Root was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of the late David and Stella Root. His father was a butcher from Bronxville, Westchester, NY, who dabbled in third party politics as one of the original founders of the New York State Conservative Party.

Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as President Barack Obama).

He has been married to Debra Root for over 17 years. The couple have four children: Dakota, Hudson, Remington, and Contessa.

TV producer and personality

Root is Founder and Chairman of Winning Edge International Inc. Since 2000, he has hosted Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge, a television show which promotes Root's sports handicapping operation. The show aired during the 2007 season on Discovery Channel on Saturday mornings, and featured analysis by Root, former NFL and College Football coach Ron Meyer, Big Al McMordie, and Chet Coppock. It has been aired in the past on Fox Sports Net, Comcast Sports, Spike TV, and Superstation WGN.

Root was the creator, executive producer and co-host (along with HBO's Max Kellerman) of King of Vegas on Spike TV.

Sports handicapper

Root's TV handicapping career began in New York City on WNBC radio (now WFAN) in the early 1980s. He moved onto NBC "Source Radio Network" syndicated around the country in over 100 markets as a sports talk host. He later became one of the youngest anchormen and national TV hosts in America from 1989 through the early 1990s on Financial News Network (FNN), now known as CNBC. Root hosted five shows on FNN, including Who Beat the Spread and FNN Zone with Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder (of CBS NFL Today fame).

Author

Root is the author of several books, including The Zen of Gambling,The Joy of Failure!, The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling, and Millionaire Republican.His latest book is entitled, "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts (John Wiley & Sons)- released on July 20, 2009. Root starts a nationwide book tour on "Hannity" on Fox News Channel. Wayne Allyn Root's Libertarian Presidential Candidate Website: Root for America! His latest book The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts has been ranked #1 or #2 at Amazon.com in the "Libertarian Books" category for 10 consecutive months.

Root was a longtime Republican Party member and supporter who self-identified as a Libertarian Republican. In 2007, Root ended his association with the Republican Party and joined the Libertarian Party. He authored a book on his libertarian views, The Conscience of a Libertarian, which was published in 2009. Wayne Allyn Root's Blog - MY LIBERTARIAN AWAKENING

2008 presidential campaign

On May 4, 2007, Root declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination on Las Vegas' Fox 5 television station.

On February 5, 2008, he won the Missouri Libertarian primary. He came in second in Arizona and third in California, without campaigning in any of these states. Wayne Allyn Root's Libertarian Presidential Candidate Website: Root for America!

2008 vice-presidential candidacy

On May 25, 2008, Root made it to the fifth ballot at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention before being eliminated and endorsing Bob Barr, who went on to the party's presidential nomination. In the third round of voting, he was successful in the race for the vice presidential nomination, beating Steve Kubby.

In September 2008, Root offered to give up his VP slate on the Libertarian ticket to make room for Ron Paul, as the LP received feelers that the former Republican presidential candidate may have been interested in getting on a strong third party ticket, as there remained a strong following behind him. Paul declined the offer, and denied any intention of running on a third-party presidential ticket.

Libertarian Party National Chair candidacy

In 2010, Root ran for the position of Libertarian Party National Chair. His candidacy was endorsed by his running mate on the 2008 Libertarian presidential ticket, Bob Barr, and by the Party's first presidential nominee, John Hospers. He was defeated by Mark Hinkle by a vote of 228-281 in the third round but subsequently succeeded in being elected to the Libertarian National Committee as an At-Large Member.

Political positions

Root supports smaller government, reduced spending, reduced entitlements, reduced bureaucracy, dramatically lower taxes, and greater personal freedom for individuals. In the area of education, he supports more parental control, more emphasis on school choice (moving education to the state and local level), and increased competition through vouchers. Root and his wife choose to home-school their children. He is also a strong supporter of gun rights for the individual. Root is a small businessman who believes the 2-party system is built on corruption, greed and bribery. He is a fiscal conservative in the mode of his heroes Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater. He believes most social issues should be determined on the state and local level. Root calls for the repeal of the income tax and favors replacing it, as well as all other sources of federal tax revenues, with a tax on each state in proportion to its population, with each state deciding for itself how to raise its share of the money, which is mentioned in Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution.This has been called a "State-Rate Tax".

Root holds that "the Iraq war is a disaster". He states the answer is to "use the success of the surge to declare victory and make plans to get out of Iraq as soon as reasonably possible". He also questions Central Intelligence Agency information on Iran, would use "any diplomatic means", including the United Nations, in order to "avoid another war".