August 28th, 2008

Perot: Making sure "everybody has access to the truth"

Posted by Tom Steinert-Threlkeld @ 6:40 am

Categories: General, Government, Web Technology

Tags: Microsoft Access, Nominee, Ross Perot, Internet, Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

He doesn’t “do a lot of Internet work.” He’s not on Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace. He’s not an iPhone guy. He prefers to get “instant feedback from the people,’’ from face-to-face contact and phone calls.

But Ross Perot, now 77, is back and using the Internet to try and influence the Nov. 4 presidential contest between the newly crowned Democratic nominee Barack Obama and next week’s Republican nominee, John McCain. The signature form of communication from his independent 1992 run for the president – the statistical slide – has been resurrected at PerotCharts.com, which attracts 3 million visitors a month, according to the site’s developer.The founder of Electronic Data Systems and chairman emeritus of Perot Systems considers the site the embodiment of the “electronic town hall’’ idea he propounded in his direct-dial candidacy, with the ability to, soon, contact their representatives in Congress through the site to tell them, for instance, that only 2% of doctorates granted from America’s most elite engineering schools actually go to Americans. Or that the federal budget deficit projected in July for 2009 ($482 billion) is 50% worse than the worst-case estimate in January.

The point of PerotCharts.com and this latest quixotic quest to influence a presidential contest and federal spending: “Make sure everybody has access to the truth.”

The truth, as pulled together by Perot.

PHOTO SOURCE: perotnader.com