On July 9, Ross Perot died at the age of 89. He is the only person running for president outside the major parties who was ever leading in the polls. That happened in early June 1992, when all the nation’s leading pollsters reported that if the election had been held then, Perot would have won.
He is also the only person who got on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions, who didn’t need to file a single lawsuit to achieve that. In 1992, not only did he not need any ballot access lawsuits; two states immediately eased their ballot access laws, just to make sure that he got on the ballot. New York lowered the petition from 20,000 to 15,000 signatures, effective immediately (but the change was not effective immediately for office other than president). North Carolina discovered in early 1992 that it had no procedure for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot, and passed one, effective immediately. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
Richard, July 9, not June 9. When I first read this I was shocked that nobody had reported this for a month. That would have really been sad. Certainly sad to see Ross pass. A friend of mine worked for EDS and extolled his dress code – dark blue suit, white shirt, red tie, and wingtips.
Thank you very much, Jeff. I have now fixed it. This is why I love comments!
RIP – passing of the olde WW II generation.
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BUT due to RP – a series of worse and worse PUNK Prezs since 1992
Clinton, Bush II, Obama, Trump — all akin to the HACKS before Civil WAR I in 1861.
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PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
I didn’t vote for him but I sure liked his “voodoo stick” while he was explaining to the American people how the government was piling up unsustainable debt. Too bad no one listened. R I P
USA DEBT – NEAR A MERE 25 TRILLION — PLUS STATES NEAR 15 TRILLION – TOTAL 40 TRILLION
— GOVT BORROWING/SPENDING ABOUT 25 PERCENT MORE THAN INCOME SINCE 1929.
WHAT MICRO-SECOND BEFORE ALL ECON HELL HITS THE POLITICAL FAN ???
In 1981 Maya Lin was announced as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. She then faced harassment based on her ethnicity after her design was picked, including presidential candidate Ross Perot calling her an “egg roll.”
I’m very, very sorry to hear this. Ross had more than his fair share of detractors, but I will be forever grateful for the courageous campaign he waged in 1992 — a year when my immediate family, all of whom were registered Democrats at the time, enthusiastically supported his independent candidacy.
Of course, that was when voters in both major parties cared about the spiraling national debt — the greatest transfer of wealth from working-class and middle-income Americans to the investor class (Wall Street banks, insurance companies, foreign governments and wealthy individual investors across the globe, etc.) in world history. That’s a fact. That debt currently exceeds $22.4 trillion today and will forever burden our younger generations as debt repayments increasingly eat up more and more of the federal budget while consequently limiting economic opportunities for a majority of Americans.
The creditors own the country and will forever more…
RIP, Ross, you stood for the America’s better self at a time when people still cared about what was happening in this country.
Ross Perot’s candidacy in 1992 resulted in Bill Clinton being elected President with 43% of the popular vote, 3% less than Trump got in 2016. It would have been interesting if they used ranked choice voting in 1992.
I still have a “bearded men against Perot” button that a stranger gave me, referring to his dress code for employees. His campaign was phenomenal. Is there a good article about his ballot access efforts? Was it brute force by spending, or did he mobilize his army of supporters? What sort of lobbying did he do to influence NY and other states?
I estimate that about 35 pct of USA voters get ALL of their NET income AFTER taxes from govts. —
govt officials
contractors and their employees [esp the military-industrial complex]
interest getters [on govt debts]
welfare [via govt transfer payments]
EVIL mix of left/right sub-gangs.
IE LOOT-the-Treasury gangs in primaries in the rigged gerrymander areas.
PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Analysis of congressional and gubernatorial races in 1992 make it pretty clear that without Perot in the race Bush would have closed the gap on Clinton by, at best, 500,000 votes which would have still left Bush behind by over 5 million.
It is dismaying to me that people commenting at BAN would be willing to buy in to spurious ‘spoiler’ narratives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election
1st of the recent 4 PUNK Prezs.
How many DEAD/injured due to the 4 PUNKS ???
CP-
Severe 1991-1992 depression due to senile Reagan-Bush I added deficits in 1981-1992.
1993-2000 econ boom due to lower deficits.
More insane deficits since 2001.
*Almost* total econ collapse due to Obama 2009-2012 deficits.
Daily collapse danger with Trump daily added deficits.
Demo Rep, it remains unjustifiable to blame(or credit) Ross Perot for the outcome of the ’92 or the ’96 election, let alone for any election after that.
