Larry Hagman played a "Governor Fred Picker" or something like that, who replaced the candidate who dropped out due to his health problems. We think that latter was Paul Tsongas, but we can't recall who replaced him as the candidate played by Larry Hagman? Who was that (in reality)?
shareit could be governor jerry brown of california.
shareMany commentators thought it was Ross Perot, but I'm guessing it's a composite.
shareIt can't be Ross Perot, he was an independent so he'd didn't run in any primaries.
I recall the Hagman character talking about drug use so my guess is Jerry Brown.
Since the book and movie only deal with the primaries, and not the general election, Picker was a way to get the Perot phenomena into the story.
But there are elements of other candidates in '92 and earlier years.
Although I agree that the character is a composite, my gut-pick is:
Senator Lloyd Bentson.
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It was Former Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown. One clue is Brown like Picker was a governor in the 70's who ran for president twice that same decade, and then again in '92.
Unlike the movie Brown wasa candidate the whole time and did not come in as a replacement for the Harris (Sen. Paul Tsongas)character.
it was a composite. no one stepped forward to run in tsongas's name after he bowed out, therefore it couldn't be a real character.
shareHe was definitely just a fictionalized candidate or possibly composite. Some here say Governor Jerry Brown...no way. I campaigned for Brown during the primaries in '92. There's very little resemblance between Hagman's character and Brown's.
shareI agree with mmitsos-1, Gov. Brown was not at all like the fictionalized character here. I believe at the time he was still single (not sure, but he was single as governor). I don't think there was ever any drug scandal or suggestions of homosexual affairs. He was known as Governor Moonbeam because he was a spacey-sounding guy from California. The guy with the heart attack, however, was clearly meant to be Tsongas.
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