1992
John Hagelin, a 37-year old physics professor at Maharishi University of Management (MUM), was the NLP candidate for president of the United States in the 1992. He said that he had been uninterested in politics and a Republican by "default" before the campaign. Mike Tompkins, also on the MUM staff, was his running mate. They were formally chosen at the party's 400-person convention in Washington D.C. on October 5, 1992, although they had been campaigning already. Both of them took six-month leaves of absence from the university to campaign.
Hagelin proposed that all candidates should have their brain waves recorded by EEG and the resulting "mental profiles" should be publicly disclosed, so that the voters could see which candidates had the best "brain-wave stability". He said that the test would "allow us to avoid the possibility of a brain-dead candidate". The proposal was dropped because of a poor reception.
Hagelin was excluded from the presidential debates and he asked the FEC to take over the process. He did participate in the Alternative Candidates' National Debate along with the candidates or representatives of three other parties. Hagelin's campaign cost several million dollars.
The NLP had nine candidates for U.S. Congress in California. The sole congressional candidate in Massachusetts was a movement employee. Two people tried to get on the ballot for congress in Missouri, but one succeeded in getting enough petition signatures. The party said it had 100 candidates running in state and local offices. The NLP ran a candidate in Illinois for Senate. There were reported to be between 80 and 175 candidates on the NLP slate.
The Beach Boys raised funds for the NLP during a summer concert tour. Mike Love said he was switching his support from George H. W. Bush to Hagelin.
In addition to its own slate, the NLP also endorsed candidates in other races, including Republicans and New Alliance Party members.
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