not 12%. Not bad, given the erratic and bizarre nature of this candidate.

Which means we have more work to do exposing this loon for the egomanic he really is, so another 12 people aren't fooled into thinking he's a REAL candidate.

Local Reporter Unloads on John Cox

It's not often that a small town reporter opens up and explains his initial reactions of their meeting with fringe candidate John Cox, but the reporter for the Mapleton Press unpacked his reflections and impressions of the $13,000 Man when he popped into a pizza parlor and blathered on and on and on and on to the three unfortunate people there.

Here's part of it:

Seems he told the Sioux City Journal that he's "No Barack as far as drawing crowds," [NOTE: Another WILD understatement!!!] but that's not going to stop him. Traci, Pete, their son and I were the only three people in the place. He rattled on about how we could win in Iraq if we could just have their power on for more than an hour a day and then zeroed in on me, like I'm gonna give him SO much publicity and it will be SO positive.

He goes on to unload on the "FairTax," one of the stupidest ideas ever conceived, in his view. And perhaps he's right. Although former Cox staffers have told me that Cox gives the most convoluted explanations of this proposal of any candidate. Either way, Cox sure made a BAD impression on this guy.

Another Bizarre Quote from Fringe Candidate Cox

Wow, what a bizarre quote Cox spewed out when speaking recently to a RECORD NUMBER of Iowa voters (uh... five of them.) Here's how the Des Moines Register reported it:

At Ryan's Family Steakhouse, 1900 N.W. 86th St. in Clive on Tuesday, there was only one sign on the door to let people know where to go to meet the man who would be arriving shortly.

And he was not a Republican presidential candidate.

"The luncheon for Niels Anderson is in the back room," read a sign just inside the restaurant's doors.

There was no mention of where to go to meet John Cox, 51, a certified public accountant and former executive officer of Jay's Foods from Chicago who is running for president.

Cox in March 2006 became the first person to enter the race for the 2008 Republican nomination for president.Cox, who will be participating in the Aug. 11 Ames straw poll, was not invited to a Republican debate at Drake University scheduled for Aug. 5. [NOTE: Because he is a nut case.]

But the longtime Republican activist is not deterred. He touts support as the top choice of 1 percent of likely caucus participants in a poll taken May 12-16, the same as Duncan Hunter and Jim Gilmore - who has since dropped out of the race - and more than Ron Paul.

"I may be at 1 percent, but relative to my name recognition, my poll numbers are pretty good," Cox said. [LOL!!]

The Clive event was his third of six stops in Iowa on Tuesday; he plans to hit seven more today.

Two of the five people who came to hear Cox speak said one thing in particular may be holding the candidate back."He doesn't seem to have the experience in government you'd expect from a candidate," said John Strong of West Des Moines.

No experience? No kidding.

Cox Raises $5 in Kansas, Blog Discovers It

The Good News: The popular Race 4 2008 blog has discovered fringe presidential candidate John Cox!

The Bad News: They've discovered John Cox's fundraising prowess, too:

"I have one small question..."

Presidential campaign donations from Kansas:

Sam Brownback, R, $297,436
Rudy Giuliani, R, $96,450
Mitt Romney, R, $78,150
Barack Obama, D, $76,596
John McCain, R, $45,645
John Edwards, D, $34,327
Hillary Clinton, D, $29,660
Bill Richardson, D, $21,800
Joseph Biden, D, $19,400
Ron Paul, R, $15,355
Christopher Dodd, D, $8,100
Tom Tancredo, R, $4,340
Mike Huckabee, R, $2,800
Duncan Hunter, R, $965
Dennis Kucinich, D, $200
John Cox, R, $5
Source: Federal Election Commission

My Question is….
Who let John Cox borrow 5 bucks?

Update Question:
Do you think he’ll pay them back?"

Faux Candidate Cox Raises $1,410 for President!

The Fundraising Facts on John Cox, fringe candidate for president, as of the June 30 filing with the Federal Elections Commission:

Funds raised in the 3-month filing period ending June 30, 2007: $1,410 (one thousand four hundred ten dollars)

Cash on hand at end of June 30 filing period: $11,354.61 (McCain's starting to look VERY successful at only $2.4 million, isn't he?)

Here's what Cox's increasingly sinking campaigned raised, by month:
Raised in April = $780 (includes one $500 donation)
Raised in May = $620
Raised in June = $10 (ten dollars on June 15, the final donation of the period)

Early primary/caucus state strength, measured:
Raised from Iowa = 1 donation of $50 (state coordinator Steve Huff, you're fired.)
Raised from New Hampshire = 1 donation of FIVE dollars ($5) (state coordinator/national coordinator Chris Richter, you're fired.)
Raised from South Carolina = two donations totalling $110 (state coordinator/national communications director Dan Herren, you're fired.)

