Lafayette woman makes bid for White House

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, there are five names appearing on the Indiana primary ballot: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Patricia Inez Sandifer.

Sandifer is a Lafayette resident and perhaps the longest of long shots.

She isn't your typical presidential candidate. She's been on disability since 1985 because of a thyroid condition, deeply religious, mother of four and grandmother of 11.

She even admits to never having voted Republican before.

She said it's the suffering of felons inside prison and after release. If elected Commander-in-Chief, she's got a long and varied list of concerns she would fix.

"Inside all prisons everywhere, a Dollar Tree," Sandifer said.  "For all prisoners and felons to be able to vote.  For all people that have been to jail or prison to get their jobs back.  All charges dropped against anybody that's sold drugs in all places."

A dropping of charges that would include her son who is currently serving several years on a drug-related conviction in the Department of Corrections.
    
She believes adding money to help prisoners and those on welfare can be offset by not fighting in costly wars.

She also wants to put prayer back in schools and opposes same-sex marriages.

Does she think she can win?  "Yeah," she replied.

But how is her name on the ballot to begin with?

To be a legitimate candidate on the Indiana ballot, a person needs 4,500 signatures, 500 from each Congressional district.

Sandifer has one.  Not 1,000, not 100, but a single one.  And even that one is her own.

"If you file paperwork and no one challenges that candidacy, you are placed on the ballot," said Jared Bond, Co-Director of the Tippecanoe County Board of Elections.  "It may be a flaw in the law, but it's how the law reads."

No one has challenged Sandifer yet.  So for now, her name stays.

"I'm not even worried about that because the ballot is not mine. It's the Lord's," Sandifer said.

As for her campaign, it's grassroots to the extreme, with no plans for fundraising or any formal organizing.
    
"It's going to be word of mouth," she said.  "They are going to spread the word and that's how it's going to be done."

When it's all said and done, if she's not chosen by Indiana Republicans, she said she's going back to her Democratic Party roots.  It's the party that she said she has voted for in every election until this coming primary.

"Whoever God wants in office, he's going to put in office," Sandifer said.  "If I don't make it, I'm turning all my votes in to Obama."

Anyone in Indiana can challenge Patricia Sandifer's primary bid until noon on Friday, February 17.  If no one does, she's a lock to stay with the likes of Gingrich, Paul, Romney and Santorum.

However, Santorum's status is currently in doubt.  Five people, including one from West Lafayette, have already challenged Santorum's signatures.