Long ago when I held the important sounding title of CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent, I had encounters of the painful kind with squirrely billionaire, Ross Perot. Incidentally, “Senior” attached to a network reporter’s name is the last title before being referred to as “former,” although that designation was a a few years in my future. In 1992, meantime, I was assigned to dig into Perot’s mythical background as part of a series of documentaries called, Democracy in America. Each of the one-hour programs focused on a single candidate.

As I relate in Odyssey of a Dereleict Gunslinger, I didn’t know a helluva lot about Perot, other than he was rich, outspoken and allegedly had assembled a team to rescue two of his employees imprisoned in Tehran—a far-fetched tale that was the subject of a best selling book and a movie.

The plain-spoken Texan―journalists are required to describe all Texans as plain-spoken, even if they are mute―announced his candidacy February 20, 1992, on the Larry King show. The program was a favorite venting venue for Perot’s grandiose claims. Most went unchallenged. During this appearance, he told Larry that he had heard the cry of American masses demanding a leader of his skills. He wouldn’t just “tinker with the engine” under the hood, he would fix the thing altogether.

To ensure that Perot heard fellow citizens correctly, a 1-800 number was flashed on the screen for people to register their support. The next day, he claimed that telephone lines were jammed by thousands of calls begging him to rescue the nation in the same manner he saved his jailed employees in Tehran. Perot’s response was to establish the Reform Party. In some ways, it was the face of angry white men. White women, too.

I missed the Larry King interview. And so did Bill Smee, the producer assigned to work with me on the project. The young Yale graduate was among the first people hired for out investigative reporting unit three years before.  Bill and I watched a videotape in awe. Afterwards, we were ready to rush to the ballot box and cast our votes for Perot. He sounded great. But as we soon learned, Perot’s shtick on the Larry King show was pretty much the full range of his political acumen. He accused other candidates of speaking in sound bites, while doing nothing but.

The Rand Paul phenomenon brings back memories of Perot since there seems to be less there than meets the eye. Following a victory in Kentucky last week as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by former major league pitcher Jim Bunning, Paul has begun lurching through a series of gaffes. The darling of Tea partiers first got caught up in a controversy over his comments about civil rights. He then made a foot in the mouth remark that the Obama Administration should ease up its criticism of BP’s clean-up efforts following the massive Gulf oil spill off the Louisiana coast. When Paul became a target of editorialists and media pundits, he cancelled an appearance on Meet the Press, bemoaning the fact that he has not been given a ”honeymoon” from scrutiny.

Before he self-destructs, Paul should review the trials and tribulations of Ross Perot. He also sought exemption from the kind media examination that sometimes discovers warts. After uncovering numerous inconsistencies in the carefully constructed Perot myth, I found out that he did not like to be challenged. My one-hour interview with him was, perhaps, the strangest with a candidate of my career. He answered questions with metaphors.

“If you really want to know, rather than just throw dust in the air like gorillas do when they fight, go over to EDS (his company)…..” The simian metaphor was followed by a lesser creature. “You’re off on an absolute rabbit chase is where you are, but you love being there. So, I’ve got to bring you back to reality.” Then he visited the insect kingdom. “All you want to do is find, if it’s at all possible, to find one mosquito somewhere. Well, there are no mosquitoes.”

It is no wonder that I felt a sense of déjà-vu sixteen years later when Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin promised to get back to Katie Couric with answers to rather simple questions. I believe my Perot interview was his last with an investigative reporter. Better to have Larry King posing questions. Anyway, bizarre begot bizarre. He temporarilydropped out of the race, only to return a few weeks later to the anthem of Patsy Cline’s hit song, Crazy. Perot received eighteen percent of the votes from a demographic very similar to the tea partiers—white, middle-aged to elderly, and unhappy with Washington. 

Many political experts credit Perot’s candidacy with splitting the votes and electing Bill Clinton over George Herbert Bush. As a non-political expert, I credit Jennifer Flowers. Clinton was a relatively anonymous Arkansas Governor until he appeared on 60 Minutes with his adoring wife, Hillary, to deny an affair with the Little Rock chippie.

Also of great political value was the theme devised by Clinton campaign manager James Carville. “It’s the economy, stupid.” Many of the same economic conditions exist today. Tea partiers have rallied voters, who live in fear of the future. The overall national impact is yet to be measured. No doubt, the rhetoric of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and the stable of Fox “News” fear-mongers has created an illusion of a large constituency of anti-incumbent voters. But what is the staying power of the insurgent candidates. And how often, will they stumble.

David Brooks, the Republican New York Times op-ed columnist, recently wrote an insightful column on the mood of the voters. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/opinion/21brooks.html?ref=opinion

For me, the Brooks column is a reminder of the folks I encountered during the Ross Perot adventure. A slightly younger generation of Perot-like people are now making their voices heard. At the same time, the candidates catering to this segment of the electorate are faced with the dilemma of moderating their voices to avoid be heard making dumb statments.

My memoir, Odyssey of a Derelict Gunslinger, is available at amazon.com and independent bookstores. It offers much more than $19.99 worth of laughs. It is an account of my illustrious (I choose the adjectives) career.