The Ross Perot presidential campaign of 1992 was an effort spawned by grassroots supporters to elect Texas industrialist Ross Perot as President of the United States as an independent candidate. Perot focused the campaign on the federal budget, economic nationalism, an escalation of the war 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 with Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, the incumbent President, and Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, the Democratic 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 three presidential debates. Despite an aggressive use of campaign infomercials on prime time network television, his polling numbers never fully recovered from his initial exit. On Election 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 a third-party presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot_presidential_campaign%2C_1992

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

627:

A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh, near the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nineveh_%28627%29

1531:

The Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe: According to traditional Catholic accounts, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Juan Diego's tilma after his vision of her on the Hill of Tepeyac outside of modern-day Mexico City. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

1901:

Guglielmo Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic radio signal, from Poldhu Wireless Station in Cornwall, England to Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi

1956:

The Irish Republican Army began its Border Campaign, a guerrilla campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Campaign_%28Irish_Republican_Army%29

1985:

Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashed after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Air_Flight_1285

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ideogram (n): A symbol which represents the idea of something without indicating the sequence of sounds used to pronounce it http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ideogram

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

What is beautiful is moral, that is all there is to it. --Gustave Flaubert http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert