David Koch (candidate)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Born: | 1961 Phoenix, Arizona, United States |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | Presidential Candidate, Entrepreneur |
| Website: | http://www.dave08.com/ |
David Koch (b. August 18, 1961) is an independent candidate for President of the United States. A resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, this is Koch's first run for political office. His running mate in this election is Ken Goldstein.
Koch graduated from Arroyo Grande High School, graduating in 1979. He attended Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo in 1980, and California State University, Northridge in 1982.
After ten years as a photo-journalist at KCOY, KSBW, KOLD and KSTU, Koch opened an art gallery in Salt Lake City in 1994. Koch went on to create a popular informational website on cartoons- the Big Cartoon DataBase- based, in part, on his love of animated films.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, he is married and has one daughter.
[edit] Campaign
David Koch and his running mate have been friends since first meeting in Junior High School at Francis Parkman Junior High School in 1975. Despite their political differences -- Koch professes to have a conservative outlook, and Goldstein balances his outlook to the left -- they have remained fast friends since that time, and often argue their political viewpoints. When they conceived their plans to run for President, they found these differences to be an advantage. Rather than the traditional choice of running mates from similar political viewpoints but different geographical areas, they built their campaign with a team with alternate viewpoints. Koch claims the pair has a strange ability to argue through issues we disagree on and come to common ground. This has become the basis of their campaign- to be open to many ideas from different points of view and to perform a synthesis to what benefits the most people. “Neither left nor right, but what is right” is their slogan, based on their combination of political views.
The pair are running as independent candidates, with no party affiliations. They feel the freedom of not being directly attached to any political party ideology gives them the freedom to combine the best ideas no matter where they come from. By not being tied to entrench political parties, the pair say they can come up with positions that provide real solutions rather than staying the party lines. The pair also sees their lack of political experience as an advantage- it sets them free from obligations to PAC’s and lobbyist groups. They are Washington outsiders. The campaign only accepts contributions from individuals.
