An Inc. 500 President?

 

When we asked Inc. 500 CEOs whom they favor in next year's presidential elections, Rudolph Giuliani led the field, capturing 17 percent of survey responses. Barack Obama was next, at 10 percent, followed by Hillary Clinton at 8 percent. Bringing up the rear was Michael Jingozian of AngelVision, a Portland, Oregon-based advertising agency (No. 120). He answered, "Me."

Jingozian, who has never held political office, calls himself a "new age Libertarian" capable of uniting independent voters. He's seeking the Libertarian Party nomination on a platform of cutting the deficit, encouraging environmental sustainability, and ending government subsidies for large corporations. He also vows to take legal action against George W. Bush.

Having raised only $50,000 (most of it his own money), Jingozian's bid seems quixotic at best. But he hopes that his candidacy will appeal to voters dissatisfied with the two-party system. "I wouldn't vote for a Democrat or Republican for President or water commissioner," he says. "Not if he was JFK, combined with the Buddha, George Washington, and Abe Lincoln."

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    • Max Chafkin

    Senior writer Max Chafkin has profiled companies such as Yelp, Zappos, Twitter, Threadless, and Tesla for the magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.


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