Total raised since filing with the FEC on Feb. 13, 2006 = $13,515.51
That's 502 days, a total of $13,515.51, meaning $26.92 raised per day.

Loaned to the campaign by the candidate:
In this period = $160.803.75
Since filing with the FEC = $940,779.55

Most curious expenditures in this filing period:
$2,000 to the NH state Republican Party for "Debate expenses." Cox was not allowed in the June 5 debate, because he's polling at zero percent.

$600 to U.S. Dist. Court in Columbia, SC to sue the SC GOP in Federal Court in a failed attempt to force them to put him in a party-sponsored debate.

Conclusion:
The John Cox for President campaign? As of July 15, 2007 = 517 days of failure and counting.

Fmr. Cand. Gilmore Bests Cox in Funding

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is out of the GOP race, citing his inability to raise money.

Politico.com reported:

"Gilmore raised $170,000 in the first three months of the year and said he collected $211,000 in the quarter ending June 30, while the leading candidates in the race banked millions."

That's $381,000 in 2007 alone, for future reference.

Now, in reply, fringe candidate for president John Cox's one paid blogger online noted:

"It’s the end of the road for Governor Jim Gilmore who didn’t gain any traction in his bid for the White House."

WTF?

John Cox, who has burned through FOUR campaign managers so far in his 17 month Quixotic Quest for notoriety and fame, has raised LESS THAN $13,000 and has spent over $850,000 of his family fortune on this race. It's gained him ZERO in the polls, and his oft-touted magic in some minor straw polls has run dry recently with a string of pathetic failures in NH and PA.

This $381,000 figure means that in 2007 alone, Gilmore raised 29 times as much as Cox did in 2006 AND 2007 (he began running in Feb., 2006).

Mr. Adam Graham (the aforementioned blogger, writes, without a hint of irony):

"After Gilmore, it’s kind of tough to guess who’ll drop out on the GOP side. It’s easier to guess who’ll definitely be in. Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul, and John Cox would be the only four that I can say with some confidence will be in the race come January."

HAHAHA! LOL!

Yup, those are the frontrunners, Mr. Graham. Keep on dreaming. How much are you being paid to keep John Cox in that list?

Our blog - along with several former Cox staffers - is waiting with great anticipation as the July 15 second quarter filing deadline approaches to see who John Cox fared. VOTE NOW in our poll on the right hand side of this blog to guess how "well" he did!

Cox Creamed in NH Straw Poll, Beats Mickey Mouse

In what should have been a slam dunk for an outsider candidate who attended the event, fringe presidential candidate John Cox was still demolished and relagated to the single digits in a New Hampshire straw poll Saturday.

Our NH contact says Libertarian Ron Paul dominated the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers event in Hopkinton, NH, with 182 votes.

Rudy Giuliani was a distant second with 22 votes, and Dan Gilbert, a businessman for whom former Cox campaign manager Bob Andrews now works, got a respectable 20. Gilbert, like Cox, spoke to the gathering, which attracted 294 activists.

Cox got 4 votes, along with non-candidate Fred Thompson, who did not attend. We expect a press release from the Cox people touting this glorious victory any day now.

Cox beat Robert Haines (a convict from NH who has one homemade sign), and George Phillies, a candidate for the LIBERTARIAN Party's nomination.

John McCain, Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Barack Obama, and Mickey Mouse each got one vote.

One activist who attended said Cox spewed the same rhetoric as he has in other venues. Another, a NH resident, said Cox appeared to be shouting during his rambling presentation ("Why does he shout so much?" he asked, puzzled.)

It's clear that this was a venue well suited to outsiders. If Dan Gilbert, a near-total unknown who has not campaigned anywhere near as long as Cox has, can do so well and convince 20 in the crowd to go with him, then Cox should have, also.

Except for the fact that Cox is a very scary speaker and his loud-mouthed, poorly thought-out rhetoric isn't flying with ANY voters. The people in NH don't see him as viable, and they are not alone.

Full results:

Ron Paul 182
Rudy Giuliani 22
Dan Gilbert 20
Mitt Romney 13
Huckabee 10
Tommy Thompson 9
Brownback 8
Duncan Hunter 6
Newt Gingrich 5
John Cox 4 measly votes
Fred Thompson 4
Tom Tancredo 3
Haynes 2
Phillies 2
McCain 1
Obama 1
Kucinich 1
Mouse (Mickey?) 1

Cox Gets Goose Egg In PA Straw Poll

We expect there won't be any heavily spun press releases issued from the Cox Camp (what's left of it) about the Pennsylvania straw poll held Saturday. That's because Cox failed to place in it.

What? The GREAT John Cox? The SAVIOR of the party? The TRUE REAGAN CONSERVATIVE? It must be the media's fault.

It couldn't be the candidate's fault for failing to spend any time at all in the state in the past 500+ days he's been campaigning for president, could it? Could it be because his PA state chair resigned in disgust well over a month ago because he saw the writing on the wall and realized the campaign was going bust? Both are plausible explainations.

