That year the American Independent Party nominated former representative John G. Schmitz of California (a member of the John Birch Society and a former Republican). In 1976 Wallace had again chosen to seek the Democratic party nomination rather than that of the American Independent Party. Viguerie began fundraising for him, taking in $6 million in donations by the beginning of the year. In February, Viguerie also tried to draft another conservative voice into the Democratic nominations by working to draft Former Texas Gov. John Connally into the race, vowing to donate $20,000 of his own. When contacted by reporters on the move Connally said he had "never heard of it" but refused to rule out accepting such an effort. Viguerie told reporters that he was trying to offset that "The Democratic primary is dominated by liberals, who are all trying to be more liberal than the other." The Wallace campaign had already come to Viguere in 1973 when he was considering running but was $250,000 in debt. The campaign had a million names of possible donors but fewer than 75,000 had become contributors. The New York Magazine reporting on the campaign's move held that "Viguerie probably has the best political solicitation apparatus in the republic today." He told the magazine that "By the time we're finished, we'll have sent out 19-million pieces and grossed $12 million for Governor Wallace." Viguere found much to like in Wallace's stances, saying "I'm realizing as each day goes by that George Wallace and I have more in common than I thought. I'd like to see less government in people's lives than Wallace does, but when it comes to social issues, we're together. We agree on busing, law and order, crime, parent control in the public schools, attacking immorality in public life, movies, and television. Why, I pulled my children out of the public schools here because they're too secular and only interested in the life cycle of the salmon. I put them in a private Christian school. I'm with Wallace on antipornography. I've raised millions to fight it. These are the concerns of the client, George Wallace, and we incorporate them in every mailing piece, and we don't miss national defense, either. You see, in an ideological cause like this, people give money not to win friends, but to defeat enemies. You like to change human nature, but you can't--people are more strongly motivated