Candidate Says He's Eager To Stand Out In Crowded GOP Race

Cox Touts Business Expertise
by Mike Rosier
Index-Journal staff writer

McCORMICK - Little-known Republican presidential candidate John Cox, of Illinois, understands why he is often passed over by the mainstream media - but that doesn't mean he has to like it. That understanding, which says he is not one of the viable mainstream Republican candidates for president, he agrees with wholeheartedly.

His Web site touts Cox as "the only real conservative running for president." And yes, he goes out of his way to distance himself from the larger names and bankrolls out there - men such as Mitt Romney, Rudolph Guliani and John McCain - because he thinks they've dropped the ball as Republicans. "I'm a businessman," Cox said Wednesday before addressing the McCormick County Republican Convention. "I have to solve problems to survive. They work for the government. They have the government write a check to survive. They're used to having the government bail them out. "If I don't (solve problems), I'm out of business. Unfortunately, they just put more money up, and they're very good at doing that."

And Cox is correct about his being ignored by the media "big boys" - the Washington Post's Web site doesn’t even list Cox as a Republican presidential candidate. "It's a good thing, being able to meet a lot of nice people and talk about issues and ideas," Cox said of the still-fresh campaign trail. "The good things are that I feel like I'm making an impact and the possibility of making a difference. "There's a little frustration in it too, though. I wish the major media were covering what I'm doing a little more. I want a true conservative. "I'm in this race to represent that Republican activist disappointed by the Bush administration, that's fed up with the results and disappointed and understands why we lost the majority. I look at the other (Republican) candidates, and they are part of the same hypocrisy."

His travels have brought him to the Palmetto State, which he says he has grown to love in the short time he’s been here. "I'm an old guy," Cox said. "I'm 51. I love South Carolina. I like the people, the weather, and they have some real good golf courses down here. At some point and time I may end up retiring down here." But that won't be anytime soon if he can help it. He has too much of a gap to close - even within his own party. Still, this presidential candidate feels he can do it. "I'm not a career politician," he said. "I'm a businessman who has had to get things done in the private sector. I’ve had to deliver results. The other guys are real good at pointing fingers. John McCain has never even run a hot dog stand. Most of these guys have never drawn a paycheck from anyone but the government. It doesn't make them bad people, but they don't have the perspective of the average American. "Romney was born into wealth. He can't say that he had to struggle for a living. That makes him somewhat detached from the average American's struggle. He clearly had to do things to be elected governor in Massachusetts. (Cox claims Romney went soft on abortion.) Consistency is something to be valued and not something to be cast aside."

Cox, the son of a single mother, is married and has four daughters. He worked as a member of Jack Kemp's campaign in 1988. "I'm not from the establishment; I'm a fresh face," Cox said. "Remember Ronald Reagan? A lot of the Republican establishment hated him. The people loved him. And he made a pretty good president. You have to reform the party from within, and that what I'm here to do."

In the end, Cox says he is vastly different from any of the Republican candidates - and he very much likes it that way. Cox received a modest ovation from a modest crowd of McCormick Republicans following a 15-minute speech. He knows the race will not be won in this tiny, rural South Carolina town, but he also knows every campaign has its own baby steps to take.

Cox says he's willing to take those steps free of the establishment. "I worked for George Bush and got burned," Cox said. "I spent a lot of money, and he hasn't governed like a conservative. He's better than Al Gore, I'll give him that, but you know what? I don't just want the better of the two evils. I want a choice that's going to get the job done. Do you think that Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney or John McCain are that much different than George Bush? I don't think they are."