AHC:Ross Perot has electoral votes

samcster94

Banned
Ross Perot gave the best performance of a third party candidate after the Cold War ended. He won nearly a fifth of the popular vote in 1992 and 8% in 1996. He won zero electoral votes both times. What would it take for him to win electoral votes?? He is not allowed to win in this scenario as that is nearly ASB. Bonus points if it happens in 1996.
 
Not too difficult. Don't have him drop out in the middle of the bloody election, and then re-enter. He was in the low 30's before he did that. Even in OTL he got second place in Maine and Utah. If he could keep up that early momentum, I could see him winning one or even two states.
 
best bet would be Perot not dropping out in 1992, in which case, Maine and Utah could be possible victories or him.
 
Would it be a non-ASB scenario if Ross Perot gets electors but loses contingent election in House?
If the election does go to the House(perhaps by having Perot pivot to the left, possibly by picking Jerry Brown instead of Stockdale, or having Clinton's scandals cost him a bit more), then I think that's probably most likely. There's little reason for established politicians to buck their parties by voting in an independent they have no ties to.
 
Maine and Nebraska choose electors by congressional district. Because the two states in modern times have had only five districts between them, a candidate losing one of the states but winning in one of the districts and gaining an elector is rare. This never happened in the 20th century, though it often happened in the 19th century when choosing electors by congressional districts was more common.

In the 21st century it happened twice, Obama winning a district and an EV in Nebraska in 2008, and Trump winning a district and an EV in Maine in 2016 (the only time so far in this century the Republicans have gotten an New England EV or the Democrats a Plains state EV). Perot came very close in carrying an identical version of that Maine congressional district, so you could get him an EV without changing much at all about the campaign.
 
What if stories break soon after the conventions about HW Bush and his wandering hands of sexual harassment? Trump did somewhat poorly there in 2016, compared to 2008. Maybe with the headwinds HW Bush already faced + a summer of sex harassment charges+ decent person Perot (no idea about his personal moral standing or his position on abortion... McMullin did great with almost no money, but that was a Mormon running in Mormon country). Any experts take on if this is possible? Thinking Perot would win by 2-3 %.
 
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