User:Citizen/presidential campaign, 2008

Trash collector, 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year, and wikipedian, Uga Man launched his write-in Wikipedia Party campaign for President of the United States on December 23, 2007 at 22:46 (UTC). He cited the issues of education, infrastructure and space exploration as the main reasons for his run. The candidate previously ran for adminship in May 2007 but fell short of the necessary votes needed to be approved.

Throughout his campaign, Uga Man faced questions about the legality and legitimacy of his run. During his announcement he acknowledged his constitutional ineligiability to be president because of his age but stated that he was still eligiable to run for the office. The campaign hit a roadblock in March 2008 when attempts were made to terminate the candidacy, but Uga Man vowed to remain in the race, and later won the Wikipedia Primary. Uga Man limited his campaign in mid-March in order to spend more time editing wikipedia following a loss in the Wikinews Caucus.

Announcement
As he entered the race on December 23, 2007, Uga Man announced his plans to "federalize the NBA" under the United States Department of Health and Human Services. His idea was to expand the number of teams, which could be bought and sold by corporations, and to divide them into geographic "sectors" where teams could only draft, sign and trade players who attended colleges and universities in their area. His rationale for the move was that it would increase funding for colleges and universities from corporations looking to improve talent. He claimed that a spillover benefit from the additional funds would be lowered tuition costs for the average student. Uga Man also claimed that the NBA could be expanded into other nations under the same system and improve diplomatic relations. He also revealed plans for a public works project to construct a second interstate highway system for commercial vehicles, for the purpose of safety and economic efficiency. Plans to reform and expand NASA were also discussed.

WikiCampaign
On December 24 Uga Man inquired on the talk page of the wikipedia article United States presidential election, 2008 on whether or nor he should be included. A similar request was made at the talk page of Template:United States presidential election, 2008 on the same day. Within an hour of the posting the name was included on the template until the next day (Christmas Day). While Uga Man was listed as a candidate, an anonymous IP user remarked, "Your not notable enough [to be included] wait until you get press coverage and [an] article will be created with a link to it in this template." When the addition was eventually reverted by wikipedian Yellowdesk with the rationale of no FEC filing, Uga Man discussed the merits of his campaign with the user. He asked where write-in candidates who have not filed with the FEC were supposed to be included on the template. Yellowdesk responded by explaining that to be included on the template one must have filed with the FEC and have "an article about that person in question citing reliable sources [and] surviv[ing]...Articles for Deletion..." After hearing of this Uga Man gave up on his drive to be included on the template and the wikipedia article "United States presidential election, 2008".

On December 26, Uga Man created a campaign sticker and wikipedia userbox, which stated "this user supports Uga Man for President in 2008." It matched other userboxes created for other presidential candidates found at Userboxes/Politics. The newly created userbox was placed at the site on December 27 where it remains today. Respected Wikipedian Lawrence Cohen became the first official endorser of the Uga Man campaign when he added the campaign userbox to his userpage on January 4, 2008. After hearing of the endorsement, Uga Man gave Cohen the first "Uga Man presidential barnstar" on January 8, which applauded Cohen for his "outstanding edits as a wikipedian...[and] designation as the first supporter of the Uga Man campaign." Cohen thanked Uga Man for the barnstar stating, "I look forward to your Presidency, and watch out for those motorcades near buildings with books" in reference to the John F. Kennedy assassination.

On January 3 Uga Man began a movement to be interviewed by Wikinews. After receiving little reaction on the project's main page, he filed a formal request for an interview on January 25. It was later removed by Wikinews reporter TheCustomOfLife on February 2 who described the request as a "mockery of [the] actual interview request process". Uga Man readded his request within hours. From this experience, the candidate viewed the ineffectiveness of the project, and decided to become a reporter on February 14, writing four published news articles for the site. Following this Uga Man's request for an interview was granted to him on March 8 by reporter Zanimum but it was subsequently deleted the following day. Uga Man officially left the site on March 15 due to personal reasons.

On January 19 Uga Man began an initiative to revive WikiMoney from its state of dormancy to help increase constructive edits on wikipedia and to improve the flow of information for the education of the public. Uga Man claimed a reestablishment of the bank of wikipedia would give an incentive for the public to edit, and would present a much easier monetary system for the exchange of facts and ideas. He believed a new WikiProject would be the best way to implement and organize the proposal. Uga Man conferred with wikipedian and Metropolitan State University Professor AxelBoldt, who originally founded WikiMoney on May 10, 2003. AxelBoldt put forth his support for the WikiProject the following day as did two other wikipedians on later occasions. The request remains at WikiProject Council/Proposals

Campaign expands
In February 2008 Uga Man spread his campaign to the streets of South Texas. He began on February 9 in southern Bexar County where he discussed the growing military of Russia, and his plan to ease tensions between the nation and the United States by expanding the NBA into Moscow. He briefly discussed the dissention within the major political parties as they chose their nominees for president, especially the back and forth between former President Bill Clinton and Senator Barack Obama.

On February 23 Uga Man visited manufacturers in the western side of San Antonio where he articulated his support for the practice of fair trade with the nations of China and Mexico. He denounced practices that he believed hurt American industries and led to the trade deficit, devaluation of the dollar, and the outsourcing of American jobs. The next day Uga Man reacted to the news that consumer advocate Ralph Nader had entered the presidential race. He criticized the announcement stating that Nader "...doesn't bring forth anything different than he did in 2000 and 2004." Uga Man wanted Nader to support his write-in campaign but Nader's choice to run didn't alter the candidate's respect for him.

On February 28 wikipedian and Texan Basketball110 inquired about how he could support Uga Man's campaign Uga Man stated that the user could place the campaign userbox on his userpage to show support. After the user did so, Uga Man thanked him for his endorsement. Basketball110 would play a significant role three days later in the Wikipedia Primary where he defended the campaign against detractors. His efforts would earn him the second "Uga Man Presidential barnstar" on March 2.

WikiPrimaries begin
For Uga Man, March 2008 began with a search for the perfect running mate for his campaign in time for the upcoming Wikipedia Primary. He had previously stated that Ralph Nader was his "first choice" as a running mate but that seemed unlikely after Nader began his own presidential campaign on February 24. Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales became the frontrunner to be Uga Man's running mate on March 2 as the candidate asked him if he was interested in running with him. The request was removed from his talk page by Metros who described it as "nonsense". After learning more about the Uga Man campaign, Metros decided to bring the candidate before the wikipedia community to decide whether or not the campaign should go forward, thus the Wikipedia Primary began. During the primary Uga Man gained the endorsement of Wikipedia Administrator John Carter. Carter was the first administrator to support his campaign. Uga Man ultimately won the Wikipedia Primary on March 11 with over 69% of the total vote.

On March 8 Uga Man traveled to the rural section of eastern Bexar County, participating in a forum where he discussed the possibility of a John McCain presidency and how that might affect his crusade for reforms. Later during a speech at the same location he focused on the importance of limiting nuclear proliferation and how he would secure the nation from threats of terrorism during his administration. Later that day Uga Man was interviewed by wikinews where he discussed his campaign. The interview set off a wave of controversy that prompted the Wikinews Caucus. The interview was deleted and restored twelve times during this caucus and it was deleted for the final time at 15:52 (UTC) on March 9. Uga Man later conceded defeat in the caucus after voters described the interview as "nonsense" and branded the campaign as a "joke".

Uga Man toned down his rhetoric following the defeat, focusing more on "cleaning up wikipedia to uncover the truth" by reverting vandalism, expanding information in articles and improving the flow of information for the American people and the rest of the world on wikipedia.