Ross Perot 1992 presidential campaign

In 1992, Ross Perot ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for President of the United States. Perot was a Texas industrialist who had never served as a public official, but he had experience as the head of several successful corporations and had been involved in public affairs for the previous three decades. Grass-root organizations sprang up in every state to help Perot achieve ballot access following his announcement on the February 20, 1992, edition of Larry King Live. James Stockdale, a retired Navy vice admiral and Medal of Honor recipient, was chosen as Perot's running mate.

Perot focused the campaign on his plans to balance the federal budget, further economic nationalism, strengthen the war on drugs, and implement "electronic town halls" throughout the nation for "direct democracy". His views were described as a combination of "East Texas populism with high-tech wizardry".^[2] Supporters saw him as a non-political and witty "folk hero", but critics described him as "authoritarian"^[3] and "short-tempered".^[4]

Perot largely financed his own campaign and relied on marketing and wide grass roots support. In certain polls, he led the three-way race with Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, the incumbent president, and Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, the Democratic nominee. He dropped out in July 1992 amid controversy, but re-entered in October, participating in all three presidential debates. His polling numbers never fully recovered from his initial exit, despite his aggressive use of commercials on prime-time television. Perot appeared on every state ballot as a result of the earlier draft efforts.

In the general election, Clinton defeated Bush while Perot carried no states and received no votes in the Electoral College. However, Perot won several counties, placed second in two states, and finished far ahead of any other candidate in third place overall, receiving close to 18.97 percent of the popular vote, the most won by a non-major-party presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.^[5] Perot remains the only non-major-party presidential candidate since George C. Wallace in 1968 both to win counties and to finish as high as second place in any state.