Bismarck resident Gerald Polley is running for president for one simple reason: because God told him to.

Polley, a self-proclaimed international psychic and founder of the Spiritist religion, said he received a message from the afterlife saying he's the only hope for Republicans to retain the White House in 2008.

"God thinks that none of the Republicans running now have a chance," Polley said.

At the age of 60, Polley is a medium-size man with dark hair and a thick New England accent a la John F. Kennedy. He grew up in Maine and moved with his wife Linda to North Dakota in 1999.

The couple said in an interview with the Tribune that they came here seeking work and affordable lifestyle, but have said previously that they came because they knew a friend here or came because God appeared to them and encouraged the idea.

Gerald Polley is a dishwasher while Linda Polley - who claims to share in her husband's ability to speak with the afterlife - commits herself to her spiritual work full-time. One of her most earnest endeavors is writing music that she claims is channeled directly from former Beatle John Lennon in heaven.

The Polley presidential campaign has gotten off to a slow start since its divinely inspired beginning this summer. Gerald Polley launched a Web site and has been interviewed about his campaign by Kevin and Bean, a morning radio show on KROQ in Los Angeles that has used the Polley couple as a bit for years. He hasn't done much campaigning and fundraising, and said he probably won't "unless things really catch on."

So far, the most noticeable effort is a set of video campaign ads posted on the Polleys' Web site, http://www.voicesfromspirit.com.

In one, Polley is seen sitting on his apartment couch claiming to speak in the voice of God. In another, Linda Polley sings: "If you want your sons wearing skirts and panty hose, with lipstick on their faces and shiny nail polish that glows, then vote for Hillary ? "

Polley's unconventional views extend into the political arena. For example, he wants one constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to an abortion and another that bans homosexual solicitation and acts. He said the former destroys a body without damaging the soul while the latter is unnatural and against God's wishes.

Polley also wants to strenghten laws that punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants and to make peace in the Middle East by giving the Palestinians their own homeland separate from Israel. He has said he wants to run as a Republican.

But Gary Emineth, chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, said he isn't sure Polley is what the GOP is looking for in 2008. He said Republicans have long billed themselves as big tent party, "but I'm not sure our tent is that big."

"You have to be fairly mainstream and have a mainstream core set of beliefs to run the most powerful country in the world," he said.

Still, Emineth said he'd be more than happy to meet with Polley to discuss his candidacy.

Polley's journey from Maine to a long shot bid for the Republican nomination for president has taken many twists and turns.

He grew up in a 1950s New England family - his father was a cab driver and his mother stayed home to raise Polley and his two sisters. Young Gerald's life consisted of struggles with dyslexia and a crash that left him with brain damage after a car plowed into his bicycle at the age of 11.

At 17, Polley emerged from a night of drinking and got into a fight with a man who he claims was harassing a female friend of his. The fight ended when Polley pulled out a gun and shot him, Polley said.

It was right before serving a three-year prison sentence for this incident that Polley said he discovered his powers to speak to the afterlife. He said an angel-like being came to him while he was in county jail awaiting his sentence and bestowed him with knowledge of his special powers.

"One moment you don't believe in anything," Polley said. "The next moment you believe in everything. It's a total and complete change that's hard to describe to anybody who hasn't been through it."

After getting out of jail, Polley traveled to spiritual churches in the area in an attempt to hone his abilities. It was at one of these meetings that he met Linda, who said her husband has helped her hone her own psychic talents that she was just beginning to discover at that time as well.

The Polleys bounced between Maine and Florida as Gerald Polley sought restaurant work and refined his beliefs into a religion that he has named the "Spiritists."

With the advent of the Internet, Polley said he has had a better opportunity to reach out. He claims his religion has about 200 followers who follow the writings and teachings that he posts on his Web site.

One is longtime friend and Bismarck resident Jesse Torres, who met Polley in the 1980s through a mail-order book service Torres ran at the time.

Torres, a 41-year-old insurance claims adjuster who moved from New York to North Dakota in the early 1990s, said he thinks his buddy would stand a good chance of winning the presidency if only he could find a way to get his message out to every American.

Torres said he has come to believe that Polley has the abilities he professes to have because many of the things he says ring true with today's society. He also said the fact that Polley hasn't tried to profit financially from his abilities makes him a believer.

"That's how you can tell the difference between the real psychics and the fake ones," Torres said.

Lawrence Reynolds, a Chicago-area computer programmer and another friend of Polley, said he'd be voting for Polley come 2008.

"The more I get to know the man, the more I believe him," he said.

Still, Polley admits that he's going to have to extend his reach to a lot more people if he's going to succeed next year and become president. He also admits that this might be an insurmountable challenge.

"There are some people who we'll just never be able to reach," Polley said. "There are some who think we're just nutty as fruitcakes."

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)