For several months Rusher had promised American Independent Party members a nationally known Conservative, promises he continued to make up until two weeks before the convention. When Rusher, Viguerie, and Phillips failed to produce a well-known Conservative, party veterans led by its founder William K. Shearer rebuffed their vision to reform and modernize the party into what Rusher styled as the New Majority Party. The front-runner going into the convention was former Georgia governor and staunch segregationist Lester Maddox (previously a Democrat) with his colorful personality being viewed as a positive that could draw media attention and help the party reach the threshold of five percent of the national vote that would secure it federal funding.