RIP Ross Perot. I had been a Republican all my life (until 2016, of course), but I was happy to break with my practice and enthusiastically vote for Perot in 1992. I didn’t vote third party again (for president) until Gary Johnson, 2016. Note: I can’t imagine voting for either old party again
I was living in Texas in 1980 when Governor Bill Clements appointed Ross Perot to head the Texas War on Drugs Committee. The legislature gave $645,000 in taxpayer’s money to the War on Drugs committee, which it used to lobby the legislature to pass harsher penalties for drug possession and trafficking, wiretapping and other attacks on freedom. I do not have any positive things to say about Perot. Good riddance!
Hmmm.
According to the CP history line of thinking —
WHATEVER happened in the past has had NO effect on the present – or even the future ???
Always a good excuse for some statist killer tyrant reptile brain monster to go NUTS —
the past is irrelevant ???
PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Mr. Perot is the reason I follow third party and independent politics so closely. The 1992 Election was the first I am old enough to remember paying attention to. Four years later, I questioned why Mr. Perot was not on the debate stage like he was in 1992. The rest, as they say, is history. RIP Mr. Perot.
DR wrote “I estimate that about 35 pct of USA voters get ALL of their NET income AFTER taxes from govts.”
Yep. This is a fine data point that makes my case that democracy is simply mob rule, particularly after the mob has decided how to divvy up the loot to keep the charade going.
DW –
Such about 35 pct is connected with the 25 pct minority rule in current gerrymander systems in general elections and the about 5-15 pct REAL CONTROL math in extremist party hack primaries.
NO primaries.
PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
“Ross Perot’s candidacy in 1992 resulted in Bill Clinton being elected President …”
Nope.
Bush never led in the polls during the time Perot dropped out. In fact he was losing by slightly more during that time.
Exit polls of Perot voters: 38% had Bush as their second choice, 38% Clinton, 24% – most would not have voted, a few would have voted for someone else other than Bush or Clinton.
Bush lost because of a crappy economy. Then blamed it on Perot. Some people still buy that myth, sadly.
BTW Nader was also not why Gore lost either. Many people registered and decided to vote at all because Nader ran, but many of those ended up voting for Gore because it looked close and they really did not want Bush to win. Additionally, a larger number of Arabs in Florida who usually vote Republican voted for Nader as a fellow Arab, something most non-Arabs don’t even know about him. Nader may have actually helped Gore, not hurt him. Gore lost because he was a weak candidate who did not project a winning image, got outplayed in the election, and lost his home state and Clinton’s.
Lastly we now have the even more ridiculous assertion by sore HRC losers that Johnson and Stein got Trump elected. Wrong again, duopolist haters.
Johnson got 3x or more Stein. The combined vote for both included about 2/3 people who said they would not vote for Clinton or Trump under any circumstances, period. They would rather not vote than vote for either of those. Of the rest they would have split just about evenly for Clinton and Trump. Under no scenario did Johnson and Stein change the result.
Early on some Demo-leaners did intend to vote for Johnson. His own gaffes and an orchestrated media-Demo operative campaign combined to shed him of much of that support. The Democrats overplayed their hand because later on people breaking away from Johnson broke more towards Trump. If anything swung the election involving third parties it was that. Had the Democrats cut their campaign to kneecap Johnson off just a little earlier they may have keep just enough of those people from moving to Trump to hold on to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by the skin of their teeth instead of losing them by the same margin.
As it stands many things account for Trump win – inept Republican opposition in the primary, a chattering class and establishment elite who did not take him seriously, Clinton’s arrogance and manipulation of the primary, foreign interference, Republican voter suppression and dirty ticks, Comey’s very odd role at the end, black box electronic vote fraud, Clinton’s uninspiring message …not at all Johnson and Stein though. Not only did many Johnson voters have Trump as their second choice but even some Stein voters did. Certainly some Bernie Sanders voters did and he is close to Stein ideologically.
So what did Perot actually accomplish by running for president? National focus on the debt and a balanced budget/surplus for a few years was the biggest thing. We should thank him for that. And giving the Republicans an excuse they did not deserve as to why they lost.
Time to watch old Dana Carvey clips.
I still have a Perot 96 yardsign a friend gave me after the election.
EN
As it stands many things account for Trump win —
ANTI-Democracy math of the EC — No. 1
H. Clinton being a RED DONKEY COMMUNIST [since 1960s] / FEMALE — Nos. 2 and 3 — some overlap.
Who would have won with AppV or RCV ???
Gene- kick a guy when he’s dead? Geez….
Any body still kicking the ex-Prezs ??? —
LB Johnson – Vietnam War / inflation
Nixon – Vietnam War/ Watergate / inflation
Ford – Pardon of Nixon
Reagan – Deficits – Iran-Contra – start of major Forn trade deficits
Bush I – Deficits – half ass win against Saddam H.
Which USA monarch Prez machination will be the END of the USA / Western Civilization ???
