An American Spoiler, John Anderson

The election of 1980 had a man running for office named John Anderson. He was a third party candidate for US president. John Anderson was a member of the House of Representative from Illinois who bored with the role of Congressman went on to become an Independent candidate for the 1980 presidential race. Mr Anderson was a "Rockefeller Republican" more liberal than the republican candidate Ronald Reagan. With enough of a percentage in the polls John Anderson earned a spot in a presidential debate. Jimmy Carter refused to debate Mr Anderson and this may have been the key to his losing the race to Ronald Reagan.
John Anderson's support was mainly students in universities and colleges. He later in life tossed around the idea of becoming a candidate for the reform party but ended up endorsing Ralph Nader. In the 2008 campaign he supported Barack Obama.
His story is worth thinking about.