The recent history of independent and third-party presidential runs in this country is easy to summarize: High hopes followed by dashed expectations.

Back in 1968, George Wallace, proclaiming there wasn’t a “dime’s worth of difference” between the two parties, ran as a third-party candidate, won more than 13% of the vote and carried five Southern states. He didn’t really alter the outcome of that race, however, though he did help move white Southerners out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican column and thereby altered the shape of both parties.

That was the high-water mark. John Anderson ran as a renegade, liberal Republican in 1980, had a couple of months of highflying hopes and then crashed to earth with just 6.6% of the general election vote. Ross Perot ran in 1992, led in the polls for a brief and heady moment, yet finished with just 19% of the vote and failed to win a single state or Electoral College vote. He tried again in 1996, slumped to 8%, and his dream was dead.

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