The outspoken Christian who rallied fellow believers to vote for him each week has won Showtime’s “American Candidate” presidential race, receiving a $200,000 prize and the chance to give a televised speech about issues he believes important.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Park Gillespie, a Republican schoolteacher, was one of three finalists whittled down from an original group of ten people – ordinary Americans who were put through the paces of running for president, including developing platforms, giving speeches and facing focus groups each week on the cable network’s program.
After each episode, viewers and others could call in on special telephone numbers to vote for which candidate should remain in the race. After Gillespie made the cut and became one of the final two candidates, a final showdown occurred Oct. 3. The results of that vote between Gillespie and Democrat Malia Lazu, who works for a “progressive” 527 political group called Young Voter Alliance, was announced on yesterday’s show.
Says the show’s website: “The votes are in … Park is the American Candidate!”
Gillespie won even though pollster Frank Luntz, a consultant to the show, assessed his chances as slim – given that Showtime’s target demographic leans to the left, 70-30 percent.
But Luntz also praised Gillespie’s debating skills and willingness to stick to his core beliefs no matter what the electoral consequences might be.
Gillespie had a website that advertised the phone number people could call each Sunday night to vote for him, which allowed even those who do not get Showtime at home to participate.
The 38-year-old from North Carolina says his faith was an issue during the run of the show.
“I was counseled a lot during this show to stop using the ‘J word,’ to stop talking about how Jesus changed my life,” Gillespie told Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink. “But I couldn’t do that. It’s who I am, why I’m here. To deny Him would be like denying breathing – it’s just not possible for me.”
Gillespie’s platform includes President Reagan’s economic policies for job creation, support for Social Security privatization, and opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.
Here is part of Gillespie’s final speech of the competition:
“Jefferson warned of an oligarchy, the rule of a few; he taught us that without the consent of the governed, those who govern have no moral or legal authority. And that’s just what we’re on the verge of creating in this country: Unelected, unaccountable judges are making laws the people would never pass. For example, wherever voters have had the chance to speak on same-sex marriage – by supermajorities in Alaska and Nevada, Hawaii and Louisiana, Missouri and California – they have affirmed the institution as the union of one man and one woman. That’s the way it’s supposed to be in a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
“Legalizing same-sex marriage – which Massachusetts did this year and which every state in the union could be forced to do if the judicial tyrants have their way – could strike a crippling blow to families. Study after study has found that boys and girls not raised by both their biological parents are much more likely to suffer abuse, perform poorly in school, abuse drugs and alcohol and wind up in trouble with the law.
“Did our founders fight and die to wrest their liberty from a tyrannical king, only to hand it to a group of black-robed judges? Should the desires of adults ever trump what’s best for kids? The needs of our most vulnerable must come first.”
Related stories:
Despite Kamala’s lies, the ‘are you better off’ question remains
Larry Elder