"Phelps has since changed his opinion about Gore when he joined
Bill Clinton on the 1992 presidential ticket. Phelps turned on him and claimed Gore was a conservative icon of the Democratic Party that sold out on some critical social issues. Phelps also demonstrated against Clinton and Gore during the 1997 inaugural."
---Conservapedia
"1947
Phelps enrolls in but never graduates from Bob Jones University, a highly conservative religious school known for banning interracial dating (a policy changed only in 2000) and for attacking Catholicism. Ordained as a Baptist preacher at age 17, he spends the summer trying to convert Mormons." [that's pretty fucking conservative!]
It looks to me as though Phelps started out as a conservative and ended up as an ultra-conservative. He calls himself a Democrat, but that party has changed even more than Phelps has. He just refuses to leave his party, even though his party has left him. (Phelps is old. He was born in 1929.)
As far as Phelps running for office...he lost five primaries. Hell, I could do that! YOU could do that! I could run as a Republican and lose a primary election. Would that make me representative of the Republican Party? No.
P.S. If I really ran for office my slogan would be, "let sinners pay taxes for you" and I'd be for legalized prostitution and legalized marijuana. Clever, no?