Patrick Lee isn’t a Senate candidate who’ll easily be forgotten.
And it’s not his campaign ads, promises, scandals or platform that makes him so memorable.
It might have something to do with the can he lugs around handcuffed to his wrist. Or the florescent, lime green running shoes he wears to interviews.
Lee, who impersonates historical characters such as Daniel Boone, Thomas Jefferson and William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) plans to file as an Independent for the U.S. Senate on July 19, the first day write-in candidates can register.
He doesn’t expect to get many votes, but says he wants to influence the discussion, in the senate race and others.
His campaign approach is offbeat, but he’s neither unqualified nor a kook. Lee is using his own savings to run for office, and on a recent afternoon he visited Concordia, Carrollton and Higginsville before sitting down for a brief discussion at the Excelsior Springs Standard.
Lee didn’t just drop in unannounced, but called several days in advance to ask what day and time might work best for an interview. That itself is rare – and certainly considerate – and Lee pledged to take just nine minutes of an interviewer’s time.
When he arrived – carrying a can with the crossed-through slogan “Kicking the Can” – about the first thing Lee did was hit the stopwatch feature in his phone. Nine minutes it would be, he said.
The University of Missouri graduate – he studied history, preparing to teach – then used his phone to note that the country’s debt had just reached 19 trillion, 114 billion, 126 million and 826 dollars.
“Congress has been kicking the can for years,” Lee said. “One of the issues Congress hasn’t done anything about is debt.”
Lee is exasperated to see the debt issue and others put off indefinitely – a symbolic can kicked down the road by members of Congress.
“I understand the unlikelihood of my chances in this election,” said Lee, 65, who’s likely to face, among others, the incumbent, Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, and current Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat. “That’s what I want to do is influence what is discussed in this election.
“If I can get enough people asking pointed questions of office holders and candidates, I think then I will be influencing the debate.”
Lee has a Web site – www.patricklee.com – one he says reflects his self-financed, homespun approach to publicizing his campaign.
“It’s the most boring Web site you’ll see, but I’m paying for it out of my pocket and it would’ve cost me $2,000 to make it more colorful,” he said.
At the moment, the Web site is devoted to Lee’s career as a presenter of historical characters.
To read more, please see the Friday, April 1 issue of The Excelsior Springs Standard