Chicago businessman running long-shot campaign for GOP nomination

Aug 10, 2007 3:13 PM
By DENNIS CONRAD, AP

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WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John Cox has mailed hundreds of thousands of campaign fliers, aired radio and cable TV ads and crisscrossed the country to meet voters.

Never heard of him? You're not alone.

Two years since beginning his candidacy and after spending almost $1 million of a personal fortune worth at least $13 million, the Chicago businessman has little to show for his efforts, which include traveling to all 99 Iowa counties and visiting New Hampshire more than some better-known rivals.

Cox, 52, barely registers, if at all, in any noteworthy poll. And he has failed to land a spot in one of the nationally televised Republican debates.

But it's not been for lack of trying.

Cox filed a suit in federal court in South Carolina. It was dismissed.

He tried to get in the reporters' interview room for the California debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Security escorted him off the premises.

He enlisted party chairmen in Iowa and New Hampshire to help him get on last Sunday's nationally televised debate. Nothing happened.

"He defines the edge of what some people might call fringe candidates and the other candidates that people would consider more seriously," said New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen. "There are some people who would say some of the candidates who are elected are fringe candidates."

But Cox said he won't quit, at least not before the early primaries. He paid $25,000 to qualify for South Carolina's January 2008 primary ballot, and sometimes is mentioned in local polls in South Carolina and Iowa as doing better than other candidates.

Iowa Republicans agreed to have his name mentioned in this weekend's straw poll, a nonbinding beauty contest for GOP presidential contenders, and he is also on the home page of their official Web site.

"It's not like I've approached this like one stinking lark," Cox said in a recent phone interview from rural Iowa during which he said he believes he's got a shot at winning.

"Yeah, I actually, really do," he snapped. "You know what? This Republican nomination is wide open."

Cox, president of the privately held Cox Financial Group, said he's running because he's dissatisfied with the GOP's direction, and says as a "progressive conservative" he offers a prescription for what ails the party.

"I don't like what George Bush and Republican leaders have done to my party," he said, citing failures to balance federal budgets and deal with bureaucracy and immigration. "I've seen a Republican leadership more interested in getting re-elected than doing the right thing."

He emphasizes his record as a businessman, tax attorney and accountant who manages $100 million in investors' funds.

"A business person spends every single day solving problems ... putting together a team. ... That's what I have done for 32 years," he said.

"Barack Obama has not even worked for a hot dog stand let alone run one," he added, taking a swipe at the U.S. senator and fellow Illinoisan who's seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

But though he may have succeeded in business - including a role in helping turn around Chicago snack food company Jay Foods in the 1990s - he has failed in several attempts at elected office.

Over the past seven years, Cox has run for Congress, U.S. Senate and Cook County recorder of deeds. One of the two times he ran for the Senate, he bowed out several months after announcing his candidacy.

And though his presidential bid also appears to be falling short, Cox has his share of admirers.

"I've been around them and I've seen them. I know he's got some solid support," said Iowa GOP Co-Chairman Leon Mosley. "'His honesty; he's not a politician,' is what people who like Cox say."

Cullen said Cox comes across in New Hampshire, the nation's first-in-the-nation primary state, as thoughtful, someone who easily could pass for a congressman from another state.

Even a former political opponent acknowledges Cox has his moments.

"There's no question that John Cox is a smart guy," said state Rep. Jim Durkin, who, with a bare-bones budget, defeated Cox in a 2002 primary race for the U.S. Senate.

But, Durkin said, "there's a certain disconnect at the end of the day," with voters. "I just don't know what's motivating John. Apparently, he has a lot of time on his hands."

But Cox said after running a business, raising a family and starting and helping to run charities, he wants to do more.

"Why am I running today? Because I realized we need change," he said. "People misjudge me and think I'm just desperate to hold public office."