This whole article is just stream of consciousness. It seems like an odd topic. As you bring up, what connection at all is there with Ross Perot and the election of “W”?? That is quite a stretch.
“George W. Bush was, in some ways, the opposite. After an unsuccessful House race in 1978, he mostly laid aside politics. After his father lost to Clinton, he seems to have believed that God put him in the way of running for president, and he strove to tutor himself to do the best job possible.”
I would add something that Barone didn’t mention: Perot’s 1992 and 1996 runs made third-party presidential runs fashionable, and without Perot’s success I don’t think that Ralph Nader would have gotten so much press (or grass-roots support) in 2000. Had Nader not gotten 97,000 votes in FL, George W. Bush would not have been elected president. So there’s that as well.