If Ross Perot gets 2nd place in 1992, can the Reform party become viable?

If Perot were to get a better campaign, avoid some gaffes, and take his position as third party candidate more seriously, could he get at least to 2nd place, and cement his party as serious? He was leading the early polls, and even after dropping out almost 1/5 of America voted for him, but the power of a President without a Congress to back them up is limited. So if Perot takes his leadership responsibility more seriously, he create a real, well-funded party that can compete in State election

Is it possible for the Reform Party to either take a third seat in congress (and eventually be absorbed like the Populist's, Progressives, and Farmer-Laborers) or can they supplement the Republicans, like the Whigs did the Anti-Masons and National Republicans? Or is the then-current 2 party system too entrenched for one of them too fall without years of problems to destabilize them?
 
American politics does not allow for more than two parties. It's Duverger's Law, and besides, the way the electoral college is set up ("you need to get THIS MANY electoral votes" rather than "you got the most electors" or "you got the popular vote") with someone needing a clear majority, you cannot have three prominent parties without having an 1824-type crisis every election.

If you want the reform party in, you gotta boot the GOP or the Dems.
 
Contrary to what many are saying, I believe a Third Party could succeed without supplanting the other two, in a capacity similar to the Liberal Democrats, with their regional base in New England, and potentially in the West; in Presidential Elections they would be relatively limited to their hardcore supporters unless they attain significant support early on, but on the Congressional level, they should be fairly successful.

In the short-term anyway. There would need to be ballot access efforts pushed on their part (Instant-Runoff-Voting) for them to remain in the long-term, at least as a national presence rather than a regional one.
 
Something to note, some states like Louisiana (Governor) and Washington ( Post 2004 for the U.S. Senate), and (Pre-2000) California have "Jungle Primaries" where it is a de facto run-off voting system. So a third party could sneak in during a party dispute, giving them some momentum, and possibly spreading run-offs and said party across the country.
 
What other candidates did the Reform in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 1998 in Minnesota? Like I said a personality cult.

The Reform Party didn't exist in 1992.

1996

MN 2 - Stan Bentz (3.92%)
MN 4 - Richard Gibbons (3.64%)

MN Senate - Dean Barkley (6.98%)

1998

MN 2 - Stan Bentz (~4.70%)
MN 8 -Stan Estes (~5.80%)

MN Governor - Jesse Ventura (36.99%)

2000 (as Independence Party)

MN Senate - James Gibson (~5.80%)
 

The Reform Party didn't exist in 1992.

1996

MN 2 - Stan Bentz (3.92%)
MN 4 - Richard Gibbons (3.64%)

MN Senate - Dean Barkley (6.98%)

1998

MN 2 - Stan Bentz (~4.70%)
MN 8 -Stan Estes (~5.80%)

MN Governor - Jesse Ventura (36.99%)

2000 (as Independence Party)

MN Senate - James Gibson (~5.80%)

You can't be a viable party by running one to three candidates nationwide. Can you say personality cult?
 
And if Perot got 2nd place, he could be convinced to make it an actual party, with him as leader and chairman, turning it into something more. See my reasoning?
 
The Reform Party didn't exist in 1992.

The Reform Party candidate for president got 19% of the vote in 1992.

I was in the middle of typing up the list for every Reform Party candidate in 1996, 1998, and 2000; when entering the last one for 1998, I accidentally closed the window. :mad::(

Basically, from what I found, when they put forward a candidate, they tended to at least as well, if not better, than for example Libertarian candidates, in a number of cases they even performed to a suprising strong extent (one candidate in Florida acquiring [~34%] of the vote). However, their weakness was the party infighting caused by the multiple schisms from '96 to '00, which distrupted the Party's organization in such a way that prevented them from properly funding candidates ballot access efforts.

So the main issue, as I can define it, is Party Unity. However even so, it means they are a stronger version of the Libertarian Party; noticeable to most politicos, with occasional success, but by and large a minor force in Washington.
 
The Reform Party was founded in 1995.

Reform Party House candidates, 1996:
AZ-05 -- Ed Finkelstein (2.54%)
AR-01 -- Keith Carle (2.87%)
AR-03 -- Tony Joe Juffman (2.43%)
CA-03 -- Timothy R Erich (3.47%)
CA-07 -- William C Thompson (3.6%)
CA-10 -- John Place (2.24%)
CA-15 -- Valli Sharpe-Geisler (2.75%)
CA-21 -- John Evans (4.24%)
CA-22 -- Richard Porter (1.63%)
CA-46 -- Lawrence Stafford (3.16%)
CA-48 -- William Dreu (3.62%)
CA-49 -- Kevin Hambsch (1.82%)
CA-50 -- Dan Clark (2.75%)
CA-51 -- Miriam Clark (2.36%)
CO-02 -- Larry E Johnson (2.46%)
IL-03 -- George Skaritka (1.74%)
KS-03 -- Randy Gardner (3.40%)
MN-02 -- Stan Bentz (3.92%)
MN-04 -- Richard Gibbons (3.64%)
OR-04 -- Bill Bonville (1.47%)
PA-10 -- Thomas McLaughlin (3.98%)
PA-15 -- Nicholas Sabatine (3.46%)
PA-16 -- Robert Yorczyk (3.09%)
Reform Party Senate candidates, 1996:
IL -- Steven H Perry (1.4%)
KS -- Mark S Marney (2.3%), Donald R Klaassen (2.8%) [in special election]
MN -- Dean Barkley (7%)
MT -- Becky Shaw (4.7%)
OR -- Brent Thompson (1.5%)
SC -- Peter J Ashy (0.8%)
Reform Party gubernatorial candidates, 1996:
NH -- Fred Bramante (2.1%)
[listed as "Independent Reform" candidate]
Reform Party Presidential ticket, 1996:
Ross Perot / Pat Choate

