President George Bush started out the 1992 campaign season with the strongest position of any incumbent President in recent memory after the successes of the Gulf War. After losing the 1988 election in a landslide with Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, the Democrats searched for a new candidate, but few ran. New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Tennessee Senator Al Gore, Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt, New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, and much more declined to run.
Saturday Night Live even aired a sketch with the five debating to avoid being a candidate.
However, a few would make a shot for the nomination. Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder would be the first African-American nominee of a major party and was a supporter of gun control as governor. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton had given the disastrous keynote speech in 1988 and had been noted for his educational reform. Former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt was Carter's Transportation Secretary and had also taken Oregon out of an economic recession. Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey and Utah Congressman Wayne Owens were Western populists and liberal stalwarts. New York Congressman Stephen Solarz had a neoconservative platform, who had strong ties to India. Finally, former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas had promised to cut government spending, while former California Governor Jerry Brown had an odd mix, including a flat tax and universal health care.
Clinton was the first to drop out, with an affair with model Jennifer Flowers destroying his campaign. Wilder also dropped out before the primaries, deciding to focus on being governor. This would get the DLC vote behind Goldschmidt. Sure enough, Goldschmidt would win the first contest, the Iowa caucus. New Hampshire would give a surprise win to Owens, would run a liberal campaign. This would be a big blow to Tsongas and Kerrey. Tsongas would drop out, with his hopes of winning over. Maine would continue Owens' success, with the Utah Congressman calling for "a new direction". Super Tuesday would establish a clear Owen-Goldschmidt race, but the former Oregon Governor would win most contests. Goldschmidt's Southern success gave him a delegate lead that Owens could not keep up with. Still, Owens had run the most successful left-wing insurgent campaign since George McGovern in 1972. Goldschmidt would pick his former rival, Stephen Solarz as his running mate.
The Republicans would have a brief contest. Former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, with the support of Nixon strategist Pat Buchanan, had beat Bush in the New Hampshire primary. Louisiana Senator David Duke had also won his home state's contest, but Bush would take all of the remaining primaries. With that shock, Bush decided to take a risk and drop Vice President Dan Quayle from the ticket with the advice of Secretary of State James Baker. In his place would be South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell, who had record high approval ratings in his home state.
A third campaign would also be in the mix. Texas businessman Ross Perot, the founder of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. On
Larry King Live, Perot said he would announce a run if volunteers could get his name on the ballot in all fifty states. Volunteers would do that, and Perot would announce a run. Perot's campaign included Carter Cheif of Staff Hamilton Jordan and Reagan 1984 campaign chair Ed Rollins. In a campaign compared to Preston Manning's Reform Party and David Orchard's Action Canada, Perot would attack free trade, the "political establishment", and the national debt. For a running mate, Perot considered former UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Senator Warren Rudman, Governor John Silber, and Illinois Senator Paul Simon. Ultimately, he would pick a shocking choice, Vice President Quayle.
Perot had surprisingly taken a lead in the polls, with Bush in second and Goldschmidt in third. After the conventions, Goldschmidt had made the most ground, while Perot had lost some (with only a minor "independence convention"). Perot, however, made up ground in the debates, with the uncharismatic Bush and overconfident Goldschmidt making poor performances. The VP debate would have Campbell having the strongest performance, with Quayle, despite attempts by the campaign to polish up his campaigning skills, not being able to get rid of the "potatoe" image.
1988 had been an election dominated by scandal, from Joe Biden plagiarizing Jean Chrétien, to Pat Robertson's military record, to Gary Hart's affairs, and Atwater's attempts to make the election as nasty as possible. However, 1992 would have the biggest scandal in American campaign history at that point. The "Halloween Suprise" was a leaked story about the Oregon Governor having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl while he was Mayor of Portland. Goldschmidt publicly admitted to the affair and asked voters to give him a second chance. Senior Democrats withdrew their endorsements. Some, like, Paul Simon, even endorsed Perot's campaign. While it was too late to remove him from the ticket, House and Senate leaders George Mitchell and Tom Foley encouraged their candidates to distance themselves from Goldschmidt.
On Election Day, Henry Ross Perot had become the first president elected as an independent since George Washington.