The national television time U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has paid for tonight is being billed as the first political infomercial since Ross Perot pioneered the form in 1992. That’s not quite true, since Lyndon LaRouche was on TV before Perot and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton since, but among major candidates for the presidency at this stage of the campaign, Perot and Obama are alone.

Here’s a YouTube video showing Perot at the top of his infomercial form — the only clip that seems to be in circulation, and I’m not sure whether it’s from his 1992 or 1996 run. It’s very short (less than a minute) but it’s enough to give you the flavor — you get to see a couple of Perot’s trademark charts and hear him say “voodoo stick” (if not “giant sucking sound”). It’s good for laughs now and also for a quick reminder that even paid TV has its perils — Perot’s ads quickly became the stuff of ridicule. Video after the jump.

From what I can tell, longer Perot infomercial clips have been absent from the Web for some time. Let me know if you find a full-length version or longer clip.