Friday, February 9, 2007

John Cox in Iowa Newspaper

John Cox recently gave an interview to the Storm Lake Pilot Tribune in Iowa. Cox is trying hard to get his message out, but it's tough in a strong field where the media focus on the front runners.

Jeff Jones, 6 February, 2007.

Presidential candidate and fiscal/social conservative John Cox has been campaigning around the area, trying to get his name out in a field already populated by political superstars.

Unlike many of the current presidential candidates who have been senators, representatives or otherwise held high-profile positions, Cox is a Chicago-based businessman who is looking to make serious changes in Washington.

"There are a lot of life-long politicians who don't know what it's like on the outside," Cox said in a Pilot-Tribune interview. " How can you expect changes from people like (John) McCain and (Rudi) Giuliani who have been apart of the system for over 15 years?"

Cox is the first Republican to declare his run for the White House for the 2008 election. He bills himself as the most social and fiscal conservative candidate for the election. He is also not new to the political arena as a supporter and campaign worker for different candidates since the 70s-80s.

He was a supporter of Congressman Steve King when King first started to run for campaigns.As the campaign trail has been starting to heat some subjects both social and financial information."I'm a pro life guy, if abortion was legal back in 1951 then I might not be around today," Cox said. "My mother was single and I did not have a father."

Cox is against President George W. Bush's plan to increase troops in Iraq but is opposed leaving Iraq."We need to make Iraq rich like they should be," Cox said. "They are only producing about 30 percent of their capacity. We should send troops to guard the oil wells so that the Iraqis can make themselves rich."

Cox also feels that "No child left behind" should be "buried" and that control should be given back to the local and state levels of government. He also hit on the fact that colleges should have more competition to lower the cost of post high school education."We should support the creation of new colleges," Cox said. "With more competition schools would be required to lower their cost.

With the limited colleges some schools are able to jack their rates up."Cox supports Medicare being set in the private sector instead of government control."Most of the medical advances that have been made have been done in the private sector," Cox said. "If the private sector had a lot of competition suddenly added with new plans then prices would go down as well."

The presidential hopeful does admit that he has been struggling to get his name out in the public eye."The local papers have been great with giving us coverage but the big papers like the New York Times and Washington Post do not consider me as a serious candidate," Cox said. "Right now we have been working on getting my name out and unlike the Obamas and Clintons who can pay the big bucks for people to support them, my campaign is all volunteer."

Cox current has 1,000 Iowans registered for the straw poll and hopes to have 3,000 registered for the poll in a few weeks. Cox also has a 100,000 mailings going out across the state to help get his name out.He is currently out in New Hampshire campaigning but is looking forward to getting back to Iowa."I've been to Storm Lake a few times and am looking forward to a chance to come back," Cox said.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

John Cox's Energy Plan

Candidate for the Republican nomination John Cox yesterday released his Energy Plan, outlining energy independance for the United States by 2025.

Press release from Cox 2008.

The five-point plan outlines ways in which America can wean itself off foreign sources of energy.

"We cannot continue to send money overseas, funding our enemies and increasing the chances that they will use that money to finance terrorism against us," he said. "Ensuring safe, clean domestically produced sources of energy is a national security issue as much as it is an energy issue. We must begin now to encourage the free market to develop solutions that government has thus far been unable to provide."

1. More Domestic Exploration - "As a first step, we must drill for more oil in Alaska. We must explore the ANWR region, and do it in an environmentally safe way. Expanded capacity is vital for our nation's energy needs."

2. Energy Diversity - "We have become addicts to oil. That must end. Nuclear and clean coal technologies offer huge benefits. Among them are dramatic lessening of our dependence on foreign or even domestic oil. The key to energy independence is diversification of the resources we use."

3. Long-Term Solutions - "Wind, solar and other sources of energy can be exploited far more than they have up until now. Renewable energy sources such as these hold the promise of complete independence from fossil fuels. The free market is capable of creating cleaner burning gasoline engines, electric and hydrogen powered cars and other technologies we haven't even dreamed of. As president, I would use the Bully Pulpit to encourage growth and innovation in the energy sector."

4. End All Subsidies for Big Oil - "We must make the playing field level. Giving subsidies to oil companies requires US to give subsidies to other energy sectors. Ethanol producers require subsidies to keep up with oil companies. Then, oil companies require more subsidies. Subsidies create campaign contributions for politicians, but they interfere with the free market, where most of the energy innovations will come from in the coming decades."

5. End The IRS - "While seemingly unrelated to energy, our current tax system actually stifles competition, sucking capital out of the economy and slowing development of new technologies. Replacing the IRS with a FairTax that taxes consumption, not capital, would put billions back into the economy and allow investment in renewable energy and new, more efficient technologies that could save billions in energy costs each year."

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Address Economic Hope in Iraq - Cox

Responding to President Bush's State of the Union address last night, John Cox said that it was disappointing that Democrats could not bring themselves to support the escalation plan to secure victory.

But he said Bush did not address the need for economic hope and opportunity in Iraq.

Iraqi citizens should be put back to work, he said, and American troops should be redeployed to protect oil infrastructure which is vital for their reemergence as a nation.

Cox applauded the Bush plan on energy, saying America must cure its addiction to foreign oil, and must invest in alternative energies like ethanol and wind.

Supporting the ethanol industry will certainly not hurt his chances in the Iowa primary, so expect some more comments from Cox on the energy debate.

John Cox Visits New Hampshire

John Cox is visiting New Hampshire again in his quest to gain momentum in one of the crucial early states. This is Cox's 10th visit to New Hampshire, making him one of the leaders in GOP candidates to that state.

Yesterday he called on the Mayor of Manchester, followed by a visit to Thomas More college to talk with the students.

Today he will speak to students at the Colby-Sawyer College in New London, with a meet and greet at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester at 4pm.

According to the Cox Schedule, he plans to be back in New Hampshire 1-3 February and again in the last week of that month. During February he will also be heading to South Carolina twice.

Monday, January 15, 2007

John Cox is running for President

John Cox, businessman and radio host from Illinois is running to try to secure the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

Cox was the first Republican to declare a run, in March of 2006.

Cox has made regular visits to Iowa and claims to have been to all 99 counties, as well as having been to New Hampshire numerous times.

John Cox is socially conservative and might appeal to that section of the GOP.

However, having never been elected to office, and up against high profile candidates like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, John Cox's chances at this stage are considered to be slight.

John Cox considers that he is "the only real conservative running for President"