Ross Perot Endorses Mitt Romney for President

Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who ran for president as an independent on the issue of the budget deficit in 1992 and 1996, has officially endorsed Mitt Romney for president in an op-ed piece published in the Des Moines Register.

Perot's reasons for endorsing Romney

In his Des Moines Register piece, Perot list some familiar arguments for endorsing Romney for president. He suggests that a second four-year term for President Obama would unaffordable. He mentions the uncontrolled growth of the national debt, with five trillion having been added in the current Obama term, the stagnant economy, and threats to cut the defense budget. Perot states that Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, balanced that state's budget without raising taxes. Perot regards this as a positive reason for endorsing Romney.

Perot's concerns about the economy and the debt

In a recent interview with USA Today, Perot offered a number of concerns about the state of the American economy and the increase in the national debt. Perot suggested at the time that some of the same fiscal issues he ran on 20 years ago have simply gotten worse. He opined that America's economic weakness would make the country vulnerable to being "taken over." At the time of the interview, at the beginning of October, Perot complained that neither Romney nor Obama was really addressing the problem of the national debt. Hence, he at the time declined to endorse any candidate.

Perot the most successful independent candidate since Teddy Roosevelt's run in 1912

According to biographical information on Perot provided by Answers.com, Perot made his fortune after being employed by IBM by founding a company called Electronic Data Systems in the 1960s that provided computer services to governments and large corporations. He garnered 19 percent of the vote in 1992, but only 8 percent in 1996. The Reform Party, which Perot founded, has since evolved beyond being a vehicle for the political ambitions of the Texas billionaire, though in recent years it has had a minimal impact on American politics.

The effects of the Perot endorsement

Since Perot has been mostly quiet on the subject of American politics since his 1996 run, what effect if any his endorsement may have is hard to tell. Hot Air's Ed Morrissey notes that with the decline of the Reform Party, Perot does not have a formal organization to work for Romney's election. On the other hand, Perot may have enough cachet with independent voters to pad Romney's advantage in that voter group.

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ross-perot-endorses-mitt-romney-president-191100492.html

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