Here's why I bring up Ross Perot: He ran twice (albeit in the general election and with significant $$$) talking mostly about one issue - balance the budget. By 1997, Clinton and the Republicans finally did it. I doubt that would have happened without RP.
I wonder if a better analogy is Steve Forbes, who ran in the Republican primary in 1996 and 2000. He was not taken seriously, and to this day, we still don't have the flat tax.
You better hope that's not a better analogy. The whole thing only works if we're looking at Perot as a model for this issue.
We don't have a flat tax, but policy makers address the idea of a flax tax (either to say they're against it, or to say that their plan makes the tax system flatter) when they make a proposal.

If peak oil just got that far--so that anyone who talked about energy policy had to take a position on peak oil and talk about their plan in the context of peak oil--we'd be way ahead of where we are now.

Excellent point pbrewer. Of course both Perot and Forbes had lots of cash. Who's going to bankroll Roscoe's campaign? I hear T. Boone Pickens is rich. Any other wealthy peak oilers out there?
For the record, Pickens is worth $1.5 billion.
Hell, let's just draft Pickens. I mean, we need rich people (Perot, Forbes), so why not?

(I don't mean it. Bartlett is much more my type, even if he's a Republican.)

just to complete the circle...for some reason, I liken Pickens to Perot's Adm Stockdale.

"GRIDLOCK!"  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0500148/quotes