November 2, 2004

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WILL VISIT POLLING PLACES ALL OVER SALT LAKE ON ELECTION DAY
Late push underway for surprising initial Personal Choice Party campaign


Salt Lake City -- CHARLES JAY, the Personal Choice Party's nominee for president, will spend the final day of his campaign where it all began - in the state of Utah. 

Jay became the first-ever presidential candidate of the PC Party when he won the nomination on May 22 in Salt Lake City. Since then, it's been a matter of making contact with individual voters through his internet presence (http://www.charlesjay.com) and reaching out to disenfranchised groups who, it seems, can only be spoken for by someone like him.

Since he's on the actual ballot in Utah, he's concentrated much of his efforts in that direction, through some coordination with the state PC Party, local adult entertainment establishments (who have put up posters featuring his running mate, former X-rated legend Marilyn Chambers), and whatever publicity he can pick up along the way.

Jay has done some traveling too. He is the only presidential candidate who has campaigned in Utah, generally thought to be a walkover for George W. Bush. "One of the main components to this campaign is that I want to offer people a reason to vote for someone else," he says. "That reason is more personal choice for people and less government intrusion in their lives."

Finances have been rather tight, but Jay's trips to Utah may have made some impact. In the Utah Mock Election, held among some 30,000 schoolchildren in the state, Jay finished fourth behind Bush, John Kerry and Ralph Nader, and ahead of candidates from the more established Libertarian, Socialist Workers, Green and Constitution parties. 

"What was really interesting is that it was a process by which the students would research the candidates along with the parents," said Jay. "So hopefully a lot of parents, who are going to be voting, became more familiar with my candidacy."

Whether the Mock Election is a harbinger of what's going to happen on Tuesday is unknown. "I'd take a fourth-place finish in this race," he says. "If I could get more votes than all those other third-party movements, in the state where I am head-to-head with them on the ballot, it would be an encouraging sign for what this candidacy could accomplish on a nationwide basis."

While Chambers is fulfilling a commitment to some last-minute radio appearances, Jay is bolstering the material on the campaign website, and answering the multitude of requests for campaign buttons and other memorabilia. He will also be in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, making the rounds of polling places, shaking a lot of hands, hoping to add that 'personal touch' that could help him squeeze out a few more votes. Just as importantly, he'll be doing what he can to drum up more support for other Personal Choice candidates like Ken Larsen, Joe Labonte, Sarge Froehle, Linda Kelsch, Mark Burnside, Michael Greene and others, as he wraps up what he says has been "the most educational, eye-opening experience of my life, and one of the most rewarding."

Rewarding enough to perhaps try it again in 2008? 

"Well, I'll be thinking about it for a while," he says. "Because we had very little time to truly organize, what this campaign became all about was potential. Do I have the potential to be a good candidate? Do I have the potential to convey a message that could make a difference?

"The answer to both of those questions is 'yes', so stay tuned."