Presence, running mate
Let's not cloud the issue!
Perot may have run with a different voice, larger stature, and a running mate that came across as mentally competent. Given all that, to have gotten the share of the vote that he did, was near miraculous and should be far more than enough hope that a 3PC with:
A decent presence
A voice that doesn't sound as if he just inhale 3 gallons of helium
A running mate that can actually debate and hold his own on issues
Such a candidate should very easily be able to secure a good 30% of the national vote!
"Presence, running mate"
Admiral Stockdale was a great military hero.
Who was up there on the podium with him? Dan Quayle? Al Gore? A couple of blow-dried airheads.
The derision that the country gave to Admiral Stockdale is indicative of the obsession with stage performances that people have.
I watched those debates. Admiral Stockdale did not look mentally incompetent to me at all. He looked like an irritated straight shooter standing between a couple of smarmy young blow-dried fags. When Admiral Stockdale said "I don't know what I am doing up here", I was with him. What ARE you doing up there? These two guys are spinning lies and flim-flam, and you've got nothing much to say, because common sense doesn't take a bunch of BS.
Fact is, Ross Perot was the best chance for a real third party movement to get started since Teddy Roosevelt launched the Bull Moose Party.
There is very deep and serious political disaffection in this country, particularly in the American Midwest. The Midwest is ripe for another third-party or independent candidate to come sweeping through in 2008.
The Democrats have no chance of becoming a national party representative of the broad mass of the the People. The Republicans still could, but they have to pull their heads out on the border.