Richard Lamm 1996 presidential campaign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
former Governor of Colorado
(1975–1987)
Ed Zschau
former California 12th district Representative
(1983–1987)
Lost nomination: August 18, 1996
| Campaign | 1996 Reform primaries |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Richard Lamm former Governor of Colorado (1975–1987) Ed Zschau former California 12th district Representative (1983–1987) |
| Affiliation | Reform Party |
| Status | Announced: July 9, 1996 Lost nomination: August 18, 1996 |
| Headquarters | Boulder, Colorado |
| Receipts | US$258,329.00[1] (1996-12-31) |
| Slogan(s) | Reform and Renewal[2] |
The 1996 presidential campaign of Richard Lamm, former Democratic Governor of Colorado, was launched on July 9, 1996. Lamm announced his intention to seek the Reform Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1996 presidential election in Denver, Colorado.
Despite the entrance of billionaire and founder of the Reform Party Ross Perot the next day Lamm continued his campaign and announced that millionaire and former Representative Ed Zschau would be his vice presidential candidate. In the Reform Party mail-in ballot primaries Lamm took three states and Washington, D.C., and had half the support of Perot. Afterwards he appeared and gave a speech at the convention in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and refused to endorse Perot or accept the vice presidential nomination.
In 1974 Lamm was elected to the governorship of Colorado and would become infamous for his dire predictions for social security and healthcare which earned him the nickname "Governor Gloom".[3] In 1992 Lamm was defeated in the Democratic primary for the Senate election and started his drift from the Democratic Party. That same year in the 1992 Perot became the most successful third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 with 18.91% of the popular vote as an independent and in six states was placed on the ballot on newly formed political parties. In the early nineties multiple independence parties under the leadership of United We Stand America formed with ballot access due to Perot's success in 1992 and in 1995 joined to form the Reform Party. Throughout the development of the new party Perot stated that he would not seek its presidential nomination and left it open to other candidates. Speculation arose that Lamm would run for the nomination after Newsweek ran a story claiming that Perot had contacted Lamm and asked him to seek the nomination.[4] In June Lamm appeared at the California affiliate's convention with Perot where he gave a speech supporting cutting Social Security and Medicare and stated that he would be interested in running for the Reform Party nomination if Perot chose not to.[5] Lamm later said that if he was nominated by the Reform Party he would accept and run as their candidate.[6] A major problem for the Reform Party would be funding and if Perot was not the candidate he would not be allowed to give more than $1,000 to a campaign, however a workaround was speculated with Lamm being the presidential nominee and Perot being the vice presidential nominee which would allow him to play a lesser role in the campaign while still financially backing it up.[7] Another speculated workaround was selecting billionaire Tom Golisano, founder of the Independence Party of New York and its gubernatorial candidate, who was interested in appearing on the Reform Party ticket and stated that "If Dick Lamm needs some help in an effort to be competitive, I probably would help him, sure,".[8][9]