In the grand scheme of things, the party system in the United States in 2000 remains essentially the same as it has throughout the last century. Party politics in the United States has revolved around the two dominant parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Occasionally, third parties make a showing on the national scene in presidential elections. Their success, however, has been limited in terms of votes, and they have often disappeared after only one or two elections.

In 1992, however, Ross Perot's meteoric campaign as an independent candidate for the presidency did threaten to elaborate the party system. Perot won 19 percent of the popular vote--the highest percentage earned by a third party 1912. That occured when ex-president Theodore Roosevelt ran as a candidate of the Progressive Party in 1912, which split the Republican vote and led to the election of the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson.

Despite Perot's impressive performance in the popular vote, he failed to carry a single state (running third in nearly every one) and thus failed to win any of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Nevertheless, Perot did well enough to qualify for public funds to support his candidacy in the 1996 election, in case he chose to run again. Indeed, he did, but for 1996 Perot chose to run not as an independent but as the candidate of a new party, the Reform Party, which he created with his private funds and which became his personal organization. Although the Reform Party attracted thousands of activists to its banner and was placed on the ballot in all fifty states for the 1996 presidential election, its candidate (Perot), won only eight percent of the popular vote--a drop of eleven points from 1992.

When Perot declined to lead the Reform Party for the 2000 presidential campaign, the party split into two warring factions fighting over the party name--and the right to more than $12 million in public campaign funds due to the party's showing in 1996. The Reform Party's history recalls the observation about the American party system made decades ago and repeated above:

Occasionally, third parties make a showing on the national scene in presidential elections. Their success, however, has been limited in terms of votes, and they have often disappeared after only one or two elections.

Although the U.S. has remained basically a two-party system, the relative positions of the parties within that system has changed significantly since the mid-1990s----with regard to Congress more than the presidency.

Original Parties, Continuing

001 Democratic Party: Since 1962, the Democrats won the presidency in four elections: 1964 (Johnson), 1976 (Carter), 1992, and 1996 (Clinton both times). Until the 1994 election, the Democrats thoroughly dominated Congress, controlling the House for 38 of 40 years from 1950 to 1994, and the Senate for 32 of the 40 years.

002 Republican Party: Since 1962, the Republicans won the presidency five times: 1968 and 1972 (Nixon), 1980 and 1984 (Reagan), and 1988 (Bush). The 1994 election has been dubbed the "Republican Revolution," for the party took control of the House for the first time since 1954 and also wrested back control of the Senate. The party kept control of both chambers through the rest of the century.

Despite the electorate's flirtation with the Reform Party in the mid-1990s, U.S. party politics remains--more than any other nation--a two-party system. Assessed by the distribution of party identification within the electorate, the Democrats still constitute the majority party and the Republicans the minority, Nevertheless, the vagaries of politics, personalities, and issues have combined to give the Republican Party a distinct advantage in governmental control during the last decade of the last century.