For those of you suffering, like me, from horse-race fatigue, here's a fun true story from the 1992 presidential race that has never before been told. That was the year, of course, that Bill Clinton was elected; but another big story of '92 was Ross Perot's independent bid for president. I was reminded of this story when Perot resurfaced recently in this rambling Jonathan Alter interview in Newsweek. First, a little more history after the fold.
Ross Perot, the quirky little billionaire from Texas, mounted a third party candidacy through his Reform Party that early in the year was polling about a third of the vote. In fact, at one point he even took the lead by a few percentage points over George Bush Sr. and Clinton. His supporters were well on the way to getting Perot on the ballot in all 50 states. His mixed bag of reform and balanced budget politics combined with his outsider's disdain for all things Washington resonated with people. Perot was a genuine threat to win the election.
Then, inexplicably, in July Perot dropped out of the race. The reason given at the time involved vague threats to disrupt his daughter's wedding through the release of compromising photos. Republican operatives were said to be behind this threat to Perot and his family's privacy. Later, around the first of October, Perot decided to get back in. But by now it was too late. And he'd destroyed his credibility by dropping out earlier. Still, he polled 19 percent of the vote in the general election, the biggest total for a third party candidate since...well, I don't know since when, several decades anyway. Because he pulled more conservative than liberal voters, his involvement probably got Bill Clinton elected.
Since 1992 there has been a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists speculating as to the real reason, or reasons, Perot dropped out of the race when he was leading in the polls. A secret deal with Clinton to sink Bush is mentioned. Dark dealings by the One World Order global cabal are tossed around and debated on Perot-related websites. Nobody has ever quite bought the whole threats-to-the-daughter's-wedding rationale. There had to be more to it.
Well, there was. But it wasn't a secret pact with one or the other political party or the clandestine activities of some diabolical global cabal out to rule the world. It was one person: my friend Joanne.
Joanne (I'm going to withhold her last name for privacy reasons) is an earth mother vegetarian hippie sort who doesn't own a TV and has home-schooled three children. She's also one of the most intuitive people I've ever met. She has a way of cutting through the layers of to get at the hidden truths behind false fronts. This ability comes in handy when Joanne is plying her chosen trade: reading palms at Renaissance festivals.
It's because of the festivals that I happen to know Joanne since I too make a living as a Rennie (as we call ourselves) running a human-powered rides business. Our mutual friend, David, who is a puppeteer and clown, also plays a part in this story.
In the spring of 1992 the three of us were all working at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, Texas, about 35 miles south of Dallas. Scarborough runs from late April through early June, only on weekends as do all the renfairs. One evening at the end of a fair day Joanne made a rather startling statement as we were all chilling around the campfire in the fair's camping area. She said that some strange little man with a really sharp wife had come into her pavilion tent to have their palms read. The man had said he was running for president. Joanne wasn't sure whether to believe him but decided for the purpose of the reading she was about to give that she would take what the strange little man said at face value. Whether or not he was running for president, he certainly believed he was running for president.
Remember now, Joanne did not own a TV. Nor did she read newspapers. She said the strange little man was a bit perturbed that she didn't know who he was. Maybe more surprised than perturbed. I got the feeling talking to Joanne about this that the man and his wife were generally quite affable and respectful towards her. They also seemed to put a lot of stock in palmistry. Obviously, they wouldn't have walked into her booth if they didn't.
After Joanne related this incident with a patron at her booth, a couple of us asked right away if it was Ross Perot. After all, he was known to live in the Dallas area. He and his wife showing up at the Renaissance festival in Waxahachie was not unreasonable. Joanne's response was "Who's Ross Perot?" Well, it got us all speculating. "I bet it was Ross Perot," that sort of thing. It should be said that there was a lot of support among local employees and the paying public for Perot at Scarborough Faire in the spring of 1992, the most visible manifestation of which was a plethora of "Ross for Boss" t-shirts everywhere you looked. Joanne, however, was oblivious to all this political hype.
David was the one to ask the obvious next question at our little after-fair gathering: "What did you tell him?" Joanne said that after looking at his palm, she told him his lines showed that he was an extremely private person and that he wouldn't like the job because of the continuous public scrutiny. She said it would make him miserable, maybe even drive him crazy. But he shouldn't worry because he wasn't going to win.
I should say a little more about Joanne at this point. There are a lot of phony psychics and fortune tellers out there, many of them at Renaissance fairs, but Joanne's not one of them. Joanne is the real article. I have said she is one of the most intuitive people I've ever known. Joanne doesn't just read a person's palm, she reads their soul. She says the palm is a map of the soul. And she makes few predictions. It's more an exercize in counseling a person as to the forces impinging on them and how well they are prepared, or not, to deal with those forces. Joanne never claims to be a psychic. She's a reader of palms and people. She's very good at it.
Joanne related to us a couple of more things she told the strange little man - for instance, that his lines were very strong in the Mars area by which she meant the area governing war. She said she would hate to have this person as an enemy because his lines said he didn't lose many battles. She also said that the man's wife was amazing and a "high level soul." I think there was more stuff of a personal nature Joanne chose not to tell us because of client privilege. But the main thrust of her reading for the strange little man who said he was running for president was that he wouldn't like the job but don't worry because he wasn't going to win anyway. A couple of days later joanne walked into David's trailer while the TV was on, saw Ross Perot's face on the TV screen and said "That's the guy!" So now there was no doubt.
A few weeks later Ross Perot dropped out of the race sighting family privacy reasons. There was the story of the daughter's wedding and other explanations that came up. By that time Scarborough Fair had ended and we'd all moved on to other fairs. Over the years the speculation and conspiracy theories have multiplied. People come up with all kinds of complicated scenarios involving vast right and left wing conspiracies to explain why Ross Perot dropped out of the race when he was ahead. But those of us who know Joanne and were at Scarborough Fair near Dallas in 1992 know the real story. Ross Perot dropped out because our palm reader friend Joanne told him he wouldn't like the job but not to worry because he wasn't going to win. You can imagine these thoughts turning over in Perot's mind, maybe even gnawing at him for the month or so between the reading and his withdrawal announcement. Then finally causing him to pull out of the race, only to regret it later and try to get back in.
Yes, our friend Joanne affected American history. One person made a difference without hardly even trying. She probably got Bill Clinton elected. Anyway, this is what those of us who know Joanne choose to believe.