Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root
Personal details
Born (1961-07-20) July 20, 1961
Mount Vernon, New York
Political party Republican (pre-2007, 2012–present)
Libertarian (2007–2012)
Spouse(s) Debra Root
Children 4
Occupation TV celebrity, producer, author, CEO, politician
Religion Jewish,[1] Born again Christian[2]
Website Root for America

Wayne Allyn Root (born July 20, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, television and radio personality, author, television producer, and political commentator. Root has stated that he is exploring a run as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Nevada in 2016.

Early life and education

Root was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1961, the son of the late David and Stella Root. His father was a butcher from Bronxville, New York, who dabbled in third party politics as one of the original founders of the New York State Conservative Party.[3]

Root (also commonly referred to by his childhood nickname "W.A.R.") graduated as Salutatorian from his elementary school (Kindergarten through 8th Grade), Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major. This would place him in the same graduating class as President Barack Obama.[4] Root has stated that he has no recollection of having met or seen Obama at Columbia.[4][5]

Career

Sports handicapper

Root's TV handicapping career began in New York City on WNBC radio (now WFAN) in the early 1980s. He moved onto NBC "Source Radio Network" syndicated around the country in over 100 markets as a sports talk host. He later became one of the youngest anchormen and national TV hosts in America from 1989 through the early 1990s on Financial News Network (FNN), now known as CNBC.

TV producer and personality

Root is Founder and Chairman of Winning Edge International Inc.[6] In the 2000s, he hosted Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge, a television show which promoted Root's sports handicapping operation.

Root was the creator, executive producer and co-host (along with HBO's Max Kellerman) of King of Vegas on Spike TV. He is a producer of Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel.[7]

Author

Root is the author of several non-fiction books, including The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide and The Murder of the Middle Class. Other books include The Zen of Gambling,The Joy of Failure!, The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling, Millionaire Republican, and The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts. Root's latest book, released in 2015, is The Power of Relentless: 7 Secrets to Achieving Mega-Success, Financial Freedom and the Life of Your Dreams.

Politics

Root had been a longtime Republican Party member and supporter who self-identified as a Libertarian Republican. In 2007, Root ended his association with the Republican Party and joined the Libertarian Party.[8] He wrote a book on his libertarian views, The Conscience of a Libertarian, which was published in 2009.[8]

In September 2012, Root left the LP and announced his return to major party politics.[9][10]

2008 Presidential Campaign

On May 4, 2007, Root declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination on Las Vegas' Fox 5 television station.[11] On February 5, 2008, he placed second in the Missouri Libertarian presidential primary with 18% of the vote (47% voted for "Uncommitted"). He came in second in Arizona and third in California, without campaigning in any of these states.[3]

On May 25, 2008, Root advanced to the fifth ballot of the LP presidential nomination vote at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention before being eliminated and endorsing Bob Barr, who went on to the party's presidential nomination. Root then became the LP vice presidential nominee, securing the nod in the third round of voting for that nomination.[12]

Libertarian National Committee

In 2010, Root ran for the position of chair of the Libertarian National Committee of the Libertarian Party of the United States. He was defeated by Mark Hinkle by a vote of 228–281 in the third round. He subsequently succeeded in being elected to the Libertarian National Committee as an At-Large Member.[13]

In July 2011 Root was elected chair of the "Libertarian National Congressional Committee", a Federal Elections Commission registered entity.[14][15] He renamed it the "Libertarian National Campaign Committee."[16]

At the 2012 Libertarian National Convention, Root again was elected to the Libertarian National Committee as an At-Large Member, despite being seen by some LP members as being part of the "top-down faction."[17] The party's 2012 presidential candidate Gary Johnson endorsed Root.[18]

In a September 2012 letter, he resigned all Libertarian Party positions, saying he would seek a Senate seat "outside of a third party."[9][10]

Return to Republican Party in 2012

In September 2012, Root re-joined the Republican Party and endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.[19][10] He predicted Romney would win the election against incumbent President Barack Obama, citing, among other factors, that the "Enthusiasm Factor" for Romney was "huge".[20]

Following Romney's defeat in the election,[21] Root commented in a Fox News editorial: "Well, I was wrong. The 2012 electorate looked almost identical to 2008. Obama's supporters didn’t just come for a second helping of misery—they came out enthusiastically and even appeared to cheer for more."[22]

