Ballots cast for off-beat presidential candidates like 'most qualified' handyman ALL SHORES - Nearly half of Staten Island voters can say they helped vote Barack Obama into the White House; only a handful can tell their grandchildren that they ran against him.

The recent congressional hopeful Dr. Jamshad Wyne won five votes on Staten Island in the race for the presidency, beating out a few other local candidates who garnered write-in votes on Election Day.

Human-rights activist Tom Weiss of Stapleton, who was a write-in candidate in the congressional race, received one vote for the Oval Office job, thus securing his place in a four-way, boroughwide tie with Mickey Mouse, Jesus Christ, and Stephen Colbert.

The city Board of Elections did not list any votes cast in the county for a couple of locals who nonetheless campaigned in the months that led up to the election, including Tom Edison, a Port Richmond handyman who claimed to be the "most qualified candidate" of 2008.

On his Web site (tomedisonforpresident.com), Edison promised he could eliminate the national debt in three years, set up an alternative domestic economy without money lenders, and, unlike the leading party representatives, remain independent from monied interests. Edison refers to himself as a "solution wizard."

Under his stage name, former West Brighton resident Art Shea of Columbus posted a YouTube video entitled "Papapang for President" to express his platform:

"I'll fly around in Air Force 1, I won't sleep until the work gets done... War in Iraq: We got talked into it, then we blew it, now our boys walk through it. WMDs? Bush, please. Move over, I'm taking the keys...."

Shea later threw his support to the Dems with his "Obama Gonna Knock You Out" and "Obama Gonna Knock You Out Jesse Jackson Remix."

There may have been other Islanders on the write-in ballots, but to be honest, the Advance wasn't sure what to make of a few of the unfamiliar names that turned up out of Richmond County. Does Dan Bananno live around here? Helen Fradol? And is Joshua P. Center the environmentalist who, in 2005, made a political statement at CSI by dressing up as a brown-bearded leprechaun?

All told, Staten Islanders cast 107 write-in votes in the presidential race - only seven of which were for officially registered write-in candidates: Socialist Brian Moore, Independent Alan Keyes, and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin.

The other 100 went to politicians who had lost the primary, political ideologues tending toward the far left and right, and to presumably tongue-in-cheek candidates such as Tom Jones, John Doe and somebody named Mallet Boy.

"God," who also scored one, only knows whether he and other unlikely write-ins were cast facetiously or as satirical comments on the shortcomings of the main-stream candidates or the limits of the two-party system.

"Some people run as an attention device," said Weiss, who ran for Congress in earnest because he was "disenchanted by the machine" and interested in advancing causes from health care to international human rights. ". . . A serious problem on Staten Island is that they seem to put every conceivable obstacle in front of somebody who is running as a write-in."

Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was alternately mocked and lauded for clinging to her place in the Democratic primary, held on to 32 Staten Island write-in votes. Ron Paul eked past the New York senator with 33 votes, cast with wildly varied suggestions for his second-in-command: Dennis Kucinich, Chuck Baldwin, Barack Obama and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Nearly 1,100 Staten Islanders voted for official third-party candidates. Top among them: Ralph Nader on the Populist ticket (598 votes); Libertarian Bob Barr (217), and the Green Party's Cynthia McKinney (210).

Over in Manhattan, voters wrote in Teddy Roosevelt, "None of the Above," Tina Fey, Dr. Joyce Brothers, "We Can Run Things Better Ourselves," and "my cat, Ginger."

Tevah Platt covers the North and East Shores for the Advance. She may be reached at platt@siadvance.com

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