Moore Vies For U.S. Senate Despite Democratic Rejection

On Jan. 9, a 52-year-old former police officer and ski patrolman named Gail "Buddy" Moore walked into Colorado Democratic Headquarters in Denver and said he wanted to run for the United States Senate.

"Nobody knew who he was," said state Democratic party political director Billy Compton. "We had to look him up."

Unfortunately for Moore, state law and Colorado Democratic Party rules require political candidates to be registered with the party for at least a year before the November general election: Moore only signed up to be a Democrat last December.

Moore wanted to enter the Democratic U.S. Senate race against U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Boulder) and state Democratic Party executive board member Mark Benner to promote his idea for a constitutional amendment: banning the import or export of arms and weapons between the United States and foreign countries.  

Despite the setback, Moore, who lives in Wheat Ridge and has never run for political office before, is undeterred: he plans to either run as a write-in Senate candidate or form his own political party, the Bell Party.

A native of Laramie, Wyo., Moore has worked a cornucopia of jobs around the country: from to serving as a deputy sheriff in  Casper, Wyo., to manning supply boats to and from offshore oil rigs in Louisiana, to working ski patrol at resorts in Colorado.

Moore now buys and renovates houses in the Denver area.

"I’m a carpenter, painter -- pretty much a bit of a jack-of-all-trades,” he said.

Moore didn’t become interested in politics until late 2001, when he worked at a ski resort in the French Alps for a year.

He returned to France two more times, traveling around Europe in a 1981 Volkswagen van.

In talking with Europeans, he said, Moore found they had “a completely different attitude” than Americans about the war in Iraq and the United States’ role in the world.

“That had quite a bit of influence on how I see things,” Moore said.

Now, Moore says a constitutional amendment is needed to stop the U.S. government from giving or selling arms to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Pakistan.

“When we allow our president to use this blunt instrument for diplomacy around the world , it always has the result of suppressing people who rise up for democracy,” Moore said, pointing to America’s cozy relationship with the Shah of Iran until the Shah was overthrown by Muslim fundamentalist protesters in 1979.

Ending the arms trade “will show that we believe in freedom and justice not just inside our borders, but outside as well,” Moore said, “Vast amounts of funds will be freed up to focus on health care and energy development.”

Moore also said he questions the official version of the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, saying video evidence from national news shows Building #7 of the World Trade Center “looks exactly like a controlled demolition collapse.

“When there’s been no explanation from the government, I just think the question has to be raised,” Moore said. “I’d encourage every American to seek their own sources and just determine for themselves what happened.”

Moore aligns himself with Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on a number of issues, including advocating a universal, single-payer health care system, ending the war in Iraq, and impeaching President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Moore said he’s convinced he can convince the Democratic Senate candidate -- as well as former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer, the only Republican in the Senate race – to talk about these issues on the campaign trail.

“I can tell you I think the other candidates will address these issues, or they will lose,” Moore said.

Because of his sympathy for Kucinich, Moore tried to enter the Democratic race for U.S. Senate.

But he was disqualified because he only registered as a Democrat in December; before then, Moore was unregistered in Colorado, even as an unaffiliated voter.

“I was disappointed to hear that (about the disqualification), but that’s not necessarily an obstacle that stops my campaign,” Moore said. “In campaigning, I’m successful every day, so if it is that the people believe in what it is that I bring forth, I think that I can still prevail.”

Moore said he and his 24-year-old daughter Anne, who’s serving as his campaign manager, will decide within the next couple weeks whether to run as a write-in candidate, or seek to get the 10,000 signatures needed to form a new political party in Colorado, the Bell Party.

Moore said he liked the symbolism of the “Bell Party” name.

“I think it’s time to sound a bell across the land,” he said. “It’s a call to action; it’s a call to serve your country by voting, by debating, by participating.”

Mark Melanson, Udall's campaign manager, said he saw Moore at a Martin Luther King march in Denver on Monday wearing an orange sign reading “Peace candidate for U.S. Senate -- Ask me. Buddymooreforsenate.com”  

“I admire his determination and desire to move forward,” Melanson said. “We welcome him to the campaign like we welcome any campaign or candidate.”

Moore’s campaign site is buddymooreforsenate.com.