Earl Farwell Dodge Jr. (December 24, 1932 – November 7, 2007) was an American politician who served as the Prohibition Party's chairman and presidential candidate from the 1984 to 2000 presidential elections and later ran with the nomination of his own faction during the 2004 presidential election.
Early life
Earl Farwell Dodge Jr. was born on December 24, 1932, to Earl Farwell and Dorothy May Harris in Malden, Massachusetts. He attended school until the tenth grade and on July 20, 1951, he married Barbara Regan.
Presidential
During the 1976 and 1980 presidential elections he was given the vice-presidential nomination of the Prohibition Party.
On June 24, 1983, forty five delegates voted to give Dodge the presidential nomination in Mandan, North Dakota, for the 1984 presidential election and on January 3, 1984, he suffered a heart attack, but recovered. He appeared on the ballots in North Dakota, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, and Colorado and as a write-in candidate in Ohio and received 4,236 votes.
During the 1988 presidential election he was given the party's presidential nomination again and appeared on the ballot in Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Colorado and received 8,002 votes. During the 1996 presidential election he appeared on the ballot in Colorado, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Utah and received 1,298 votes.
From June 28 to 30, 1999, around thirty delegates attended the national convention in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, and nine voted to give Dodge the presidential nomination against eight voting for Gary R. Van Horn and the vice-presidential nomination to W. Dean Watkins. He attempted to win the Independent American Party presidential nomination to receive ballot access in Utah, but was defeated by U.S. Taxpayers' Party presidential nominee Howard Phillips and in the general election he only appeared on the ballot in Colorado and received 208 votes.
2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns
During his tenure as chairman of the party Dodge was criticized by members for his financial actions. He avoided paying the Social Security tax on money earned through his involvement in the Prohibition Party by laundering it through the National Prohibition Foundation. In 1999, he sold the party's headquarters for $119,500 saying that he would use the money to build one on his property, but was alleged to have kept the money for himself and moved the party's headquarters to a tool shed.
In 2003, members of the party opposed to him met at a condo in Tennessee and promoted him to chairman emeritus, as a polite way of firing him according to James Hedges. During the 2004 presidential election their faction nominated Gene Amondson under the Concerns of People ballot line while eight delegates