Craig Tomashoff, a journalist and UW alumnus, wrote a book called "The Can't-idates" about the over 2000 Americans who ran for President in 2016 despite having no chance of winning. He interviewed over 200 candidates, focusing on 15 in his book. The candidates all faced difficulties in life and ran to bring attention to issues important to them or feel empowered. Tomashoff spent extensive time with each candidate, traveling over 10,000 miles, to truly understand their motivations. He found that running for President gave purpose and inspiration to people who felt their voices weren't being heard otherwise.

1. 11/10/16, 2(01 PMEveryone for President | College of Arts and Sciences - University of Washington
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EVERYONE FOR PRESIDENT
H
STORY BY NANCY JOSEPH // NOVEMBER 2016 // PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER
illary Clinton has little in common with Lori Fleming, a woman living in a shack deep in the
Ozarks. Except for this: both are devoted mothers, both have called Arkansas home, and both
filed as Presidential candidates in the 2016 election.
Fleming was one of more than 2000 Americans
who ran for President in the current election
despite having no money, no political experience,
no name recognition, and no chance of winning.
Journalist Craig Tomashoff (BA, Communication,
1982) wondered what motivated Fleming and other
unlikely presidential hopefuls. He set out on a
cross-country odyssey to find out, and shares his
discoveries in The Can’t-idates: Running for
President When Nobody Knows Your Name.
Nearly 200 American citizens had filed as
candidates by March 2015, still early in the
presidential race. Tomashoff, a freelance
producer/writer and former People magazine
correspondent, contacted every one of them by
mail, then spoke to about half by phone. He went
on to interview 25 in person, featuring 15 in his
book.
“The people that made it into the book — all with
different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different religions — realistically knew there was no
chance they were going to win the election,” says Tomashoff. “They just wanted to get their points out,
to be heard. What better way to be listened to than by running for President?”
All of the candidates had faced difficulties in their lives. A Vietnam vet faced endless roadblocks while
seeking medical treatment from the Veteran’s Administration. Fleming struggled to make ends meet
while caring for her severely autistic 19-year-old son. She ran for President to call attention to the
challenges faced by welfare mothers.
SHARE PRINT
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2. 11/10/16, 2(01 PMEveryone for President | College of Arts and Sciences - University of Washington
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“ Who is more patriotic than somebody
who still believes in the system and tries to
use it?
”“The one thing all of these people have in common is that some bad thing happened in their lives and
they saw this as a way to fix it,” says Tomashoff. “Running for president helped them in ways you
would never expect, giving them purpose. That stood out to me when I started analyzing the
interviews.”
Tomashoff spent about five hours with each presidential hopeful, interviewing them on their own
turf. That meant traveling about 10,000 miles in three weeks, from Idaho to Arkansas, Massachusetts
to Florida. He met with candidates in their homes, walked with them down Main Street, and joined
them for beer in their favorite haunts.
“The only way to really get to know anybody is
spending a lengthy amount of time in an
environment they are comfortable in, even if that
means smoking cigars and drinking beer all night
in a biker bar,” Tomashoff says, referencing a
Hell’s Angel he interviewed in Boise. “You want
that experience in order to convey who these
people are. There is definitely a road trip aspect to
the book — the chance to go out and see who is in
this country. I believe that anyone who can take
three weeks and drive around America and see
what’s out there should do it.”
In his conversations, Tomashoff learned that some
candidates had been disowned by their children, or
suspended from work and put on psychiatric leave,
simply for announcing they were running for
President. Yet most were sincere in their quest, not driven by publicity. “I had two of them say, ‘Why
are we looked at as the crazy ones? We’re doing what we’re legally allowed to do. You’re the crazy ones
for not doing it,’” Tomashoff recalls. “A lot of them believe that, and they’ve got a point. Who is more
patriotic than somebody who still believes in the system and tries to use it? These people had more
belief in the country than most of us do, yet we look at them as lunatics.”
Just weeks after completing the interviews, Tomashoff watched his son graduate from high school. He
hopes his son will find inspiration in his book, and — like the candidates — pursue his dreams
regardless of what others think.
“All of us have, in the back of our mind, a crazy thing we think about doing,” Tomashoff says. “Maybe
it’s running for President, or maybe it’s signing up for a dance class. But often we let the worry that
people will think it’s crazy get in the way. These people didn’t let that stop them. They did their crazy
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thing by running for President, and I did mine by writing a book about them running for President. I
hope my son will find the courage to do whatever his crazy thing is. That was the self-discovery I had
all the way along. Ultimately, this book is not about politics; it’s about being yourself.”