Thomas Walker
Who is Thomas Walker?
Walker was born on March 24, 1968, at Grant Hospital in Columbus, Ohio - the fifth and youngest child of Jerome and Norma Walker.
Walker attended the public school system in Columbus. John Burroughs Elementary School, Ohio Avenue Elementary School, Mohawk Middle School, and West High School. Walker was bussed due to the desegregation court order in Columbus the three years he went to Ohio Avenue-Mohawk.
In Middle School, Walker was on Honor Roll and a member of the Honor Society. At West, he was a member of the Computer Club, Political Affairs Club, Student Council (1 year), Hi-Y (of which he was Vice President and Chaplain), and he was Senior Class President, winning by a vote of 160-140.
During mock elections at school, Walker voted for John Gilligan for Governor in 1974, Jerry Ford for President in 1976, and Ronald Reagan for President in 1984.
Walker was his High School's ambassador for Hands Across America, chaired the Student Council Community Service Committee, helped raise funds to restore the Statue of Liberty, and organized a Space Shuttle Challenger relief fund at his High School.
Walker was selected for Buckeye Boys State, took part in two model senates at his high school, attended Youth In Government at the Ohio State House for two years, and took part in the Close-Up program in Washington D C in 1985.
The first political event Walker remembers was the resignation of President Nixon. The first politician he remembers seeing in person was President Ford. He vividly remembers the bicentennial celebrations of 1976, as well as when the Freedom Train visited Columbus.
Walker attended The Ohio State University, where he majored in History and Political Science, and minored in Philosophy.
At Ohio State, Walker participated in the Reading For Those Who Can't program, joined Frontlash - the student support arm of the AFL-CIO, and joined the Ohio Public Interest Campaign, with which he attended and worked at the Iowa Caucuses on behalf of the Bruce Babbitt campaign in 1988 - where amongst those on the bus to and from Iowa was then Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown.
Walker has always cared about our environment. He took part in Earth Day celebrations in 1990, and has long been a supporter of the Nature Conservancy. His favorite animal is the Buffalo, and he can recall as a youth visiting a large truck with a whale exhibit at Great Western shopping center in Columbus, at the same location where the Freedom Train was when it stopped in Columbus.
Walker was married on June 10, 1995. His oldest daughter, Rachel, was born in January 1998. His daughter Victoria or "Toria" was born in August 2000, and he has two daughters, Teresa and Julia, who are expected in March or April of 2004.
Walker has been a volunteer for political campaigns by Ronald Reagan, Bill Moss, Bill Buckel (who he was campaign treasurer for), Judge Richard Letts, Bruce Babbitt, Jesse Jackson, Gene McCarthy (who he was a Presidential elector candidate for), Jerry Brown, Ray Rollinson (who he was state campaign chairman for), and John Anderson.
The politicians Walker has seen in person include the following: Jerry Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Mike Dukakis, Jerry Brown, Alan Simpson, Sherrod Brown, John Glenn, Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kucinich, Chalmers P. Wylie, James A. Warren, Lenora B. Fulani, Dana Rinehart, Bill Moss, Bill Buckel, John Rosemond, James Rhodes, Richard Celeste, Tom Kindness, David Jackson, Janet Napolitano, Jack Gargan, Tonie Nathan, Dick Boddie, John Hospers, David Bergland, Ed Clark and Ron Paul.
Walker joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W. - The Wobblies) in 1991.
Walker has at different times been a registered Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist and Prohibitionist. In 1993, he was a non-voting delegate to the Libertarian National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.
At Our Campaigns, Walker, known as the "5th Horseman of the Apocalypse", has been registered as Independent, Populist and Reform before joining the Reform Party last December.
Unless Walker is mistaken, he was the only person in Glendale, Arizona (a city of over 200,000) to vote for Howard Phillips for President in 2000 - as Phillips ran as a write-in candidate in Arizona.
Walker has lived/worked in Ohio, Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Georgia.
He lists his favorite President as James A. Garfield. His favorites who did not win include William Jennings Bryan, Robert LaFollette and Ed Clark.
His favorite movies include The Wizard of Oz, and anything with Lillian Gish or Charlie Chaplin.
His favorite books are the Heroes of the Faith series from Barbour Books.
Walker enjoys most types of music. His favorites include Johhn Cash, June Carter Cash, Mother Maybelle Carter, Peter Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and Dion DiMucci.
In sports, Walker cheers for the Buffalo Bills in football, and the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball. He also likes NASCAR auto racing, and Darrell Waltrip is his favorite driver of all time.
Walker is a Christian. After being a diabetic for 18 years, and being on dialysis for 6 months, Walker received a kidney-pancreas transplant in April of 1998, eliminating the need for dialysis as well as eliminating the diabetes, and extending his expected lifespan by around 30 years.
Thomas Walker is back this election cycle, making a second run at the Our Campaigns Presidency. With the excellent running mate of whom there aren't enough superlatives to describe in Dave Jones, Walker promises to be a force to contend with. He states, "A vote for us is a win for us all."
