The independent candidate as political savior.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.

IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL, the fans' favorite player frequently is the rookie quarterback who has yet to play a down. He has thrown no interceptions and made no mistakes. He represents their desire for a savior who can lead the team down the field to glory. When he steps on the field to replace a veteran quarterback knocked silly from repeated sacks and revive the flagging offense, he is greeted by spontaneous cheers. Then, reality sets in. If often turns out that the rookie is no better than the veteran and often is worse. The fans are disillusioned, until the next untested rookie appears on the scene.

So it is with the public appetite for an unknown presidential candidate, particularly one whose personal reputation (or persona) overshadows his vaguely known political views. People project onto him their own expectations. History gives us examples. At the 1948 Democratic convention, liberals such as Claude Pepper, Chester Bowles, James Roosevelt, and Hubert Humphrey clamored to draft Gen. Dwight Eisenhower even though they hadn't a clue about what he believed. They didn't know whether he was a liberal, conservative, or moderate; Republican or Democrat. He was glamorous, heroic, and electable--and he wasn't Harry S. Truman, who seemed unglamorous, unheroic, and unelectable. Ironically, when Eisenhower became president, he often earned the scorn of those same liberals.

In the early months of 1992, Ross Perot stirred the imagination of a substantial number of voters as a straight-talking billionaire success who could clean house in Washington--that is, until voters got a close look at him. Then, many found a glib, paranoid megalomaniac whose ideas amounted to no more than a bunch of cracker-barrel slogans. His 19% of the vote was more of a protest against George Bush and Bill Clinton than an endorsement.

In 1995, the talk is about Colin Powell, whose domestic politics are as mysterious as Eisenhower's were in 1948. Even Powell's closest friends and associates have no idea about his views on balancing the budget, affirmative action, welfare reform, environmental policy, and numerous other issues. Should he become an active candidate, he would have to declare his positions in some detail. Then, it would be impossible to be all things to all people, as Eisenhower appeared to be in 1948.

The question of the unknown or independent candidate goes beyond personality. Is there a groundswell for a new political movement that could carry such a...