They Ran For President. What Did They Learn? • Buttondown
In 2004, Charlie Jane Anders interviewed people who ran for President and lost, including Larry Flynt, who said:
“[My biggest surprise was learning] what a void existed in American society, and the desire to have a candidate other than one from the two-party system. I just announced [my candidacy] sort of as a joke, and I got $60,000 in my office that first week in change, dollars, five and ten-dollar bills from people saying, ‘Go get ‘em.'“
“I never dreamed that would be the case. There were so many disenfranchised people out there that I thought, if somebody came along who was really a major contender, he could really upset the system. I was not surprised when Ross Perot had the effect on the election that he had. Bill Clinton would have never gotten elected had it not been for Ross Perot. And of course, in 2000, Al Gore would have been elected had it not been for Ralph Nader.”