Potential 2016 U.S. Senate campaign

Root has announced that he intends to run as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Nevada, the seat currently held by Democratic Senator Harry Reid.[10]

Political positions

Root supports smaller government, reduced spending, reduced entitlements, reduced bureaucracy, dramatically lower taxes, and greater personal freedom for all individuals. In the area of education, he supports more parental control, more emphasis on school choice (moving education to the state and local level), and increased competition through vouchers. Root and his wife choose to home-school their children. He is also a strong supporter of gun rights for the individual. Root is a small businessman who believes the 2-party system is built on corruption, greed and bribery. He is a fiscal conservative. He believes most social issues should be determined at the state and local level.[3] In several of Root's recent books, Root calls for a low 15% flat tax emulating the most successful economy in the world- Hong Kong.

In another published commentary, Root speculated that President Obama attended Columbia University as a foreign exchange student, citing his "gut instinct" as evidence, and that President Obama was indoctrinated into Marxism while attending Columbia. Root was specifically referring to the fact that Obama's childhood years spent with his mother in Indonesia. In response to Senator Harry Reid's speculation about Mitt Romney's tax returns, Root offered speculation on Obama's college records.[23][24][25]

Personal life

Root resides in Henderson, Nevada, with his wife Debra. The couple has four children.

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NewsMax Archives". Archive.newsmax.com. 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  2. ↑ Interview with Wayne Root on Federal Bailout of Newspaper Industry at 5 minutes, 30 seconds, Fox News, December 22, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 "Home". Rootforamerica.com. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  4. 1 2 McCullagh, Declan (November 6, 2009). "Did Barack Obama Actually Attend Columbia?". CBSNews.com. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  5. ↑ Vinciguerra, Thomas (October 3, 2008). Vinciguerra, Thomas (October 5, 2008). "The Life of the 3rd Party". New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  6. ↑ Wayne Allyn Root, The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts, John Wiley and Sons, 2009, p.352, ISBN 0-470-45265-X, 9780470452653
  7. ↑ Elfman, Doug (November 10, 2013). "Root's next show on Mormon wives". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  8. 1 2 https://web.archive.org/20111224113231/http://root4america.com:80/webroot/oldblog/index.php?entry=entry070515-124639. Archived from the original on December 24, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. 1 2 Starr, Aaron. "Wayne Root leaves Libertarian Party leadership, will seek US Senate seat". Independent Political Report. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Quinn, Garrett (September 14, 2012). "An Exit Interview With Wayne Allyn Root". Reason Online. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Best online casinos: Free online slot games - Free slots USA". Livecasinodirect.com. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20080528033121/http://www.lp.org:80/media/printer_588.shtml. Archived from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ (2010-05-31) "Root falters in bid to grab top Libertarian post", Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
  14. ↑ Libertarian National Congressional Committee Federal Elections Commission filings page.
  15. ↑ Wayne Allyn Root, Root Elected Chairman of Libertarian National Congressional Committee (LNCC), Libertarian Party website blog, July 13, 2010.
  16. ↑ "About Us". Lncc.org. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  17. ↑ Garret Quinn, Starchild Is Here, Reason magazine, May 6, 2012.
  18. ↑ Garrett Quinn,Gary Johnson: The LNC Chair Race is Exciting! Interesting!, Reason magazine, May 6, 2012
  19. ↑ Root, Wayne Allyn (September 17, 2014) "Why This Ex-Libertarian is Voting Mitt Romney", Townhall.com. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  20. ↑ Allyn Root, Wayne (October 12, 2012). "Las Vegas Oddsmaker Explains Why He Predicts Romney Landslide". Townhall.com.
  21. ↑ Abad-Santos, Alexander (January 4, 2013). "It's Official: Romney Got 47% of the Vote". The Atlantic.
  22. ↑ Allyn Root, Wayne (November 13, 2012). "What went wrong with my prediction about Mitt Romney and the 2012 election". Fox News.
  23. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20130504125736/http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/obama%E2%80%99s-college-classmate-the-obama-scandal-is-at-columbia/. Archived from the original on May 4, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ↑ "Wayne Allyn Root's Confusing Obama/Columbia/Communist Conspiracy". Right Wing Watch. 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  25. ↑ "Barack Obama: The Ghost of Columbia University". TheBlaze.com. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2015-12-21.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Richard Campagna		 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate
2008 		Succeeded by
Jim Gray
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