north vietnam. perot made headlines again in 1979 when two eds employees were taken hostage during the revolution in iran, he organized and paid for a successful private mission to rescue the men and bring them home. perot ran for president again in 1996, but this time he was barred from the debates, so he bought network air time and broad cast a series of informercials to explain his personal vision for america. perot won only 8% of the vote in '96. wolf blitzer, cnn washington. >> wolf, thank you so much for that. joining me right now by phone is cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. thanks so much for joining me. wolf laid it out, laid out ross perot's life so well. we all know him most probably from the 1992 run for president. what is ross perot's political legacy, do you think, as we look back on it now?