Dreamer Bets Life Savings On Campaign For Presidency
One day Tom Shellenberg realized that he could take his $80,000 life savings and:
A. Light it on fire.
B. Scatter it off a cliff. Or…
C. Blow it all running for president.
Shellenberg chose C. when his parents, Fred and Vi, agreed to loan him their 22-foot motor home for the summer.
Look out Clinton, Dole and Gramm - the Shellenberg for President campaign is on the road!
“I’ve always been told that in America any kid can grow up and be president,” says the affable candidate, who rolled into Spokane the other day for a press conference at Riverfront Park.
Towing an old Ford Escort behind the Tioga, Shellenberg has embarked on a whirlwind tour of the contiguous 48 states.
He should be finished by the end of August, when his grubstake runs drier than a Death Valley creek bed.
This is the Forrest Gump - “Stupid is as stupid does” - approach to seeking higher office.
Shellenberg, 43, doesn’t have loot enough for an entourage. He’s all alone except for a couple of public relations flacks he pays by the hour to answer telephones back in Colorado.
To fuel his presidential pipe dream, Shellenberg sold the prosperous Boulder, Colo., accounting firm he established nine years ago.
In April, he moved back to Livingston, Mont., so he could launch his candidacy from his hometown.
“I tried to talk him out of it,” says Tom’s Dad, Fred, a retired photographer. “I always give advice, but he always has that faraway look in his eyes when I’m giving it.”
Even Shellenberg’s dear mother figures her son’s chances of success at somewhere “between slim and none.”
He’s put everything he has on the line, adds Vi. “That’s hard for a mother to accept. I hated to see him give up everything he’d worked so hard to acquire.”
Hmm. So what you two are saying is that Shellenberg is stubborn and doesn’t listen to reason. Hey, maybe this guy does have what it takes to be president.
Shellenberg claims to be a Republican, but has no party support. Why should he? The man has never held public office or even tried to hold one.
Being president, he explains, “is something I wanted all my adult life.”
He says he’s as qualified to be commander in chief as Bill Clinton except “there’s no Gennifer Flowers, I’m sorry to say.”
So what makes Shellenberg run?
A burning desire to balance the federal budget, he says.
The divorced accountant came up with a detailed plan he spelled out in “Balance the Budget Now & How, The Silver Lining.” Shellenberg paid $50,000 to research, write and publish this book.
Unfortunately, due to technical problems, the book wasn’t ready in time for his campaign.
It should be out in a month, says Julia Herz, who runs the Shellenberg for President effort from her office back in Boulder.
Some office. During our telephone conversation I heard a dog barking in the background.
“I wouldn’t hook on with any wackos,” says Herz, a bit touchy at defending this lost cause.
Shellenberg isn’t a loon. He’s a sincere man doing something extremely looney.
Too bad Fed and Vi couldn’t stop him. Book or no book, nobody is going to take this guy in a motor home seriously.
Sure, he’ll get a lot of press coverage. Quirky political stories are great summer journalism fare.
At end of the trail, he’ll have a thick scrapbook filled with all the news clippings reporters wrote when the bargain basement candidate blew into town.
Then he can move back to Livingston with his parents and write his second book:
“How I Spent My Summer Vacation and All My Money,” by Tom “I Need My Head Examined” Shellenberg.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo