| Wayne Allyn Root | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 20, 1961 Mount Vernon, New York |
| Political party | Republican (until 2007), Libertarian (2007-) |
| Spouse(s) | Debra Root |
| Children | Dakota Root, Hudson Root, Remington Reagan Root, Contessa Root |
| Occupation | TV celebrity, producer, author, CEO, politician |
| Religion | Jewish,[1] Born again Christian[2][3] |
| Website | Root for America |
Wayne Allyn Root (born July 20, 1961) is an American politician, entrepreneur, television and radio personality, author and political commentator. He was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. In June 2009 Richard Winger wrote he was the front runner for the 2012 Libertarian Presidential nomination.[4] Root began his career as a professional sports handicapper, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
His political talk radio show,W.A.R: The Wayne Allyn Root Showis broadcast in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Root is a frequent guest on several nationally syndicated radio shows such as Savage Nation, The Jerry Doyle Show, and Mancow's Morning Madhouse. He has also made numerous appearances on various programs on the Fox News Channel. He is a frequent speaker at Tea Party events across the United States.[5]
Root's political columns appear in the Las Vegas Review Journal[6] and at Newsmax.com.[7]
At the 2008 Libertarian National Convention, Root was eliminated on the fifth ballot in a bid for the presidential nomination, and subsequently became the vice presidential candidate alongside Libertarian nominee Bob Barr. Root lost a bid to become National Chair of the Libertarian Party at the party's 2010 Convention.
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Root was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of the late David and Stella Root. His father was a butcher from Bronxville, New York, who dabbled in third party politics as one of the original founders of the New York State Conservative Party.[8]
Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as President Barack Obama).[9]
He has been married to Debra Root for over 17 years. The couple have four children: Dakota, Hudson, Remington, and Contessa.[10]
Root's TV handicapping career began in New York City on WNBC radio (now WFAN) in the early 1980s. He moved onto NBC "Source Radio Network" syndicated around the country in over 100 markets as a sports talk host. He later became one of the youngest anchormen and national TV hosts in America from 1989 through the early 1990s on Financial News Network (FNN), now known as CNBC.
Root is Founder and Chairman of Winning Edge International Inc.[11] In the 2000s, he hosted Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge, a television show which promoted Root's sports handicapping operation.
Root was the creator, executive producer and co-host (along with HBO's Max Kellerman) of King of Vegas on Spike TV.
Root is the author of several books, including The Zen of Gambling,The Joy of Failure!, The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling, Millionaire Republican, and The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts.
Root is spokesman, board member and Senior Economic Adviser to Wealth Masters International ("WMI"), a global financial services and education company based in Houston, Texas.[11][12] Norwegian authorities have suspended WMI's sales, finding it to be an illegal pyramid scheme. Root is named in the finding.[13] Root has partnered with Kip Herriage of WMI and Gerald Celente to create the "Crashproof Prosperity Investment Newsletter".[14]
Root was a longtime Republican Party member and supporter who self-identified as a Libertarian Republican. In 2007, Root ended his association with the Republican Party and joined the Libertarian Party.[15] He authored a book on his libertarian views, The Conscience of a Libertarian, which was published in 2009.[15]
On May 4, 2007, Root declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination on Las Vegas' Fox 5 television station.[16]
On February 5, 2008, he placed second in the Missouri Libertarian presidential primary with 18% of the vote (47% voted for "Uncommitted"). He came in second in Arizona and third in California, without campaigning in any of these states.[8]
On May 25, 2008, Root made it to the fifth ballot of the LP presidential nomination vote at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention before being eliminated and endorsing Bob Barr, who went on to the party's presidential nomination. Root then became the LP vice presidential nominee, securing the nod in the third round of voting for that nomination.[17]
In September 2008, Root offered to give up his VP slate on the Libertarian ticket to make room for Ron Paul, as the LP had received feelers that the former Republican presidential candidate may have been interested in getting on a strong third party ticket, as there remained a strong following behind him. Paul declined the offer, and denied any intention of running on a third-party presidential ticket.[18]
In 2010, Root ran for the position of Libertarian Party National Chair. His candidacy was endorsed by his running mate on the 2008 Libertarian presidential ticket, Bob Barr,[19] and by the Party's first presidential nominee, John Hospers.[20] He was defeated by Mark Hinkle by a vote of 228-281 in the third round but subsequently succeeded in being elected to the Libertarian National Committee as an At-Large Member.[21][22][23] In July 2011 Root was elected chair of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee.[24]
Root supports smaller government, reduced spending, reduced entitlements, reduced bureaucracy, dramatically lower taxes, and greater personal freedom for individuals. In the area of education, he supports more parental control, more emphasis on school choice (moving education to the state and local level), and increased competition through vouchers. Root and his wife choose to home-school their children. He is also a strong supporter of gun rights for the individual. Root is a small businessman who believes the 2-party system is built on corruption, greed and bribery. He is a fiscal conservative in the mode of his heroes Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater. He believes most social issues should be determined on the state and local level.[8] Root calls for the repeal of the income tax and favors replacing it, as well as all other sources of federal tax revenues, with a tax on each state in proportion to its population, with each state deciding for itself how to raise its share of the money ,[25] which is mentioned in Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution. This has been called a "State-Rate Tax".
Root holds that "the Iraq war is a disaster". He states the answer is to "use the success of the surge to declare victory and make plans to get out of Iraq as soon as reasonably possible".[26] He also questions Central Intelligence Agency information on Iran, would use "any diplomatic means", including the United Nations, in order to "avoid another war".[27]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Campagna |
Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate 2008 |
Succeeded by Most recent |
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