Former President George W. Bush on Tuesday honored Ross Perot, who challenged his father in the 1992 presidential election, as a "strong patriot."
The 43rd president in a statement said that Perot, the billionaire and former presidential candidate from Texas who died at 89 on Tuesday, "epitomized the entrepreneurial spirit and the American creed" and "gave selflessly of his time and resources to help others in our community, across our country, and around the world."
Perot during the 1992 presidential election won nearly 19 percent of the vote running as an independent in a race that ultimately ended in President George H.W. Bush losing his re-election bid to Bill Clinton. Perot's role in Bush's loss has been the subject of debate; Bush's 1992 deputy campaign manager has argued Perot cost him the win, reports CBS News' Mark Knoller. Perot also ran for president in 1996.
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Bush in his statement concludes by writing that he and former first lady Laura Bush "send our heartfelt condolences" to Perot's family "as they celebrate a full life." Brendan Morrow
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