In an average year, about 220 people file the necessary papers with the FEC to become "candidates for President." Of course, they are delusional nonentities, like most of the 135 candidates for Governor of California.
In 1976, because my name was in a lot of papers as an expert on election law, I got a call from one of those delusional presidential candidates. It was AFTER the election, but the Electoral College had not yet met. This gentlemen called me from a Texas mental hospital, which was his current residence. (I am NOT making this up.)
His question was, "If God touched the hearts of the Presidential Electors, can't they elect me, even now, as President?" I informed him that the Electors were bound by state laws to vote as pledged, and the attempt to vote otherwise would cause them to be replaced. I was gentle, because I knew he was crushed that his chance to be President had just slipped away.
There is, sadly, an ample suppply of such people in every Presidential election -- and more than a few others in all other elections. Candidate self-delusion is so common that it ought to have its own definition in the PDR textbook. LOL.
John / Billybob
