Three Ring Circus: An Earlier Reform Party

history nerd

history nerd

FIGHTING WORDS; Excerpts From Perot's Concession Speech to His Supporters in Dallas
Published: November 4, 1992

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Ross and Margot Perot dancing prior to Perot's concession speech.

Following are excerpts from Ross Perot's concession speech in Dallas last night, as recorded by The New York Times:

I want to thank all of you who are here tonight and all the people who have come together across the nation. Starting last February you did something that everybody said couldn't be done. Millions of you came together to take your country back.

You gave Washington a laser-like message to listen to the people. You have done an incredible job of getting this country turned back around to the type country our founders established, a country that came from the people, and you have changed this country through your massive efforts...

The American people have spoken. They have chosen Governor Clinton. Congratulations. ---- Wait a minute -- oh. No, no. Whoops. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know some people give up right when they are about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line, right when they are about to score a touchdown. Well, I’ve always said that failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial…

Now, let's forget, forget this election. Forget the election. It's behind us. The hard work is in front of us. There are more elections in front of us and we must all work together to rebuild our great country...

Now it's just the beginning. But the next step is we need to take all of our energy and harness it. We need to give it a world-class best effort to get these problems solved. Because if we do, you benefit, the country benefits, your children benefits and everybody wins...

The budget must be balanced, the treasury must be refilled, the public debt must be reduced, and the arrogant public officials must be replaced. What this country needs is change...

Now, I urge every one of you. Do not be the man who says the river is dirty, go and be the man who cleans up the river. Run for office like I did. Together we will be the new George Washingtons who can get up under the hood and fix this country...

Tonight we are going to start the process of creating a party for the independent voters. It will be called the Independence Party and it will not be owned by the special interests.
 
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Indicus

Indicus

I'm guessing if he works to actually make a party rather than just using it as a vehicle for his election, it'll help him win more votes in 1996. The movement won't splinter as much.
 
history nerd

history nerd

Ross Perot Seeks Support for New Party
Associated Press

The election might be over but that doesn't mean we have seen the last of Ross Perot. Last week in his concession speech Perot announced the formation of a new party that would, in his own words "get up under the hood" of America. But it takes a lot more than a few words to change America's political landscape. The last time any Third Party candidate won a Presidential election was 1860 when Abraham Lincoln launched on to the national stage with the newly formed Republican Party. Since those days many have tried and failed, most recently John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot this year. Neither won a single state.

Perot however thinks that this time it will be different. In an interview last week on NBC Perot suggested that the reason he failed was because "you can't build a house from the roof down" and that in the future the Independence Party will focus on Governorships, the Senate and Congress. Indeed in recent years there have been instances of third party success in fact only two years ago third party candidates Lowell Weicker of Connecticut and Walter Hickel of Alaska each won their states governorship. Perot has announced that he plans to reach out to both governors as well as "anyone in government who wants to fix this great country."

One obstacle that Perot is sure to face is lack of finances. It is one thing to fund your own campaign but it is something else to fund hundreds of races across the country. Both the Republicans and Democrats take in huge amounts of private donations which their National Committees use not only to contest the presidency every four years but also to win seats in the Senate, Congress, and even state legislatures. If Perot wants to be competitive he will have to do the same.

To this end Perot seems to be calling on many of his wealthy friends. It was reported just last month that he held a low profile meeting in Manhattan with the New York Independence Party founder and payroll kingpin Tom Golisiano and playboy real-estate tycoon Donald Trump. Some have speculated that this meeting might be the foundation of a donor network in New York State in order to better contest elections there. In fact Donald Trump has stated that he might be considering a run for Mayor next year or Governor in 1994 "perhaps as a member of Perot's Party."

Another area that has received speculation is the possible defection of sitting politicians, particularly among frustrated anti-Nafta in congressmen. While this has generated a lot of excitement among Independent and Third Party activists most political scientists see this as unlikely citing the difficulty of obtaining committee appointments without support from either the Democratic or Republican Caucus. This, however, has not stopped speculation with possible defectors including Florida Congressman, and personal friend to Perot, Pete Peterson as well as the unconventional and fiery Ohio Congressman James Traficant. Neither could be reached for comment at this time.
 
history nerd

history nerd

Local Third Parties Back Perot's Plan
February 22 1993


Ross Perot's Independence Party got a huge bump today as the Alaskan Independence Party and A Connecticut Party announced plans to become local affiliates. These two minor parties are unique in the united states due to their unpresidented levels of success each currently holding the Governor's mansion in their state. Ross Perot made a public appearance today with Connecticut Governor Weicker to announce the news. At the event Weicker had this to say "Throughout my career I have always been a maverick" and stating that the big two parties "can't take a stand on any tough issue, both just look for soft landings. Rather than offering the public real choices, everybody tries to fuzz it up so nobody knows really where they stand."

Lowell Weicker was first elected as an anti-Vietnam Republican Congressman in 1968 and then as Senator in 1971. Consistently ranked as one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate he made his career on blazing his own path, but doing so wasn't without it's troubles. In 1988 Conservative Democrat Joseph Leiberman ousted him from the Senate by running to his right, especially on foreign policy. After losing the race most considered Weicker's career over but in 1990 he shocked the world by founding A Connecticut Party and winning the Governorship. In order to do this he employed every trick in the book, even adding an "A" to the beginning of his parties name to ensure that they were listed first on the ballot. Since then his time in office has been rocky with scandals surrounding his choice to ignore campaign promises and institute Connecticut's first ever income tax.

The other party joining the Independence Party fold is the Alaskan Independence Party, a party initially founded on Alaskan secession. Today however this party has dropped much of it's more radical ideas and become something of a moderate voice in Alaskan politics. Their biggest victory to date has been the election of Governor Wally Hickel. Hickel had been Governor of the state in the 60's before being tapped by Nixon for Secretary of the Interior. His time in that office was rough as he found himself frequently clashing with the administration over policy. Like Weicker he was largely written off after leaving that post in 1970 however he made an unexpected comeback in 1990 when conservative Republicans unhappy with both major party nominees drafted him to run as the Alaska Independence candidate. After winning the race Hickel has largely been viewed as a successful governor in the state and has managed to work with the Republican controlled legislature to great effect. Hickel has not yet made any comment on his party's decision to join Perot's movement however that hasn't kept some within the Independence Party from speculating that he might run for president in '96.
 
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