Ever since Jimmy McMillan first ran for public office in New York he has tried his hardest to get noticed. In the course of six campaigns from 1993, he has doused himself in petrol, climbed Brooklyn Bridge, walked from New York City to Buffalo and been thrown out of the Democratic convention for trying to disrupt a speech by New York's then-governor, Mario Cuomo. Yet he has never won more than 0.03% of the vote at best. This year, McMillan is running for state governor, and in the course of one televised debate on 18 October, he got more coverage in a single half-hour than many aspiring independent politicians get in a lifetime. All thanks to YouTube.
Preferring to campaign on single issues, McMillan this year appointed himself head of the Ronseal-named The Rent is Too Damn High party and his policy statements, such as they are, all come back to a single theme. Yes, you've guessed it . . . but even on this one subject, McMillan manages to be highly entertaining. He talks fast, yet his speech patterns have the distinct hypnotic rhythms and repetitive leitmotifs of an old-school southern preacher, even if he isn't always making sense. Asked for his opinion on same-sex marriages, he says. "If you want to marry a shoe, I'll marry you." Coupled with his appearance – a Hulk Hogan style beard accessorised with a pair of black gloves that he wears throughout the debate, he's a PR man's idea of heaven.
As of last Friday afternoon, he had already clocked up nearly 3m hits on YouTube, making him one of the most viewed items of the week, and the best part of 10,000 comments – almost all of which say that he was the only politician talking sense. But will it translate to votes?
