and Mike Tompkins(Hall,7A). They are on the ballots in 45 states (Hall,7A). In 1992 they received less than 50,000 votes(Hall,7A).The Taxpayers Party’s candidates are Howard Phillips and Herbert Titus (Hall,7A). They are on the ballots in 39states, and like the Natural Law Party received less than 50,000 votes in 1992 (Hall,7A). Finally the Green Party’scandidates are Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke (Hall,7A). They are on the ballots in 22 states and did not have acandidate in 1992 (Hall,7A). Can you see where each of these parties fail to meet the criteria set up by theCommission on Presidential debates? In the 1992 debates H. Ross Perot emerged as a strong third party candidate. Let us compare him with theother third party candidates. His party name is the Reform Party. His running mate is Pat Choate. They are on theballot in 50 states (Hall,7A). In 1992 the Reform Party did not exist but Perot ran as an independent and collected20 million votes or 19% of the total (Hall,7A). In comparison only the Libertarian Party is also on the ballots in 50states a close second being the Natural Law Party in 45 states. As far as total votes received none of the partiescame close to duplicating Perot’s totals. So what happened to Perot and the Reform Party in 1996? Why were they excluded from the presidentialdebates? What is the difference between 1996 debates and the 1992 debates in which he was included? These arequestions that have been answered by the Advisory Board to the Commission on Presidential Debate. First we needto look at what Perot was doing in 1992. A monopoly has been held on the American presidency by the Democratic and Republican parties since 1860(Black,_). Racial discord, economic distress and ideology has given rise to third parties and caused the majorparties to deal with touchy issues such as slavery and women voting (Black,_). In 1992 the economy was the issue(Black,_). Perot as a bill...
