Who the Heck is John H. Cox?

Received my ballot for the Feb. 5th Republican Primary. There's eleven names on the ballot, the names you'd expect, Paul, McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Thompson, Giuliani, plus there are the drop outs who made the ballot like Brownback and Tancredo, there's the local who hasn't dropped out, but probably should have already Hunter, there's Keyes (?), and finally there's John H. Cox.

Who is this fella?

In the age of the internets, it shouldn't be too hard to find out.

He's got a website, he calls himself the only true conservative in the race (doesn't everyone though), and in his bio it says he's from Chicago, is active in GOP politics there, and seems that the highest office he's ever held was either on a school board or zoning board (depending which you consider to be higher). His issues page shows all you'd expect from someone calling himself a 'true conservative'. His positions don't seem much different from Sen. Thompson.

Right now, whether or not South Carolina goes well for Fred (I hope it does, so that he's viewed as a viable candidate on Feb 5th), he still has my vote here in California, he probably won't win my state, Giuliani or McCain most likely will, but Fred is still the man.

Nobody is making any media buys in California yet, on either side. That might be a mistake, absentee ballots are already available, and many folks may have already cast their ballot, or are about to this weekend. Don't cry for the local TV stations though, they are getting plenty of advertising dollars from the Nonpartisan State Measures on the ballot this year. 4 of them, #94-97 are generating the most ad buys. These are lumped together as the "Indian Casino" measures, part of a deal cut by Schwarzenegger to allow an expansion of Indian gaming. I'm for legalized gambling, period. I don't like giving a few tiny tribes a monopoly on the activity, I think it should be open to any community that wants to legalize gambling within their jurisdiction. Just to be mischevious, I'm going to reject 3 of the tribes, but vote yes for the Morongo Indians, I just like their name, and their casinos are easier for me to get to. Still think if our state government thinks it needs the revenue from gambling, then state sanctioned legalized sports gambling could generate an amazing amount of revenue, and could be administered with a minimum of state interference. Most sports bars have a bookie or two associated with them, so just let these folks come out of the shadows and pay taxes on their revenue (and their players would also have to pay revenue on their earnings).

Also, fully legalize pot while you're at it, between not having to incarcerate dealers, growers and users, to not having to pay the cost of interdiction, to the potential tax revenues from the legal sale of the wacky weed, the potential positives from de-prohibition will outweigh the social costs of de-prohibition (see alcohol prohibition for reference). Pressure the federal government to allow a statewide experiment on legalization (Arnold could cut the deal, nobody can say no to the Governator) and watch the state coffers begin to overflow.