Hiram College professor Jason Johnson was quoted alongside U.Va professor Larry Sabato in the story “The Strangest Presidential Campaign Ever.” Professors Johnson and Sabato were asked to look at the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and rank it among the strangest presidential campaigns in U.S. history:
“I would probably say Ross Perot, at least in recent memory,” Johnson says. “Ross Perot’s campaign was legitimately odd for the time.” Johnson lists his reasons:
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Perot was a third-party candidate who actually got on the ballot in all 50 states, Johnson says, which was unheard of at the time.
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The way Perot “used television — for his half-hour-long lessons about the economy and other issues — was more reminiscent of British party election broadcasts than anything that had ever been done in America,” Johnson says.
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The Texan’s folksy style and messaging, Johnson says, “changed the nature of the first town hall debate, which subsequently changed every American presidential debate since then.”
