William "Bill" Lowry (Michigan)

Bill Lowry started his 2004 Presidential campaign in the America First Party -- the entity founded by the "Buchanan Brigade" folks who broke away from the Reform Party in 2002. But, when the AFP imploded in 2003, Lowry quickly jumped to the Constitution Party to continue his conservative campaign for President. Lowry is a "Born Again" Christian, a divorced father of two children, a "Chartered Herbalist" and touts 25 years experience in various business and sales managerial positions. As for his political resume, Lowry lost prior races for State House and a town office and was briefly a GOP hopeful for Michigan Governor in 1994. Lowry's campaign was largely internet-based -- and few within the CP's leadership viewed him as having any real chance of winning the party's Presidential nomination. He withdrew from the race in September 2003, explaining that his "decision to end the campaign is wholly based on my failure to achieve target goals that I felt would be needed to mount a credible" campaign.

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Lon T. Mabon (Oregon)

Bible teacher and former retirement home owner Lon Mabon has been an strident anti-gay activist in the Religious Right movement since 1986. He started as a conservative Republican -- helped run a 1986 US Senate campaign for a social conservative against a moderate GOP incumbent -- and himself ran as a GOP candidate for US Senate in the 1996 primary. Over the years, Mabon and his conservative Oregon Citizens Alliance have placed a series of state initiatives on the ballot to curtail gay rights. In one court case in 2002, the fiery Mabon was briefly jailed for a few days for contempt of court in 2002 when he refused to with a court order to disclose certain OCA records. Later that same year, he was the Constitution Party's nominee for US Senate (4th place - 2%). Mabon explains his politics as follows: "By Divine Covenantal decree all peoples, tribes, nations and tongues were put under the direct authority of Christ. This does not mean the establishing of a theocracy, for that would require Him to be physically on the earth, but it does mean that during the duration of this Age the separate nations must obey His authority in all things. Therefore, the [government] must consider the righteousness and will of God first and foremost in all of its public policy decisions. I hear the voice of God saying that the [government] must surrender to the requirements of His Holiness. Just as I, an individual soul, must surrender, likewise, the Union and the State must surrender. So must every people, nation, tribe and tongue. So also must every individual living soul. This means that the Governor, U.S. Senators, Representatives and all elected officials should be allowed into office only after they have proven to the Citizens ... that they are indeed obedient to the Will and Holiness of God." Some in the CP leadership speculated that Mabon could be the party's nominee for President if Michael Peroutka ultimately declines to enter the race. But, as it appears Peroutka is running, it is unlikely Mabon would oppose him.

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Howard Phillips (Virginia)

Howard Phillips is the founder of Constitution Party -- formerly named the US Taxpayers Party -- and was its nominee for President in 1992, 1996 and 2000. A Harvard grad from a Northeastern Jewish family (although he later converted to Christianity), Phillips almost seems a stereotypical anomaly among his ardent base of Religious Right supporters. Phillips -- a longtime GOP activist and high-ranking Nixon Administration official -- quit the Republican Party in 1974 when he founded the Conservative Caucus (a group he still chairs). He is also President of Policy Analysis, Inc., a conservative public policy research organization. In each of his three prior runs for President, Phillips had hoped that party would attract a "big name" candidate at the head of its ticket: Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996 and either Senator Bob Smith or Ambassador Alan Keyes in 2000. Yet, despite public flirtations by those courted individuals, in each instance their candidacies failed to materialize -- and Phillips became the nominee each time (usually to prevent gadfly hopefuls from capturing the nomination by default). In 2003, Phillips endorsed Michael Peroutka (above) for the Presidential nomination. Phillips also said that it was his intent that the party nominate a Presidential candidate in 2004 other than himself. Other related links include Issues & Strategy Bulletin (Phillips' newsletter),

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