On July 26, a 15-year-old Iowa boy named Brady Olson filed to run for president. Since registering with the Federal Election Commission under a crude pseudonym, Deez Nuts, Olson's joke campaign appears to have spurred an uptick in other less-than-serious presidential filings.
On Wednesday, a Public Policy Polling poll showed Deez Nuts with 9 percent support in North Carolina, resulting in a swarm of media coverage—including some particularly awkward local news segments. On Thursday alone, the FEC posted more than 60 statements of presidential candidacies. Compare that with this Monday and Tuesday combined, when the FEC posted just 12 filings. Or last Thursday, when the commission posted three.
It's incredibly simple to become an "official" presidential candidate. All you have to do is send a Statement of Candidacy, called Form 2, to the FEC office with your name, address, party affiliation, and the office you're seeking. Although this ensures that, at least nominally, it's easy for anyone to run for president, it also makes the FEC an easy target for pranking.
And, as one can tell from some of the more preposterous personal information turned into the FEC lately, none of the information filed by the "candidates" is independently verified by the agency before the filing is posted. If a candidate files Form 2 with "missing or inadequate information," the FEC will send a letter to the candidate. "The letter will request the candidate to submit a new Form 2 within 30 days," according to FEC's official review and referral procedures.
Here is a sampling of the more obviously false campaigns of the 60-plus that were launched on Thursday alone. So yeah, this doesn't include Francis J. Underwood, Queen Elsa, or even Elsa is bae, whose filings were all posted Wednesday.
The inevitable successor to "Deez Nuts." See also the earlier "Sydneys Voluptuous Buttocks."
But really: We wouldn't put it past the American people to vote for everyone's favorite Game of Thrones character. Address listed on the form: Essos St. in Essos, North Carolina.
This is a pretty straightforward one joke candidate that even your dad would likely appreciate. Who do you support for president? Not Sure! Ha Ha Ha. The candidate's campaign committee: Not Sure for President 2016.
To be fair, the captain and commander of the USS Enterprise would probably make for an excellent president. As long as he stays clear of the Borg. Suggested campaign slogan: "Make it so."
Sir TrippyCup aka Young Trippz aka The GOAT aka The Prophet aka Earl
If this person had shortened their name to just "The Prophet," maybe they'd have had a chance.
A tribute to Shiba Inus? An advertisement for Dogecoin ("favored by Shiba Inus worldwide")? We'll likely never know.
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If he wants to corner the Satanist vote, the Prince of Darkness would face stiff competition from at least four other candidates freshly listed Thursday: King Satan Smith, Mrs. Luci Fer, Duke Crantiffinus Adraguizes Poxtificate (of the Committee for Satan's Welfare), and H. Majesty Satan Lord of Underworld Prince of Darkness.
It has been widely analyzed how Washington outsider candidates with zero political experience are getting more play than usual this primary cycle. And while the jokesters above don't have a chance at being the next Donald Trump, they can at least say they're on trend.
Stephanie Stamm contributed to this article
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