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PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Demo Rep- I would believe you would kick ANYONE! Jesus Christ is not safe from you!!!!!!!!
CL
See the END of the Roman Republic in 27 BC via the KILLER/ Tyrant / Emperor Augustus Caesar and JC coming on Earth — circa 3 BC-0 BC/AD
Time will tell if JC shows up and runs for USA Prez ?? !!! ??? –
or more likely takes on 666 AC # 3
I intended to vote for Ross Perot in 1992, which would have been the first election in which I voted, but I did not register to vote in time. I was going to vote for Ross Perot in 1996, but I switched my support to Harry Browne after I discovered the Libertarian Party which flipping through the TV channels on the 4th of July weekend and stumbling upon Harry Browne speaking at the Libertarian National Convention. Ross Perot did get some things right, and although I don’t think that he had all of the right solutions, and I do think he was wrong about some things, he did do a good job of identifying some of the problems, especially the national debt.
I called up an AM talk radio show back in the fall of 1996 and advocated for Harry Browne and Ross Perot to be included in the presidential debates.
Don Wills said: “Yep. This is a fine data point that makes my case that democracy is simply mob rule, particularly after the mob has decided how to divvy up the loot to keep the charade going.”
Don, here’s a couple of reforms that would make our present system operate a whole lot better.
1) Anyone who gets anything from the government, as in anyone on welfare, including the board of directors of companies that receive corporate welfare, as well as any government employee at any level of government, including retired government employees receiving government pensions, as well as any government contractors, should be prohibited from voting, or from donating to political campaigns.
2) Prior to each election, a test on the Constitution should be given to all of those who want to vote, and only those who pass the test are able to vote in an election.
If these two things were in effect, I bet that we’d have a mucb more free and prosperous society right now.
By the way, you should check out the book, “Democracy, The God That Failed,” by Hans-Hermann Hoppe.
Andy —
folks do not get IT.
NOOOOOOOO Democracy in the USA for most laws —
25 pct minority rule gerrymander oligarchs with tyrant monarchs – leaders
1/2 or less votes x 1/2 gerrymander areas = 1/4 or less CONTROL = OLIGARCHY.
SCOTUS math MORONS too evil stupid to detect the math in the RUCHO DISASTER op.
ALL SORTS of oligarchs in the last 6,000 plus years – often overthrown in foreign and/or domestic civil wars by FORCE.
The various *monarch* regimes have ALL been oligarch regimes- since the top monster has had lots of oligarch robots — King George III, Napoleon, Kaiser Bill, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc.
Demo Rep, you stated “BUT due to RP – a series of worse and worse PUNK Prezs since 1992.” Disagreeing with your unjustifiable claim that Ross Perot is responsible for the outcome of the past seven presidential election is not even remotely the same as the idea that history doesn’t matter, at least not in this dimension(perhaps it’s different in yours).
If you really believe that Perot even so much as decided the outcome of just the ’92 election why don’t you explain how, perhaps with paragraphs containing related sentences.
CP – THE 1992 FACT of interest –
Clinton got elected by 43.4 pct of the popular votes —
one more ANTI-Democracy minority rule Prez — due to Perot.
How many UN-declared WARS [aka Acts of WAR] with Clinton I ???
— and each other WAR Crimes MONSTER Prez since 1950 Truman
and since – Bush II, Obama, Trump ???
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PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Clinton I machinations in 1993-1994 lead to 1994 gerrymander election —
Donkeys LOSE CONTROL of USA House of Reps after 40 years.
Result – Pelosi paralysis in 2019.
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PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Demo Rep, the fact of interest is that Perot received almost 19%, demonstrating the dissatisfaction with the two establishment party candidates. Without Perot in the race Clinton, who beat Bush the Elder by almost 6 million votes, probably wins a majority but there still would have been millions of people who would have been unhappy with the status quo. Perot and his money didn’t create the problem, he exposed it.
THE 2016 FACT of interest –
Trump got elected by 46.1 pct of the popular votes —
one more ANTI-Democracy minority rule Prez — due to Johnson LP and Stein GP.
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PR and AppV and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
Demo Rep, blaming alternative party choices instead of the election system itself for plurality winners is nonsense unless you favor restricting the ballot to just two candidates. You aren’t starting to buy in to Jim Riley’s Top-Two garbage, are you?
CP–
Most/All election *systems* are rotted —- plurality / gerrymanders — my FACT math postings above.
PR and AppV [pending Condorcet] and TOTSOP — NOW Life or Death
IT IS I, THE PROGRESSIVE GATO OF ROBERTO K STOCKO! DID YOU KNOW REDPATH OILS UP FOR WINGER EVERY WEEKEND?