Kentucky- Few Kentucky politicians would dare to launch a MySpace social networking page like Sonny Landham's.
The Libertarian Party's U.S. Senate candidate is standing in what appears to be a jungle wearing a bandana on his head and holding a 20-inch machete across his bare chest. It is an image from 1987's "Predator" movie about a con who did time but had his conviction tossed.
Hard to imagine Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in a similar pose.
"I'm not like your average politician," Landham said.
Landham is a Native American, a former porn and action movie star, a one-time candidate for governor and now a U.S. Senate hopeful.
"This country is hungry for change," Landham, a Georgia native, said Wednesday from his adopted home of Ashland in eastern Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, infant son and three daughters.
"If this was another time, the people would storm Washington with pitchforks and muskets," he said. "Today, they'll go through the ballot box. The 2008 election is going to be revolution."
Landham and his campaign are trying to collect the 5,000 signatures needed to put his name on the ballot.
Election laws allow Landham's name to appear on the same petition with the party's presidential candidate, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr. The deadline is Aug. 12.
"That way, we'll just have to circulate one petition," said Covington resident Brian Houillion, a Libertarian Party strategist assisting Landham's campaign.
Houillion said Kentucky Libertarian Chairman Ken Moellman approached Landham about running because of his fiscally conservative stance on spending - a major party tenet - and his name.
"We knew the popularity of his name and his movie background would bring a lot of strength to the campaign," Houillion said.
That strategy worked last week when Landham announced his candidacy. Along with virtually every media outlet in Kentucky, the story was carried by CNN, the Washington Post and other newspapers, Time magazine, the Huffington Post and Web sites and blogs worldwide.
Landham, 67, worked steadily in the 1980s and 1990s in movies and TV, appearing in "48 Hours" with Eddie Murphy and "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger. But early in his career Landham starred in adult films with titles such as "Big Abner" and "Slippery When Wet."
"What can I do?" he said. "That was a part of my life you cannot call back."
Landham also served more than 2½ years in federal prison after being convicted of making threatening and obscene phone calls to his ex-wife. The conviction was thrown out by a federal appeals court that found he committed no crime.
In 2003, he considered running for the GOP nomination for governor with Highland Heights resident and economic theorist Roger Thoney as his running-mate. They eventually backed away and did not run. But the two are back together; Thoney is advising Landham on economic issues.
McConnell, who has served four terms and not does have a MySpace page, did not comment on Landham's campaign. Democratic candidate Bruce Lunsford, whose MySpace page features his head shot, said through a spokeswoman that Landham is right that Kentucky wants change.
"Yet another Kentuckian is fed up with the failed, obstructionist policies of Mitch McConnell which have led to skyrocketing gas prices and a struggling economy," said Lunsford campaign spokeswoman Allison Haley. "Regardless of what political party they belong to, Kentuckians all across the state want change and new leadership in Washington."
Landham has little good to say about either of his potential opponents. He says "Boss Hog" McConnell is tied too closely to the Washington and Republican establishment and "elitist" Lunsford, a wealthy Northern Kentucky native, does not understand the problems facing common people.
And, by the way, President Bush "should be impeached" for launching the war on Iraq and running a budget deficit, while GOP presidential candidate John McCain "has serious mental and personality problems."
Landham has rolled out his first policy paper, a plan to drill for more oil domestically. And has launched a campaign Web site, Sonny2008.com.
"The people in this country are being ignored by their politicians," he said. "That won't happen when they elect me."
