Flower Power

No, a lot of the people you are thinking of were still turning out for Clinton, a New Democrat who professed more moderate positions. And even as a Southerner he had difficulty carrying the South in the manner Jimmy Carter did. That and by 2008 you not only had a more Liberal Generation coming into the voting booths, but many Northerners had moved into the Southern states along the Atlantic Coast, driving them towards the Democrats.

Jackson is not going to help Brown in the South even remotely.

The immigration point is a sound one. So my for my devil's advocacy for Jesse Jackson.
 
Third Man Running

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Third party and independent candidates had never done well in Presidential elections, or any elections for that matter, in the United States. There were a few exceptions to this (most notably being former President Theodore Roosevelt running as the nominee of the Progressive Party, where he came in second place to Woodrow Wilson, defeating the Republican nominee, William Howard Taft), but not any in recent history.

That is not to say, however, that third party candidates didn’t have the potential to do well under the right circumstances, which occurred in 1992. Thanks to an economy in recession, Republican President George H W Bush’s approval ratings were at a low point as many voters sought another choice. Their only other choice was Democratic nominee Jerry Brown, who many in the United States saw as too liberal. Stuck between an unpopular incumbent and an unappealing alternative, many began to look for another person to vote for. Ordinarily in American politics, such a third person was nowhere to be found, and voters simply held their noses and voted for the lesser of two evils. This time was not like the others.

Ross Perot's independent bid for the presidency did not have a starting date. Instead, it just sort of happened. As early as February of 1992, after the widely-publicized fall of Clinton, Perot stated that he did not want to run for President, but would do so if his supporters managed to get him on the ballot in enough states. With sufficient support from independents tired of both parties, and members of both parties tired of their candidates, Perot gradually eased himself into the race. He began hosting campaign events promoting his candidacy and hiring a fully-functioning campaign team.

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Aside from news about the economy and the gridlocked Democratic Primary between Brown and Tsongas at the time, Ross Perot mostly dominated political news. Straw polls showed him polling close to President Bush and both Democratic candidates in a theoretical matchup. At one point in May, he was the frontrunner in the General Election, defeating the nominees of both parties by a surprisingly large margin.

Perot’s presidential campaign was unorthodox to say the least. He was not a politician, and often paid little attention to the advice of his campaign team, sometimes going off on his own messages when they contradicted what the campaign had said earlier. He was slow to make substantive statements about his policies, and the main message of his campaign appeared to just be repeating the fact that he was running. He hadn’t even named a running mate until he realized that he required one in order to get on the ballot in numerous states. With that piece of knowledge, he selected retired Admiral James Stockdale as an “interim” running mate until he could find an official one. He never did, and Stockdale wound up staying in the position permanently.

In many ways, Ross Perot and Jerry Brown were very similar. They were both tired of the status quo in Washington and wanted to change things for the better. They both limited the amount of money they would accept from contributors; although Perot only accepted donations up to $5 from any individual person while Brown would allow donations up to $100. It was a fact that Perot would tease Brown about on the campaign trail, saying that the Governor was a more expensive candidate than himself. They both ran unorthodox campaigns and achieved great success in doing so. As a final touch, they both used populism to draw in votes.

While their policies were similar, they drew many contrasts to each other. Brown relied only on the contributions of his supporters, and needed to utilize free media and a toll-free telephone number to keep his campaign alive. Perot, on the other hand, was independently wealthy and insisted on personally financing his own campaign. Brown ran a frugal campaign out of necessity. Perot ran a frugal campaign out of stubbornness. Brown had to use what resources he had as efficiently as possible while Perot simply refused to spend money on what he deemed was a waste.

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The independent campaign was doing very well for itself considering what it was when it was ended in July 1992. Perot’s reason for dropping out of the race at that critical stage was due to a decline in support. The gradual fall of the Perot campaign was due to a generalization of the issues that he could not seem to overcome, a string of gaffes made towards various minority groups, his constant ignoring of the advice of his campaign staff which led to their disillusionment, and a worry that his campaign might lead to a split in the electoral college, signaling that he was beginning to be viewed as a spoiler rather than as a legitimate candidate.

