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Russell Hirshon
interviewed by Emma Taylor on 19 October, 1995
"I'm not looking for your vote."Russell Hirshon is a 34-year-old bartender in Washington, D.C., and a politician in his spare time. His political career begain in 1990, when he ran for Mayor of D.C., and he is a 1996 presidential candidate -- probably the only one who doesn't really care if he gets your vote.
Tripod: How serious is this presidential campaign?RH: It's probably based on satire. The reality of it is that I know I 'm not going to get elected.
Tripod: So why, then?
RH: Probably voter awareness. It all began based on getting young people more involved in the political system. My previous two campaigns were going to colleges and asking people, "Find me interesting, and then vote for a candidate that you might find worthy." It's developed into a satirical and humorous platform. Hopefully if it gets the interest of younger people, they'll take a closer look at politics in general.
Tripod: Where does all the money come from?
RH: No money is made -- everything I have spent on it, including the posters, is from my bartending tips. That's my night job. During the day I program and at night, for the last fifteen years, I have bartended. Because of bartending, that makes me a very bored person, with all this extra time. And because I'm in Washington, D.C., that's where the political crux of this has come from.
Tripod: Do you campaign from behind the bar?
RH: Yeah, I pass out my little cards with the Internet address, and just yesterday I was down at the White House autographing color photographs and mingling with the people.
Tripod: Have you ever spoken to the President or Vice President?
RH: I've never spoken to them, or met them. At the primaries I got close to them. But I don't want to pass myself as someone other than what I am.
Tripod: Can anyone run for President? How easy is it?
RH: It's very easy.
Tripod: What do you have to do?
RH: You have several choices. One, you can just say you are running for President and I guess the small circle of people you bump into will take it for what it's worth. Or, you can register with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., and if you don't live here, you just call and they'll mail you the forms.
There are basically two forms: you declare your candidacy on one form and on the other, you tell them who your committee is. That's your treasurer and committee chairman. And after signing those and filling those forms out, which is very simple, you mail them back, and you become a registered candidate. And then you're on their official list of registered candidates. What you do from there is totally up to you. The FEC, just for purposes of their own, considers you a serious candidate after spending $5,000, because there are over 250 candidates that run ...
Tripod: Do you have a running mate for 1996?
RH: Well, we're having a contest.
Tripod: I saw that on your Web site, I just wondered if you had found your soul-mate yet?
RH: Well, we have people sending in letters, which you can see on the letters page, but we're just playing it by ear, and weighing carefully.
Tripod: What are you looking for in a Vice President?
RH: Diversity, conviction, energy, and the best part of it is -- whoever wins, we're gonna go visit them and have a big party!
Tripod: Can you tell me a bit about your political career to date?
RH: 1990 I ran for Mayor of D.C., that's when it all started. Because that went so well, I ran for President in 1992 -- that's when I toured with all the colleges. Then Mayor in 1994, so I'm getting good at this.
Tripod: What do the journalists on Capitol Hill think of a candidate like you?
RH: If they were doing a story on alternative activity, maybe they'd consider me, but you wouldn't find it on the Colin Powell update or the serious contenders stage. But it's good alternative coverage for them -- I'm probably less harmful than some of the other alternative candidates.
Tripod: Do you consider yourself a political bartender, or are you a politician who feeds his habit by bartending?
"I'd have to say I'm probably a political bartender. I can't consider myself a politician, yet. Until I'm elected I suppose."
RH: I'd have to say I'm probably a political bartender. I can't consider myself a politician, yet. Until I'm elected I suppose.
Tripod: Are there any serious issues you are trying to raise in your campaign?
RH: There is the debt of course, the budget deficit, social security -- there are so many different things to go into. But the one thing I think that is most important, is the fact that if young people don't get involved, that none of the things that matter to anybody will ever change. So, if I said, "Abortion rights are important to me," -- that would be leaving out some of the people who believe otherwise. People should believe in whatever they believe in, but if they're not active, then a true path isn't going to happen. ... But if young people actually get voting -- you'll see that since 1990, there has been an increase in the voter registration of younger people. If that came closer to 80 percent, or a hundred percent, it would be a massive voting block. Which is good, it's a good thing.
Tripod: Which way do you lean, politically?
RH: I'm liberal.
Tripod: So what do you think of Clinton?
RH: I stand behind any President in office, I don't think it's good to criticize, because that would be too easy. He's had his ups and downs, and I think he should have been quicker on Bosnia. But for me to give my opinion on anything serious -- that doesn't really matter.
Tripod: But you seem to have a strong opinion about the Energizer Bunny -- what have you got against him?
RH: That little guy! He's indestructible -- if we can get the Bunny, then we can get anything. I think humor is the easiest way to approach people. To be quite honest, I'm working at the bar and I'll tell someone I'm running for President. If they're in Washington, it's quite easy to find people who take their politics seriously, and if you do that, sometimes they're offended. They look at me like, "You're running for President? You mean you're picking on the system? Why should I vote for you?" And they expect me to give them a serious platform, or they'll ask me, "What's your stance on abortion?" -- so they can put me in one area or another. But instead of coming back with one view or the other, I just say, "Look, the most important thing is for me to get you to vote for someone that you feel is best, and I do it through humor." Not only do I dress funny, and I look kind of funny --
Tripod: Yeah, I've seen the posters.
RH: And it disarms people, and then I can say, "I'm not looking for your vote, and I'm not looking for your money either." I don't take contributions, I don't solicit them.
Tripod: But your position on the homeless -- is there a serious message behind your promise to make homeless people pay income tax on all the money they collect at stop lights?
RH: I've had some friends who have been homeless, who have gone homeless ... it can go unspoken. Republicans are cutting back funding for homeless programs, it looks like there will be an even greater divide between the rich and the poor. It's just a sad situation to see programs getting cut, like the programs that offer psychiatric counseling to the homeless. Seventy percent or more homeless people have a mental problem.
Tripod: So what's this in your platform about aliens?
RH: Well, that would be the humorous side.
Tripod: There's no deeper message behind that?
RH: The actual message? Well, I saw this program -- boy it was convincing. On Fox. But it goes both ways. If someone's looking for a very serious conversation, I could probably rustle on up. "Russell" one up! And if you're looking for humor, I could probably outdo some of the better comedians, because they're not very funny.
Tripod: Who's your money on for '96?
RH: It's a tough call. I know it's not on Ross! I think it's going to come down to how the parties line up. If Colin Powell goes independent, that could sway a big block of voters away from the Republicans and you could have a tight race between Clinton and, uh, -- even though right now they're saying Colin Powell has got such a huge group, as usual they're missing out on some of the voting blocks. If Bill ends his term strong, if that happens, he may just be the next President again.
Tripod: If you could say one thing to Clinton what would it be?
RH: If I could say one thing? Change his Vice President. Make me V.P.!
Are you interested in being Russell's running mate for 1996? Check out his campaign home page to read what he has to say on Cuban cigars, the Greatful Dead and Senator Packwood:
http://www.magnet.com/russ4pres
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