Monday, October 23, 2006

Alabama Gubernatorial Hopeful Campaigns on Cleavage

By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press Writer

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Loretta Nall, the Libertarian Party's write-in candidate for governor of Alabama, is campaigning on her cleavage and hoping that voters' eyes will eventually refocus on her platform.

"It started out as a joke, but it blew up into something huge," Nall said.

Nall, who spoke in an interview Friday on the Capitol steps, realizes that's about as close as she is going to get to the governor's office. But her "anything goes" style of campaigning - including campaign gear showing her smiling in a low-cut dress - has helped her attract attention not normally enjoyed by write-in candidates in Alabama, including spots on conservative radio talk shows and speeches at staid civic clubs.

Nall said that once she gets voters' attention, they eventually notice her campaign platform, which calls for tax credits for sending children to private school and home schooling, opting out of the No Child Left Behind Act, legalizing marijuana, and not complying with the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act.

Nall said one issue in her platform that seems to be getting lots of positive response is trying to withdraw the Alabama National Guard from Iraq.

"When people in Alabama get tired of kicking the ass of brown people, it's time to pull out," she said in her characteristically over-the-top style.

Campaigning for Nall has been difficult.

The Libertarian Party couldn't collect the 40,000 signatures from voters that were needed to get her name on the ballot as a regular candidate, and she hasn't reached the $25,000 threshold in campaign contributions that would require her to file a campaign finance report with the state.

Despite the political handicaps, the 32-year-old with dyed blond hair knows how to get plenty of free attention.

Early in her campaign, she talked about how her misdemeanor arrest for marijuana possession in 2002 caused her to start the U.S. Marijuana Party and become an advocate for decriminalizing marijuana.

Then she entertained readers of her campaign Web site with lots of information about her personal life, including a discussion of why she doesn't wear panties.

Now her campaign is offering everything from T-shirts to marijuana stash boxes adorned with a photo of her in a dress with a plunging neckline and the words: "More of these boobs."

Below that are pictures of other candidates for governor - including Republican incumbent Bob Riley and Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley - along with the words: "And less of these boobs."

Nall, who designed the campaign art work, said the idea came to her after a weekly newspaper columnist wrote about her campaign one week and then wrote an apology the next week for the paper accompanying his column with a picture of Nall that showed lots of cleavage.

Nall said she was offended at first that her neckline was being discussed in the newspaper, but then realized that when a campaign budget runs lower than a neckline, "you have to be outrageous to get attention."

No matter how far back Nall finishes on Nov. 7, that won't be the last that voters will see of her. She's already making plans to run against Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in Alabama's 3rd Congressional District in 2008.

"I enjoy this," she said.




Dear Newcomers to the Nall for Governor site....my campaign website is down due to extrodinarily heavy traffic generated from this story. Hang out here on the blog in the meantime or head over to LorettaNall.com and have a look around. Be sure to click "Greatest hits" at the top of the page to read my stories about being a drug policy and prison reformer in Alabama.

For all of you wondering about the shirt and how that design came about, please read this and this and finally this.

You can view the "Flash for Cash" ads free of charge at the following links.
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If you haven't done so recently...please leave a tip in my campaign jar.

If you'd like a shirt or other campaign item with this logo on it you can get it HERE


This story wasn't suppossed to hit until tomorrow, however it is out today. Apparently it has gone global having been picked up by The Seattle Post Intelligencer, L.A. Times, Forbes, FOX NEWS, Washington Post, and the UK Guardian to name a few.

I do not care for the headline although I know it will attract a lot of readers. I have not campaigned on my clevage. Two Alabama journalists decided to discuss my anatomy instead of my platform and I responded that we will talk about boobs if they like but we will not be talking about mine. The picture they used in the original disucssion which started all of this was never intended to be a campaign photo and they never had permission to use it. But...I'm not bitter. Being able to turn the tables on them and interjecting a tad of levity into an otherwise excruciatingly dull political season in Alabama has been absolutely priceless.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it is funny, and I wouldn't apologize or anything...this country has become too politically correct...anyone with half a brain knows you have valid issues you are standing on...I say take the news and run with it!

Welshman said...

Hey Loretta,

The picture you said you did not intend to use in the campaign I found on a Google file photo list. I put it on my blog not knowing you did not wish for that picture to be used.

I will take in down if you wish, and I apologize if in any way this offended you.

As you know I have been talking about issues and not cleavage. And that is the reason for my support for you...the issues.

Just let me know what you want me to do, and thanks.

Martyn

Loretta Nall said...

Hey Martyn,

No need to take the picture down. The picture itself has never offended me. I was ticked back in March when it ran without my permission....but I'd say that's all turned out pretty well.

Welshman said...

Thanks, Loretta. After all, that picture has made its way to a few news outlets, so by now, it is sort of 'part of being in the public view,' as they say in the news business.

Besides, it is a lovely picture of you. And there is certainly nothing there that could be considered inappropriate at all.

And by the way, congrats on all the great news coverage you got today via the AP!

Martyn

Anonymous said...

hello from indiana, wish you well, we are buying a t-shirt to support you..shake this system up..it needs it... how can we help? ....rick and joni..arcadia indiana...

Anonymous said...

If you don't win in Alabama, please come to Washington State. You'd be a lot better governor than our illegitimately appointed current governor...and you're a darn sight better looking ;-)

Anonymous said...

Just stumbled upon your, um - platform. ;) You have my vote from here in Athens, AL!! Thanks for the laugh - go get 'em.

Anonymous said...

Kind of a shame that the only way I discovered your campaign is because of an article in the UK about your boobs. After reading your website, you seem to make more sense than most Rs and Ds. You'd have my vote if I was in AL, but I do plan to vote for some Ohio LPs that managed to get ballot access.

mel said...

if only i didn't live in california and lives in alabama instead, i would so vote for you.

i think it's stupid that booze is legal, and it makes people do more violent things than pot does! plus, legalized pot could be taxed, thus creating a revenue for the government.

Anonymous said...

Pro pot and guns, my kind of woman and candidate. Seriously though, this country needs fresh faces in the game. The old "Boob" politicians are too comfortable. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

just heard you on the radio in Tampa FL... wish you were running here! I am a conservative, but many of your ideas make a lot of sense. good luck !

Anonymous said...

i haven't regretted moving out of alabama for the last ten years....but today i did. you would so have my vote, cleavage or not. yes, sad that it's taken sexism to get you attention, but you sure turned it.

cool. sent you money, hope more do.

e~

Anonymous said...

Hey good luck Shake up them good old boys down in Captial, They need a good shake up

Anonymous said...

I was born in Alabama, but now I live in NJ. I wish like hell you would come up this way and straighten this state out. Awww, never mind. I am moving back down south! Love the shirt-Good Luck!