TheRoss Perot presidential campaign of 1992 was an effort spawned by grassroots supporters to electTexas industrialistRoss Perot asPresident of the United States as anindependent candidate. Perot focused the campaign on thefederal budget,economic nationalism, an escalation of thewar on drugs and implementation of "electronic town halls". He largely financed his own campaign and relied on marketing and widespread grassroots support to spread his message. In certain polls, Perot led the three-way race withRepublican nomineeGeorge H. W. Bush, the incumbent President, andGovernorBill Clinton ofArkansas, theDemocratic nominee. He dropped out in July 1992 amid controversy, but reentered in October, and surpassed the 15% polling threshold to reach his goal of participating in all threepresidential debates. Despite an aggressive use of campaign infomercials onprime timenetwork television, his polling numbers never fully recovered from his initial exit. OnElection Day, Perot appeared on every state ballot. He won several counties and finished in third place, receiving close to 19 percent of the popular vote; the most won by athird-party presidential candidate sinceTheodore Roosevelt in1912. (more...)

TheThaddeus McCotter presidential campaign of 2012 began when he filed papers on July 1, 2011, to run for theRepublican Party's2012 nomination forPresident of the United States. He officially announced his candidacy the next day at a rock festival nearDetroit. McCotter, who had been acongressman fromMichigan since 2003, was first mentioned as a potential presidential candidate on an April 2011 episode of theFox News showRed Eye. During the campaign, he focused on reform of government andWall Street. Commentators noted that McCotter's lack ofname recognition hindered his chances for nomination. When included inRepublican presidential preference polls, he regularly received less than one percent support. Following a last place finish in theAmes Straw Poll and the lack of any invitation to presidential debates, he dropped his candidacy on September 22, 2011, and endorsedMitt Romney. He resigned from Congress in July 2012amid a fraud investigation surrounding his congressional re-election campaign. (Full article...)