Word: perots
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When Ross Perot entered the 1992 Presidential race and seized nearly 20 percent of the popular vote, he demonstrated--if not created--a new formula for third-party politics. Perot showed how one person with immense financial resources can frame the debate of an entire election and distill it to a core set of issues. The huge national deficit and soaring national debt were recognized problems long before Perot declared his candidacy, but when the Texas billionaire focused his campaign (and his money) on the unbalanced budget, it attained national prominence. Subsequently, both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were forced...
...forgotten issues and to influence debate is not a recently-discovered property of third parties. Over the course of American history, third parties have helped bring about reform in such areas as women's suffrage, the graduated income tax, and the direct election of senators. What made the Perot campaign unique, however, was that it illustrated how wealthy individuals aren't limited to serving merely as the cash cows of a third party--as were Frank Munsey and George Perkins in Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party. Instead, ambitious tycoons can actually run themselves, as third-party candidates for president...
...wealthy political neophyte, as Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes demonstrated, will first test the waters of traditional party channels. But when this fails, these candidates--just as Perot did--may experiment with third-party alternatives. If this occurs, one or more third parties could be the beneficiary of a timely cash transfusion, giving it the means to place increasing pressure on Republicans and Democrats...
...Ross Perot, for example, was able to address the American public without traditional media filters. Timely infomercials, town hall meetings, and television talk-show appearances sparked grass-roots efforts which got him on the ballot in all 50 states. Savvy media consultants, pollsters, and other political experts-for-hire have the know-how to rapidly build the necessary organizational structure. Then add to this mix new political tools such as 1-800-numbers, direct mail, and the Internet, and what results is a dramatic dilution of the effect of regional politics and party machinery...
According to R. Clayton Mulford, chief counsel and campaign manager for Perot '92 (and a current Institute of Politics fellow), "the difference with the current third-party movement is that the driving force is the process. Government itself is the specific issue. People are tired of the political class and how politics works." And when Washington insiders such as New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley chastise the system, and hint at potential third-party possibilities, the need for this solvent gains additional credibility...