John "Ringo" Hinz is a longtime libertarian Republican in upper Wisconsin. He's a self-described "conservative on foreign policy and fighting terrorism," and a "libertarian on domestic issues." He's one of 6 candidates running in municipal elections for an at-large city council seat. Hinz ran for the same position in 2009. Results:

Tony Palmeri(I) 6633 votes 23.53%
Jessica King(I) 5195 votes 18.43%
Bob Poeschl 4717 votes 16.73%
Steve Cummings 4136 votes 14.67%
John Hinz(me) 4112 votes 14.59%
Richard O'Day 3323 votes 11.79%

He explains:

I only raised 1/3 of the money of Mr. Cummings, did not receive the endorsement of the local newspaper and realtors association, and had ZERO name recognition.. yet I virtually tied with him for fourth. I was "the nobody" last year. I had no radio or print ads... it was all word of mouth. This year I hope to at least have radio and newspaper ads, as well as personally going door to door to a large amount of the city. Without even trying I should raise well over $1500 this year.

Hinz's platform is simply jobs through economic growth for the local economy:

To increase our budget we need to grow our tax base, and to do that we need to talk with the businesses here who are doing well in this economy. Let's find out what we can do to bring in more business. Let's get creative and provide tax breaks and incentives to businesses who potentially would want to move here. We have two very large businesses who are thriving in a down economy...

The first round of elections is Feb. 16. The run-off is scheduled for April 6. There are 7 candidates filed, and the top 6 will make it to the general election.

UPDATE!

From the Editor - We received this nice note from John:

Thanks! I know it [this article] probably won't get me any more votes, but it's my sincere hope that in pursuing this seat I inspire other libertarian republicans around the country to do the same thing.