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In an RV decorated with his determination — “White House or bust!” scrawled on the rear window, the years 2000 and 2004 crossed out and replaced with 2008 on the side panel — presidential hopeful “average Joe” Schriner rolled through Rome on Thursday.
Having logged some 76,000 miles during the past seven years, the third-time campaigner is currently on a 22-state “Back Road to the White House” tour with his wife, three kids and a host of novel ideas in tow.
Schriner, who is running as an independent, spent time in Rome researching prisoner rehabilitation programs through St. Mary’s Catholic Church. “We believe strongly in a thing called restorative justice,” he said, “not just dead-end warehousing.”
Schriner also champions strong family values, ending world hunger and pro-life “across the board” — no abortion, death penalty or euthanasia; no poverty, pollution or “anything (else) that will prematurely end life.”
The former journalist and aspiring world leader says he spends his time on the road researching opinions and issues as well as starting grassroots movements. “We take what we learn to other parts of the country with hopes of planting seeds in another place,” he said. “It’s as if we get a policy enacted before we even get to Washington.”
Schriner hopes voters will identify with his “common-sense, down-to-earth” approach to politics. “We are just an average family from the Midwest,” he said. “A lot of people resonate with that.”
He has found support in Rome in resident Tom Farmer, who helped make bumper stickers a reality for Schriner’s latest campaign. After discovering Schriner on a Web site and voting for him in the 2004 election, Farmer said, “I have never felt better leaving a voting booth. And now that I’ve actually met him, I feel even more comfortable about it.”
Schriner’s next stop is Americus, where he plans to visit the headquarters of Habitat for Humanity.
Visit www.voteforjoe.com for more information.