Reform Party House candidates, 1998:
AZ-02 -- Gregory R Schultz (1.1%)
AZ-05 -- Robert Connery Sr. (0.8%)
AR-03 -- Ralph Forbes (19.3%)
CA-21 -- John Evans (21%)
CA-22 -- Richard Porter (0.6%)
CT-03 -- David Cole (0.4%)
FL-05 -- Jack Gargan (33.7%)
IA-01 -- Charles Thurston (0.7%)
IA-03 -- Charles Connolly (1.1%)
KY-02 -- Jim Ketchel (1%)
MI-08 -- John Mangopoulos (2.1%)
MN-02 -- Stan Bentz (4.7%)
MN-08 -- Stan Estes (5.8%)
MS-05 -- Robert Claunch (1.1%)
MO-05 -- Elizabeth Dulaney (1.4%)
MT-a.l. -- Webb Sullivan (0.9%)
RI-01 -- James C Sheehan (4.5%)
RI-02 -- Timothy L Miller (3.2%)
WA-04 -- Peggy S McKerlie (6.5%)
WA-07 -- Stan Lippmann (9.4%)
Reform Party Senate candidates, 1998:
AZ -- Bob Park (1.8%)
AR -- Charley E Heffley (2.7%)
CA -- Timothy R Erich (1%)
IL -- Don A Torgersen (2.2%)
KS -- Alvin Bauman (1.5%)
KY -- Charles R Arbegust (1.1%)
MO -- James F Newport (0.5%)
Reform Party gubernatorial candidates, 1998:
AZ -- Scott Malcolmson (0.8%)
AR -- Keith Carle (1.6%)
IL -- Lawrence Redmond (1.5%)
IA -- Jim Hennager (0.6%)
KS -- Darrel King (1.1%)
MN -- Jesse Ventura (37.0%)
NY -- Tom Golisano (7.7%) [as Independence Party of New York]
OK -- Hoppy Heidelberg (1.2%)
OR -- Roger Weidner (0.9%)
RI -- John Patrick (0.6%)

Reform Party House candidates, 2000:
CA-01 -- Pamela Elizondo (1.3%)
CA-17 -- Larry Fenton (1%)
CA-22 -- Richard Porter (0.9%)
CA-23 -- Cary Savitch (3%)
CA-36 -- John Konopka (1.4%)
CA-44 -- Gene Smith (1.9%)
CA-48 -- Eddie Rose (4.3%)
CO-01 -- Lyle Nasser (1.2%)
CO-03 -- Victor Good (1.8%)
FL-09 -- Jon Duffey (18.1%)
FL-14 -- Sam Farling (14.8%)
FL-16 -- John A McGuire (2.6%)
ID-01 -- Kevin Philip Hambsch (1.6%)
KY-06 -- Gatewood Galbraith (12%)
MS-02 -- Lee F Dilworth (1.2%)
MS-04 -- Betty Pharr (0.8%)
MS-05 -- Katie Perrone (1.5%)
NC-09 -- James Cahaney (0.5%)
Reform Party Senate candidates, 2000:
CA -- Jose Camahort (0.9%)
FL -- Joel Deckard (0.3%)
MI -- Mark Forton (0.6%)
MN -- James Gibson (5.6%) [as Independence Party of Minnesota]
MO -- Hugh Foley (0.2%)
MT -- Gary Lee (2.2%)
NJ -- Pat DiNizio (0.6%)
NY -- Jeffrey E Graham (0.6%) [as Independence Party of New York]
PA -- Robert Domske (0.5%)
RI -- Christopher Young (1%)
Reform Party gubernatorial candidates, 2000
MO -- Richard Kline (0.2%)
NC -- Douglas Schell (0.3%)
Reform Party presidential ticket, 2000
Pat Buchanan / Ezola Foster

Then there was a schism. The end.

Note that Jesse Ventura appears to be the only person who ever actually won anything. And many of the larger percentages above are due to either the Democrats or the Republicans not contesting the race -- the strongest Reform Party result in a race where both the major parties competed (apart from Ventura) was Gatewood Galbraith with 12%, in which he came third.

Also note that a stronger showing by Ross Perot in 1992 could lead to a stronger Reform Party, with more candidates than those listed above.
 
Also note that a stronger showing by Ross Perot in 1992 could lead to a stronger Reform Party, with more candidates than those listed above.
Congressmen Tim Penny, and Governor Lowell Weicker both considered seeking the Reform Party nomination in 1996, and ultimately did not run. Dick Lamm initially was also averse to running for the nomination as late as the end of July. If you can get the other two to at least attempt to run, you might be able to keep Perot out, and thus prevent the schism as it occurred.
 
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