Levinson: Smoke Pot in Boats

According to his mother, when presidential candidate Michael S. Levinson was four years old, he told his brother that he would someday be president.

While it seems unlikely that his goal will be realized, the life-long Buffalo, N.Y. resident will at least get his name on the Independent Voters Party ballot in Massachusetts next week.

Mary Levinson, the candidate's mother and self-proclaimed "greatest ally," boasts of her son's platform, which features the government-sponsored placement of 300,000 men and women onto clipper ships, and a guarantee of jobs, housing and food.

The elder Levinson, now in her 70s, said her son's plan would have minimal costs and would benefit a significant number of people, not only helping its participants meet their needs, but also leaving fewer mouths to feed in the families which remain onshore.

But there's more.

"Let's legalize marijuana and get $50 billion a year into the U.S. treasury," Mrs. Levinson said, citing another element of her son's platform.

She said the tax revenue from the sale of the drug could go to education and medical treatment (including the building of "little mini-hospitals") for drug addicts.

The candidate, 50, is following in the footsteps of his mother, who launched a write-in campaign in the final weeks before the 1972 general election. She said she received "30-odd" votes.

Levinson already has his mother beat; he gathered 44 votes in the New Hampshire Republican primary last month.

Levinson, who is unmarried, was a merchant seaman for nine years. For several years after that, the candidate published a newspaper through the University of Buffalo called the Daily Bolt, which focused on local issues and scandals and "called every spade a spade," Mrs. Levinson said.

More recently, the candidate has spent his time researching cases in a battle with the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to gain access to air time on public television, his mother said.

"Don't you think the U.S. would like to know... about the clipper ships? Mrs. Levinson asked.