H. Ross Perot; a brief history

Candidate Perot;

• Ross Perot sensed a generalized air of dissatisfaction among the public towards both government in general and candidates offered by the two dominant parties.  During the February 20, 1992 edition of Larry King Live he announced his intentions to run as an independent, pending the gathering and submission of petition signatures in sufficient numbers to make the ballot on all 50 states. 
• Some of the issues that Ross Perot focused on;

1. Balancing the federal budget
2. Firm pro-choice stance
3. Ending outsourcing of jobs
4. Belief in protectionism on trade
5. Protecting the environment
6. Electronic direct democracy via "electronic town halls" (ed note; good call)

• Once his campaign became an inevitability Perot hired campaign managers from both parties, Democrat Hamilton Jordan and Republican Ed Rollins.
• On July 16, Perot unexpectedly dropped out of the presidential race. He was in a close race or even ahead in polls at the time. Perot eventually stated the reason was that he received threats that digitally altered photos would be released by the Bush campaign to sabotage his daughter's wedding. Regardless of the reasonings for the drop-out, his reputation was damaged.
• In September he qualified for all 50 state ballots. On October 1, he announced his intention to start running again.
• Scott Barnes, a private investigator and security consultant who had testified to that effect and supported Perot's story, in 1997 changed his story, stated that he had tricked Perot into believing that it was true, but it was a hoax he created with others outside any political campaign. Barnes was a Perot supporter, and believed if it were revealed Republicans were involved in dirty tricks, it would harm Bush's candidacy.
• He campaigned in 16 states and spent an estimated $65.4 million of his own money. Perot bought half-hour blocks of airtime to campaign on dry fiscal statistics, which he illustrated with pie charts.  The programs drew heavy audiences, with one Friday night program in October attracting 10.5 million viewers.
• Ross Perot became a sensation during the Presidental Debates, his stern, wise businessman approach threw the more polished, soundbite prone Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton off balance.
• Perot polled strongly right up to the election.  He didn't win any electoral votes but gathered 19% of the popular vote, the highest number since Theodore Roosevelt ran on the Progressive Party ticket in 1912.  
• The extent of the impact of Perot dropping out of the race will never be fully known. Some argue that he might have ended up winning the race.

That's about all for now.  Most of this material is from Wikki.  As an engaged supporter of Ross Perot during this time the information strikes me as a valid representation.  The private investigator/security officer's story has never sat right with me.  Why in the heck would someone within the campaign risk election fraud by creating a story for a candidate who didn't need the help escapes logic.  I'm of the opinion he recanted due to pressure or a payoff.  But that's my conclusion.  It's a shame and disservice that Ross Perot is ridiculed by pundits and the press as the crazy old Texan with pie charts.  Recent mischaracterizations of Barack Obama as a closet Islamic fanatic are the modern day counterpart. 

Perot on McCain, Obama, Bush, Hillary, Romney, and the economy.

Here are selected exerpts from a January 2008 Newsweek interview conducted by Johanthan Alter.  His Bible Belt-Eagle Scout-USNA cadet moral character comes through, in fact it colors his every assessment made towards others.  Perhaps some will view this as a fault.  In this day of political correctness and croonyism I find his steady moral compass and frank honesty refresing.  

• McCain

McCain "is the classic opportunist--he's always reaching for attention and glory. Other POWs won't even sit at the same table with him."

The Perot-McCain relationship goes back to McCain's five and a half years of captivity in Hanoi. When McCain's then-wife Carol was in a serious car accident, McCain's mother called Perot for help. "She asked me to send my people to Philadelphia to take care of the family," Perot says. Afterwards, McCain was grateful. "We loved him [Perot] for it," McCain told me in 2000. Perot doesn't remember it that way. "After he came home, he walked with a limp, she [Carol McCain] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona [Cindy McCain, his current wife] and the rest is history."

Perot's real problem with McCain is that he believes the senator hushed up evidence that live POWs were left behind in Vietnam and even transferred to the Soviet Union for human experimentation, a charge Perot says he heard from a senior Vietnamese official in the 1980s. "There's evidence, evidence, evidence," Perot claims. "McCain was adamant about shutting down anything to do with recovering POWs." Not surprisingly, McCain sees it differently. He has told me several times over the years that the myth of live POWs was a cruel hoax on the families. He chaired hearings into the issue in the 1990s and found nothing. "The committee did an exhaustive job and pored over thousands of records and every claim of a sighting, no matter how outlandish," says Salter. "It was all untrue."

• Romney

Perot says he intends to vote for Mitt Romney in the Texas Republican primary on March 4, citing Romney's experience in business and his family values. "When I went to the Naval Academy and met my first Mormons I asked why so many were excellent officers," Perot recalls. "I learned it was because of their strong family unit."

• Obama

When I asked about Barack Obama, Perot said he admired his eloquence but thought it "a little odd that we would be less concerned about his background than being a Mormon." Perot was pleasantly surprised when I told him that Obama was a Christian, not a Muslim, and relieved when I informed him that the e-mail Perot (and untold others) received about Obama not respecting the Pledge of Allegiance was a fraud.

• Clintons

Perot isn't a Hillary hater, but he's not a fan either, relating the bumper sticker he received that reads: "Monica Lewinsky's Ex-Boyfriend's Wife for President."

• Bush II

President Bush, Perot says, is a "decent person, but you can't say the same thing about the people around him."

• Economy

The founder of a data-processing empire is still sharp in diagnosing what ails the United States. "The situation in 1992 was not nearly as bad as it is now," he says. "If ever there was a time when it was necessary to put our house in order, it's now. "It's like having cancer and being in denial. The conduct of the House and Senate is an embarrassment to the nation."

Perot is appalled at the specter of big banks having to borrow from foreigners to stay afloat: "We have to go around the world with a tambourine and a tin cup." He attributes the success of China to the fact that even uneducated Chinese must learn 3,000 characters early in life, compared to the 26 letters in the English alphabet. "Their hand-eye productivity is incredible because of drawing the symbols," Perot says, noting that most of today's Ph.D.s in engineering are from China and India, and only a small percentage from the United States.

Perot offers no easy solutions, instead emphasizing "a strong moral and ethical base, strong homes and the finest schools." He says he's disappointed that big textbook companies successfully lobbied in the Texas state legislature to reverse his landmark school reforms.

Here is his current website Perot Charts.com.  In his latest entry Ross takes aim at the handling of the bailout.  I would love to see Barack Obama give Perot an advisory position.  If Obama really wants to hear the truth behind the smoke and mirrors he's uniquely qualified.