@Pug
Ross Perot's first term had been chaotic, to say the least. With no support in Congress, he relied on the Democrats and Republicans for support of any of his legislation. The Democrats, with 63 seats in the Senate and an equally large House majority weren't always the closest allies of the person who had campaigned on a radical centrist platform. After 1994, it looked as though the Democrats would be in a close race with Liberty & Justice. Still, Perot launched his re-election campaign confident of victory. But there was only one thing keeping the campaign alive. And that thing was Perot himself. Perot was on a visit to the Philippines for a state visit when several bombs went off on the president's motorcade, while at the same time an RPG was fired at "The Beast." President Perot was dead. Vice President Quayle was quickly brought to the White House in the middle of an embarrassing speech to a group of feminist leaders. It was found out later that day that it was part of the attempted Bojinka Plot, which was organized by Ramzi Yousef (who had also been a major figure in the 1993 WTC bombing). Quayle appointed as his Vice President former Senate Leader Lowell Weicker (who had lost his seat in the 1994 Senate elections), who was easily confirmed by the Senate. As a result of the Bojinka Plot, Quayle attempted to implement the "National Protection Act," which was attacked by many members of his own party, but most notably former Presidential candidate Wayne Owens. Owens' filibuster made him even more of a hero to the left of the Democratic Party, with him being seen as the largest player in defeating the act.
1996 would have somewhat of a limited field like in 1996. The Democrats had managed to get Owens to run for their nomination, with his main rivals being Oregon Senator Les Au Coin, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker (with Neil Goldsmith making a bizarre political comeback). He would win almost all of the early primaries, getting the nomination on Super Tuesday against the more conventionally liberal Frank Lautenberg. His running mate would be Texas Governor Ann Richards, who was selected over Wisconsin Senator Doug LaFollette.
The Republicans struggled to get candidates, with virtually no one wanting to be the third-place finisher. The only candidates taken seriously were Senators Larry Craig and Thomas F. Hartnett, both strong conservatives. The only centrist candidate was Carol Schwartz, a DC City Councilwoman and a former candidate for Mayor who was too liberal for most Republicans. Paleoconservative Joseph Sobran had hoped to take the Ron Paul movement of 1992 and continue it. Louisana Senator and 1992 candidate David Duke was running to the right of him with no major Republicans even daring to touch his candidacy. All Republicans were shocked when he took the state of Iowa, seen as Craig and Hartnett splitting their votes, and it would continue when Schwartz picked up New Hampshire. Duke had made an even bigger upset in the state of South Carolina, defeating Hartnett in his home state. Hartnett would drop out that day, followed quickly by Craig (after a sex scandal). After this, most Republicans were in complete shock and panic, having to decide between an anti-Semite, a Klansman, and a liberal. The primary would be a complete three-way race, with a contested convention giving a victory to Sobran with the support of Schwartz delegates. Sobran picked Schwartz as his running mate, and while he claims that this was done for "party unity," it was often thought that it was a deal for allowing Sobran's first ballot victory. After Sobran's nomination, former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton III announced that he would be running as a Natural Law Party candidate, and Duke announced his campaign as a Populist Party member (surprisingly picking black activist Lenora Fulani as his running mate).
Meanwhile, the Liberty & Justice Party had planned on just a convention (planning to nominate Perot) but were left with a great division. The major factions were the paleoconservatives led by Mario Biaggi and Evan Mecham, the left-libertarian supporters of Dick Lamm, the centrists supporting Lowell Weicker, and Quayle loyalists. After ten ballots, no compromise candidate could be selected and the party agreed to run five tickets (although some see this as six with Hickel's L&J-allied AKIP running a separate campaign). The tickets were Dan Quayle/Mike Bowers, Mario Biaggi/Russell Pearce, Eunice Groark/Dean Barkley, and Dick Lamm/Bob Beckel. While it was clear that informal non-standing agreements were made, there was significant vote splitting and confusion. One example of this was Biaggi's campaign listing their party affiliation often as Liberty & Justice with very minor spelling changes.
In the end, the result was never up to debate. Owens would win every state but Alaska and Mississippi. The real shock was the surprisingly strong showing for Workers World nominee Billy McKinney, which has been credited as being caused by the newly-elected Russian President Zyuganov secretly sending large amounts of money to the McKinney campaign.
