I think "Unlikely" fails to describe the impossibility of this scenario
Maybe the author means that someone else named bin Laden (NOT the terrorist) who has U.S. citizenship ran for President as an Independent.
You gave me an idea: in a alternative history, the bin Laden family moved to California in the 1940s. Osama is now a Senator there, and is is running for President as an independent (he lost his bid for the Democratic nomination in 2004, so he changed his afilation to independent, much like Joe Lieberman).
