Charles R. Doty

Charles R. Doty
Doty in his first appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, April 2000
Born	January 26, 1924
Died	April 21, 2003(2003-04-21) (aged 79) Tulsa, Oklahoma
Resting place	Kaw City, Oklahoma
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Oklahoma A&M University
Occupation	accountant, restaurateur, oil worker
Known for	running for U.S. president
Political party	Democrat Republican (1992 only)

Charles Richard Doty (January 26, 1924 – April 21, 2003) was an American who is best remembered for his futile attempts at running for President of the United States as a write-in candidate. Doty ran for president five times, gaining national fame on the fifth and final occasion in 2000, when his campaign was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Doty was born in 1924. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945. In 1954, he received a degree in business administration from Oklahoma A&M University in Stillwater. He worked as an accountant, as a restaurateur, and in the oil business. In his retirement he became a pastor for his own church, the Universal Church of God.

Doty ran for president as a Democrat in the 1984 and 1988 elections. In 1988, when he spent approximately $20,000, he received 1,005 votes.

He entered the 1992 race as a Republican, saying that after 49 years of being a Democrat, he was changing to Republican only because the party generally agreed with his anti-abortion stance. However, he switched back to Democrat for the 1996 election. In 2000, he entered the race again, although he only had enough money to officially be on the ballot in Kansas, he hoped to gather enough support to win as a write-in candidate.

He also made several unsuccessful attempts running for the local city council, mayor of Tulsa, and Governor of Oklahoma.

Doty made five appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2000. His initial appearance was a segment by Vance DeGeneres that aired April 12, 2000, and featured a tongue-in-cheek seriousness, in which DeGeneres stated: "Following unsuccessful presidential bids in 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, all eyes are on Oklahoma political powerhouse, Charles Doty." The segment featured an interview with DeGeneres asking for Doty's stance on the "hot button" issues, including the metric system ("against"), the United Nations ("against"), and UFO research ("for"). Doty appeared four more times on the show during its Indecision 2000 coverage, including a segment where he sang his own presidential campaign theme song.