Why didn't anti-GOP Perot-esque figure emerge this year, like he did in 1992?

[phk]

Ditto.

[zorkpolitics]

No Billionaire wanted to spend the money.
To be a serious Perot like competitor, a third party challenger would need to be ready to spend $300 Million of their own money

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

You had a strong Democratic field, and the GOP nomination wasn't uncontested.

[pragmatic liberal]

Nobody wanted it.

Bloomberg may have run had it been a Clinton-Romney contest. But given that both Obama and McCain are pretty popular among independents, there just wasn't much room for one.

But you do hit upon an interesting point. Right now, the right track/wrong track numbers are over 70+ wrong track. And the president is extremely unpopular. Typically, third party candidacies have been strong when dissatisfaction is so high and when the incumbent is so unpopular that one party can't hold all the opposition to the incumbent.

McCain has been successful at holding many conservative-leaning independents; the people who dislike the Bush administration and would sit out or vote third-party, but are willing to vote for McCain.