After leaving the race in July, Perot urged his supporters to vote for other candidates, but did not endorse anyone directly. He was pleasantly surprised to see Jerry Brown nominated by the Democratic Party when he had been almost certain that Paul Tsongas would win. Perot personally called Brown the night of the third roll call that decided the race to congratulate him on his victory and wished him well. An urban legend circulated for a while that Perot’s phone call was the first news Brown heard that he had been nominated. It was revealed years later that Brown’s staff had informed him of his victory an hour before Perot called.

At first, Perot had planned to endorse the Democratic ticket with Brown at the head and campaign for the Governor. That changed once he learned that Jesse Jackson had been nominated for Vice President and was on the ticket. He was dumbfounded to see Brown do something he thought was so utterly stupid. Jackson was a radical, even by Perot’s standards, and would be of no help to Brown in the general election. In fact, Perot thought that Jackson was the worst possible choice he could have made. It was a choice that immediately led to Perot dropping his plans for an endorsement, and a resentment towards the man he had previously had hopes for. It also led Perot to believe that he himself was the only man left who had a serious chance at beating George Bush, and so he decided to re-enter the Presidential race.

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Ross Perot’s campaign found new life in mid-August 1992, when he jumped back into the thick of it with James Stockdale at his side. News of his return took attention away from both Brown and Bush to focus on this newly-revived independent bid. Perot openly stated that his reason for running was disappointment with Jerry Brown. He said that if Brown had chosen literally anyone else as his running mate, he would have had his full backing. He quipped to reporters that “he [Brown] may as well have nominated Hitler for all the good Jackson’s gonna do for him.”

Perot received criticism from the African-American community, which had rallied around the Brown-Jackson ticket in hopes of seeing one of their own elected to the nation’s second-highest office. The criticism was quickly drowned out by a new wave of supporters coming from the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party. These new “Perot Democrats” saw him as an appealing alternative to Brown, despite the two agreeing on most issues. “Perot Republicans” also formed a sizeable chunk of the new wave of supporters. They had mainly come from supporters of Pat Buchanan during the Republican Primary (which received very little press due to the overwhelming presumption that Bush would be nominated again) who had hoped for a candidate to change things.

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This combination was deemed as deadly to Brown’s campaign, which was already struggling for votes, and as perhaps the only real threat to President Bush’s re-election efforts. As Perot’s resurgence led to massively increasing poll numbers very quickly as disaffected voters rallied around the independent candidate, both parties began to worry about the fate of the election…
 
Damn, disappointed to see Perot still dropping out of and re-entering the race -- that really hurt his chances OTL, and it won't help him here either...
 
Damn, disappointed to see Perot still dropping out of and re-entering the race -- that really hurt his chances OTL, and it won't help him here either...

I agree, but since we already have a president perot Timeline going on this site, I didn't expect him to win here. He can still cause Bush and Brown a few sleepless nights though hopefully. My prediction for this TL? Bush will win in a squeaker, Perot having taken away some of his votes.
 
Ross Perot’s campaign found new life in mid-August 1992, when he jumped back into the thick of it with James Stockdale at his side. News of his return took attention away from both Brown and Bush to focus on this newly-revived independent bid. Perot openly stated that his reason for running was disappointment with Jerry Brown. He said that if Brown had chosen literally anyone else as his running mate, he would have had his full backing. He quipped to reporters that “he [Brown] may as well have nominated Hitler for all the good Jackson’s gonna do for him.”

I'd say you've captured the Perot spirit pretty much exactly in this post.

It'll be interesting if Perot's anti-Jesse Jackson fervor eclipses TTL Perot's anti-Bush feelings.
 