Usually, after every podunk, insignificant straw poll that's held in which Cox draws three or four votes, the world is treated to a ridiculous news release touting his "great victory" over Tommy Thompson and Jim Gilmore, who usually got one vote each, compared to Cox's two votes.

Here are the results of the PA poll:

87 Guiliani
40 Fred Thompson
12 Romney
10 Gingrich
7 McCain
2 Paul
2 Tommy Thompson
2 Tancredo
2 Brownback
1 Undecided
BIG FAT GOOSE EGG (Zero Votes) John Cox, the Thirteen Thousand Dollar Man*

*That's how much he's raised in 17 months of daily campaigning.

Cox Makes Fool of Self on "Tucker"
Carlson fails to do his homework on fringe candidate

Tucker Carlson winces during Cox MSNBC interview Thursday

GOP fringe presidential candidate John Cox appeared on the Tucker Carlson show "Tucker" Thursday and was grilled by Carlson about the damning Matt Labash expose in the Weekly Standard.

Tucker asked, “You don’t look frightening to me. You look sane. Why aren’t you beating Tom Tancredo or Duncan Hunter or Ron Paul?” Of course, he didn't answer truthfully by saying, "Well, Tucker, I've only raised $13,000 in the last 16 months of campaigning and can't seem to keep staff employeed longer than three months, because I treat them like dirt and trash them all behind their backs, because none of them are as competent as I am." But we digress.

Tucker Carlson then hit hard, asking Cox about his embarrassing fiasco at the Reagan Library debate

“As I’m reading about you, I’m thinking well this guy seems too good to be true. There must be something really eccentric about him that he isn’t getting more noticed. I couldn’t find much this is the only real eccentric thing I read about you and it’s in this brilliant profile of you by Matt Labash of the Weekly Standard. It has you during one of the debates, in California, you’re not invited to the debate, you’re shut out by the press so you stage a one-man debate wh you bsly rep to the questions, your wife hits the mute button on the TV as the other candidates respond and you respond into the camera and post it on YouTube. That’s a little odd.”

YEAH. Odd. Just like this fringe candidate, who snuck into that debate's Spin Room posing as a reporter. Nutty. Carlson then asks -

“Why did they [shut you out of the debates]? I mean it’s not just our network which sponsored that debate, it’s every network that has sponsored a debate. There’s got to be a reason.”

The reason he gave was some nonsense about the Washington DC echo chamber. But the truth of the matter is that Cox is a loon. And MSNBC knows it.

“John Cox. I keep waiting for you to say something crazy, or out of left field," notes Tucker near the end of his softball interview.

Tucker, you just haven't been listening. And you didn't do your homework for this interview.


NEWS FLASH: The latest defection from the Cox camp is his tireless media booker, a professional with a company of his own and a staff of over a dozen whom Cox fired on a whim and was reportedly BEGGING to keep the very next day, to no avail. The booker reportedly said to others that he was, "tired of taking his s**t."

The well-known Chicago-based booker got Cox interviews on CNBC, NBC, MSNBC (including the above Tucker apperance and one other 2-hour/3 appearance gig) and hundreds of radio appearances, many in major media markets like Orlando, Jacksonville, NYC, LA, Dallas and Chicago.

Of course Cox was greedy for even more attention than this, and frequently complained to all who would listen (including ON all the media programs he was on, including Tuckers') about how he was not getting on CNN and other outlets, according to the campaign staffers with whom I speak regularly.

How LOW Can Cox Go (In Fundraising)? Try One Dollar!

The countdown to the second filing period for the presidential primary campaign is upon us, and some candidates cannot wait to tell the world about their success.

Fringe Republican candidate John Cox is not among them.

A former staffer in the campaign (and they are LEGION) tells this blog that he was informed that for the entire month of June, the campaign may likely lay claim to a single donation of just ONE DOLLAR! And that was from an employee of Cox'.

In an email he has seen, the campaign's electronic payment system spat out confirmation of a donation from a paralegal in Cox's law firm, Cox, Oakes & Associates. The amount? ONE DOLLAR. Quite a lot of faith his employees have in him, eh?

To be charitable, my source says this may simply have been a test to see if the system was broken, since my source has heard that we can expect a fundraising figure as low as $200 for the entire quarter. (Make that $201!)

Don't expect that kind of pathetic result to stop the million dollar man from unloading up to one million dollars of his not-very-huge fortune in a vain attempt to demand that the media recognize him as a candidate --- simply because he says so.

(I realize that if Cox now raises $300, or even $1,000, I have helped him lower expectations with this $201 prediction. But unlike fellow Illinoisan Barack Obama, whose team is lowering expectations from $26 to $20 million, a Cox "victory" of $1000 would be pathetic indeed, and inconsequential in the political race.)