People heard him. He had many rallies and participated in primary debates. He also had a book out, did interviews. He had a very repetitive message which is normally good for politicians. Some of his ideas were very out of the norm for the time, some isolationist ideas-- not saying they were not valid but there was an alternative running that fed into people's prejudices and encouraged them to be hostile and mean- fed their dopamine centers, and said the words "communist" and "socialist" a lot. Also there were a lot of Democrats who wanted to vote for a Democrat, not a "Democrat for convenience."

He is too old to run for president. Can't we just stop with the gerontocracy?

Very true. However, homegrown and picked when ripe tastes so much better. Plus, you can control the amount of plant food/nutrients in the soil and make it a better nutritional choice.

I think the big complaint about him is that he is a propagandist that supports fascists.