Miller 2016 Presidential Campaign

The Backstory of the Candidate

The office of the Presidency of the United States encompasses vast and disparate matters of policy. In order to establish the platform for my fictional candidate, I have compiled poll data from a number of prominent and well respected polls. My candidate will take the position of whatever the American public indicates that it wants at the time of polling. With this data, I have established the top policy areas in which my candidate will focus as well as the position my candidate will take. With this policy model as a base, I have rounded out the candidate with a backstory, creating a narrative for the campaign.

The top areas of policy focus will be:

• The Economy and jobs
• Healthcare
• Deficit Spending / Budget
• Terrorism
• Social Security

After establishing policy, I began to craft the candidate as a person. I chose to use my professor, Eric Anderson as a model for my candidate. This model was accessible on a regular basis for photography and video shooting. He also fits the typical model of a presidential candidate, being a white male. As his campaign begins, he will be 60 years of age, 62 years of age upon election. This is a little older than the average age of 55 years for presidents upon election. However, since World War II, 5 of the last 12 presidents have been over the age of sixty.

Since my model originates from Colorado, I have established a candidate who is sixty years of age and hails from Colorado. Based upon this information, I have given my candidate the most popular male baby name from 1954, the year of his birth, Michael. For a surname, I took a list of the most popular surnames nationally, and took a map that indicated the most common surnames regionally and cross-referenced the most popular name both nationally and regionally. This surname is Miller. Therefore, my candidate is Mike Miller, a 60 year-old, Coloradan.

From this point, I began to craft a history for Mike Miller. Mike Miller was born in Fort Collins, Colorado to Robert, a brewer at the Odell Brewing Company, and Mary Miller, a homemaker. Mike had two younger brothers, Mark and John. Miller attended Colorado State University, graduating with his bachelors degree in business administration in 1976. While in college, Miller played basketball, continuing a sport he played in high school. He was in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, and upon graduation, became an officer in the Air Force. He served as a requisitions officer and stayed in the service for 10 years, attaining the rank of Major. While in the Air Force, Miller completed his education and was certified as a CPA.

After leaving the Air Force in 1986, Miller opened a private practice in Denver serving the accounting needs of Denver based business for the next 13 years. After growing frustrated with the local government, Miller mounted a successful campaign for city council in 1999. After one term on the city council, Miller ran for mayor of Denver. He succeeded in this campaign and began serving as mayor of Denver in 2003. While mayor, Mike Miller developed a reputation as a budget reformer and driver of economic development. Miller won reelection in 2007, continuing his successful economic policies. Miller decided to run for governor in 2010 in hopes of bringing his common sense economic reforms to the entire state. In a close race, Miller won election, becoming the 42nd Governor of Colorado. He was reelected in 2014.