James S. Campbell, March, 1927 -
VP candidate for Reform Party of the United States of America (aka Reform Party aka Independent) (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Henry Ross Perot (1930-2019)
Popular vote: 2,837,369 (2.95%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Riding on the momentum of his historic third party wave of 1992, Ross Perot formed the Reform Party of the United States of America in 1995. He originally declined to run for the Presidency himself, leaving a vacancy for the nomination. Although several politicians toyed with the idea, it was former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, a Democrat, who threw his hat into the ring. He even selected a running-mate, Ed Zschau, a former US Congressman who represented California, and a Republican.
But it was not to be. The ever unpredictable Perot decided he wanted the nomination after all, and defeated Lamm in a very lopsided primary race which was held via mail-in ballots. Perot's action caused the first of many rifts in the embryonic party which made their odds more insurmountable than ever.
The Reform Party's 1996 platform was vaguely centrist, with a focus on economics. It avoided hot button issues like abortion, Gay rights, and capital punishment. Some have called the Reform Party philosophy of this era "producerist," appealing to the economic middle class.
An odd alliance took place when Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman, former leaders of the now defunct New Alliance Party, had sounded the call for their followers to work for Perot. In 1996 the two were part of the newly formed Patriot Party. Exactly what percentage of Reform Party volunteers consisted of former NAP members has never really been determined, but their presence was a bit controversial since several critics considered the New Alliance Party to have been a cult.
The Independence Party of New York affiliated with the Reform Party during the 1996 election.
Finding a professional politician to serve as VP came to a fizzle. Names bandied about the press included David Boren, Sam Nunn, Warren Rudman, Marcy Kaptur, and Linda Smith.
Perot named Pat Choate as his official running-mate on Sept. 10, 1996. A protectionist on the subject of free trade, Choate was Perot's coach during the 1993 NAFTA debate with Al Gore. Dr. Choate had worked for Republican state and federal administrations as an economic advisor, supported Al Gore for President in 1988 and then contributed funds to Pat Buchanan's Presidential runs in 1992 and 1996.
Unfortunately for the Reform Party, the major parties learned their lesson from allowing Perot to participate in the Presidential debates in 1992. Try as they might, neither Perot or Choate were allowed to take part in 1996. Seeing a Choate-Kemp-Gore VP debate would have been a very interesting discussion between three well-spoken policy wonks.
Due to Choate being named as a running-mate so late in the game, he was listed with Perot on the ballot in 35 states + DC. The remaining states had the names of two stand-in VPs.
On Election Day stand-in VP James S. Campbell was still on the ballot with Perot in 14 states. Another stand-in, Carl Owenby, had his name replaced by Choate's by the time the ballots were printed. Campbell, who was based in the Los Angeles area, told the press, "I'm a friend of Ross Perot's and he needs stand-ins for some states in order to petition to get on the ballot." Owenby was more detailed, "Mine is strictly a name on a piece of paper as a stand-in until the party can nominate their presidential and vice-presidential candidates ... I have never been interested in running for any political office. The older I get, it diminishes below zero."
Campbell had been Perot's boss at IBM over three decades earlier. By 1996 Campbell was a well known figure in the growing field of online technology and at the time of the election was associated with Rational Software, Management Partners International Corporation, and Applied Voice Technology.
Overall Perot won 8,085,402 popular votes (8.40%). The Perot/Campbell ticket accounted for about 1/3 of that with 2.95%. Best 10 states with Campbell: Maine 14.19% (Perot's strongest showing in 1996), Montana 13.56%, Ohio 10.66%, Indiana 10.50%, Missouri 10.06%, South Dakota 9.65%, Oregon 8.80%, Kansas 8.62%, Iowa 8.52%, California 6.96%.
Election history: none
Other occupations: IBM marketing manager, emerging technology executive, consultant
Notes:
In South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas the ticket was listed as "Independent" rather than "Reform Party."