Well, with Perot making his in-and-out, he has actually vanished his chances at campaigning. Now he's got to get a better running mate. Paul Tsongas, who eyed at the creation of a third party after 1992, could come, or even NHS Director Bernadine Healy, who had been considered by Perot IOTL (I made her a Senator of Ohio in my TL). If Perot manages to win Maine at least, he will set a precedent and maybe manage to launch a viable third party.
 
Stagnation and Boredom

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The Presidential race had essentially stagnated until the time of the first debate between the candidates. Aside from the occasional gaffes made by each of the candidates that were hyped up by the media, nothing else of noteworthy interest occurred. In fact, the stretch of time from mid-August to early October could be summed up in one word: boring.

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Polling had fluctuated drastically throughout this period, with both Brown and Perot claiming the number two spot to Bush in the election. The President’s campaign encouraged the nation to be optimistic about the economy, claiming that more prosperous days were just around the corner and the current slump was part of a historical market trend. Brown was written off as a stereotypical liberal that was out of touch with the country. Associates of the campaign also caused some controversy when they questioned Brown’s lack of military service during the Vietnam War, demanding to know why he did not fight for his country. It would become an issue during the campaign and one that plagued him throughout.

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Meanwhile, Brown continued to preach his anti-politics gospel and promised economic justice if elected. His message appealed to many in the nation who found themselves either unemployed or underemployed in the recent years. While Brown worked in that field, Jackson worked to appeal to minorities in the nation. Using his contacts within his previously established organization, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he reached out to various ethnic and racial communities (among other minority groups) with a promise of a fairer America that provides everyone an equal opportunity regardless of who they are. As part of that style of campaigning, Jackson participated in numerous public marches advocating equality for all (this was done partially to show strenghth in numbers for their cause, partially to show solidarity with Democratic supporters, and partially because the Brown campaign didn't have much in the way of spending money).

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Brown’s appeal to the lower-income and unemployed, combined with Jackson’s appeal to various minority groups, saw the Democratic ticket rebound spectacularly from its post-convention losses. Controversy drawn from Jackson’s nomination had long since faded into the background as other issues sprung up on the trail. By the end of September, the Brown/Jackson ticket was in much better shape. The South and most of the Midwest were either solidly for Bush or split between the President and Ross Perot. The West Coast, which had previously been only leaning Democratic, swung solidly into their column. The same could be said for parts of the Midwest, mainly in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. States that had been previously leaning for Bush, such as New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were now tossup states as Brown’s populist appeal to workers in those states reached their ears.

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Ross Perot’s momentum had slowed by the end of August. His return had made a big splash, but the water was settling back down. He was plagued by many of the same problems he had had before, and he was not getting anywhere close to fixing them. He still had yet to elaborate many of his positions on the issues, which were already dangerously close to Jerry Brown’s. The difference this time was that Brown had managed to effectively articulate his views while Perot did not, swaying a good number of Democrats who had previously defected from the party back into the Democratic tent. Perot’s strongest showings were in the Deep South and the Midwest, where he polled second to President Bush and ahead of Jerry Brown. Also up for grabs was Maine, the only northeastern state where Perot had any significant presence in.

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As America entered the final stretch of the 1992 Presidential election, it was a three-way tie between Bush, Brown, and Perot. That would change once the three finally got to sit down and have a nice little chat on national television.
 
this is a pretty cool timeline so far. Brown seems to be a little different in this though. From what I remember of him back then, he was seen as... kind of a New Age dweeb. He seems to have thrown that off here; certainly makes a more interesting political race...
 
Beating Around the Bush

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The First Presidential Debate in 1992 was held between Democratic candidate Jerry Brown, Republican candidate George Bush, and Independent candidate Ross Perot. It was the first debate in American history to feature more than two people, and (at the time it aired) it was the most-watched Presidential debate in history, with millions of people tuning in to watch it on television.

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Prior to the debate, President Bush held a small lead in the polls with Perot and Brown nearly tied for second place. While Perot and Brown had their differences with one another, they both didn’t like Bush (who had by this point written off Perot as an opportunist and Brown as an old-fashioned liberal). They had a common enemy, and so they reached a secret agreement before the debate to forge a truce and focus most of their attacks on Bush. It was Brown who first approached Perot with the proposal, saying it would help level the playing field and give them each a better chance at winning (or at least promoting their ideas). Perot initially refused, but later agreed to the offer after reconsidering it.

