A perennial candidate is one who runs for public office with a record of success that is infrequent, if existent at all. Perennial candidates are often either members of non-major political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. They may run without any serious hope of gaining office, but in order to promote their views or themselves instead. They may also overestimate their chances for election or have little in the way of campaigning skill or voter appeal. John C. Turmel is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the most persistent perennial candidate, having run 77 and lost in 76 elections (the other being a by-election that was cancelled by a general election call).
Famous quotes containing the words perennial and/or candidate:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“I have the greatest aversion to being a candidate on a ticket with a man whose record as an upright public man is to be in question—to be defended from the beginning to the end.”
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