George H.W. Bush only lost his re-election bid in 1992 because a peculiar independent candidate from Texas, Ross Perot, drew more voters away from Bush than from Democratic candidate Bill Clinton. It’s one of the most enduring myths in U.S. presidential election history. Perot ran a quirky “outsider” campaign that in many ways presaged the Donald Trump phenomenon of 2016. It all amounted to one of the most successful third-party bids in U.S. history; Perot won 19 percent of the popular vote. But, no, Perot did not cost Bush the election, as “The Perot Myth” — a film from FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films, directed by John Watkin and Eamon Harrington — makes clear.

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