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The result was a tag-team effort by the Independent and Democratic candidates to take the Republican candidate down. During the debate, both Brown and Perot kept talking about the economy and how corrupt Washington was. They both promised to fix it, and said that Bush was part of the problem. Bush, being attacked from both sides, was forced to go on defense. He repeated his claims that the economic downturn was part of a market trend, and that he was the only one who could bring Washington together to help the American People. The implication was that neither Perot nor Brown would be able to do the same thing because they were too partisan and would divide the country. Bush did everything he could to shift focus away from the economy while his opponents tried to hammer him on it.

Post-debate polls showed that most Americans thought either Brown or Perot had won the debate. Bush consistently polled in last place for his performance, and suffered a drop in the general election predictions because of it. He had underestimated his opponents, and vowed not to do it again. Another change that the debate brought about was that, for the first time in the election, Brown was leading in the polls. Granted, it was a small lead for the former California Governor, but it was a lead nonetheless. Brown also saw his stock rise in the Midwest, with some disaffected Democrats returning to their party.

For many in the United States, it was also the first time they got to meet Jerry Brown up close and hear what he had to say. It was hardly a coincidence that he and Perot sounded so similar in the debates, and it was hardly a coincidence that many of the “Perot Democrats” who were looking for change found their way home again. At this point in the election, the political map had seen former tossup states begin to lean Democratic, and Brown rise in the Midwest to snatch second place from Perot. The Independent candidate was now strongest only in the southern states (with many southern democrats preferring him over their own party’s nominee) and in Maine, where he had inexplicably developed a cult following.

Now that the main candidates had met on stage for the first part of their dance, it was up to their running mates to steal the show. The Vice Presidential Debate was nearing, and the country waited to see how the men who could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency would perform.
 
Very nice. Bush might get some sympathy (more like pity) votes for that debate.

See, I don't know. If Brown or Perot got the brunt of the attacks I would be inclined to agree, but Bush is the incumbent: it's somewhat expected... maybe that's just me
 
Plus, I get the sense Bush wasn't very likable as a president, which is why his ratings went into the toilet as fast as they did in '92.
 
Say That Again

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The first and only Vice Presidential Debate for 1992 was held shortly after the first Presidential debate. It featured Republican Candidate Dan Quayle, Democratic Candidate Jesse Jackson, and Independent Candidate James Stockdale. It was the first Vice Presidential Debate to feature more than two people, and (at the time it aired) it was the most-watched Vice Presidential Debate in history.

With Brown holding a small lead in the polls and Perot not far behind, the pressure was on Vice President Quayle to pull out a good performance and make the case for why he and George Bush deserved a second term in office. He spent a long time being coached for the debate by the Bush campaign and the RNC, and was warned not to screw things up and say something stupid like he usually did (although the actual warning was most likely given in a politer tone).

Reverend Jackson had experience in making his own case for what he believed in, and had a somewhat easier time with things. The secret Perot-Brown deal to knock Bush down a few pegs had worked like a charm, and both campaigns reached an agreement to have their Vice Presidential candidates do the same. Just as Brown and Perot had teamed up against Bush in their own debate, Stockdale would work together with Jackson to embarrass the hell out of Dan Quayle and put him on the defensive. Both sides hoped that the Vice President (known for not being too bright) would not be able to handle himself as well as his boss had when under pressure, and that his performance would be a blow to the Bush campaign. After that, it would be Perot vs. Brown, and may the better man win. It was a level of co-ordination between two opposing candidates that had never before been seen in American history (although nobody knew it at the time).

Brown pulled Jackson aside and informed him to go easy on Stockdale, letting him know in advance about the deal. Jackson received coaching from DNC staff to hone his debate skills, and conducted a series of mock debates against fellow Democrats standing in for Quayle. By the time he was set to go on, Jesse Jackson was ready. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for James Stockdale.

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On paper, the plan should have gone off without a hitch. However, internal communication in the Perot campaign was not as sophisticated as Brown’s. That is to say, it was nearly nonexistent. Perot barely had any contact with his own running mate at all, leaving his staff to inform him of whatever he deemed important. In fact, Stockdale hadn’t even learned that he would be participating in the Vice Presidential debate until literally the week before. He, unlike Jackson and Quayle, had almost no time to prepare and was not coached by the Perot campaign. He hadn’t even had time to discuss any policy stances with Perot before he went on, leaving him only capable of doing the best that he could. It meant that he went into the debate with absolutely no knowledge of the temporary truce between the Democratic and Independent candidates, and that he and Jackson were supposed to be working together against Quayle.

The three met onstage set to go, and things went from there. Quayle spoke wonders about the Bush Administration, and implored the country not to change horses midstream. Jackson talked repeatedly about the failures of the Bush Administration, about the economy in recession, and about how important it was to clean up Washington. He emphasized the need for change and promised to deliver. Stockdale went in with guns blazing on both sides. He talked about how both parties were failures, and that the only answer was to elect someone else. He talked about the failures of the Bush Administration too, but then turned and attacked Brown and Jackson, calling them essentially dangerous radicals that would divide the country.

Jackson was startled when Stockdale started going after him the way he did. It caught him off guard and left him wondering what to do next. After all, they were supposed to be working together against Quayle, and the person who was supposed to be helping him appeared hell-bent on taking him down too. Jackson continued to be soft on Stockdale, waiting to see if it was part of some kind of last-minute strategy that he hadn’t been aware of. Perhaps the Admiral would let up and lay off after a bit. All hopes of that were dashed when the debate passed the thirty minute mark. At that point, Jackson abandoned the deal, and it became a real three-man debate.

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Although most polls said Jackson had won the debate, Quayle gave an impressive performance. Without being backed into a corner, he had been able to attack as well as defend, and made the most of it. Post-debate polls saw Bush rise to reclaim his first place spot, and Perot fell to third place nationally.

With the debate having ended, Brown was furious. This was supposed to be another nail in the Bush campaign’s coffin, but instead it turned out to be a chance for the President’s team to rebound and shoot back to the top. He felt betrayed by Perot, and actually called him during the debate to demand to know what was going on. Perot himself, watching the debate live from his hotel room, was just as dumbfounded as Brown, and tried to apologize for what was going on.

The aftermath of the secret disaster saw relations between the Brown and Perot campaigns fracture, and they were at risk of breaking down. Perot wanted to talk to Stockdale in person and find out what went wrong. Thankfully, poor weather conditions made travelling anywhere by plane impossible, giving the Independent candidate time to cool down before he had a possibly violent confrontation with his running mate. When they finally did meet two days later, Stockdale had no idea what Perot was talking about, and blamed his accidental violation of the truce on the campaign’s poor communication. After an hour-long argument, Perot was pulled away by his staff so he could make it to an event in Alabama on time, leaving the issue unresolved.

At this point, Bush held the lead nationally, and the temporary secret truce between his two opponents was on the verge of collapsing. If that happened, it would be very good news for Bush, but very bad news for his opponents. And that was just fine with the President of the United States, even if he didn’t know it.
 
OMG best update yet, I can totally see Jackson dumbfounded as Stockdale just talks and talks. My one nitpick: I don't think Jackson would be so level-headed, am I the only one who sees him getting caught in the moment and seeing him caught off guard? Oh well, amazing work (as always)
 
OMG best update yet, I can totally see Jackson dumbfounded as Stockdale just talks and talks. My one nitpick: I don't think Jackson would be so level-headed, am I the only one who sees him getting caught in the moment and seeing him caught off guard? Oh well, amazing work (as always)
No, I could see him making a major mistake very easily despite all the coaching he might have received.
 
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