ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603030012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
Former Vice President Dan Quayle was in his element Friday night at Washington and Lee University.
Before him was a packed gymnasium full of whooping and cheering Republicans - well-dressed college students waving signs for the GOP hopefuls who are currently fighting for a chance to take on President Clinton this fall.
Some of them may have been caught up in playing a role - after all, Quayle was speaking at the first night of a Mock Presidential Convention, and a number of W&L students in the crowd had revved up their enthusiasm with a few pre-convention cocktails.
But the crowd seemed sincere - overflowing with enthusiam, in fact.
They roared when Quayle called for not just reforming the welfare system - but replacing it altogether. They cheered when he praised the leadership of former Presidents Reagan and Bush. And they booed when he mentioned the U.S. tax code and the "special-interest crowd, those who can buy access" to avoid paying taxes.
And they loved it when he delivered these lines about President Clinton: "He governs liberal. He talks conservative. And he tells us over and over and over again that he is a moderate. ...
"If Bill Clinton is a moderate, then I am a world-champion speller."
W&L's Mock Presidential Convention began Friday and will continue today with speeches from House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett. After Gingrich talks, the student convention will proceed with a state-by-state roll-call vote to try to predict the real Republican Party's nominee.
The Mock Convention has correctly picked the nominee of the party out of the White House 15 of 20 times since it began in 1908.
W&L students tend to come from upper-income, traditionally Republican families, so getting to predict the GOP nominee - for the first time since 1980 - is a special treat for many of the conventioneers.
They cheered so wildly for Quayle when he entered the convention hall that he joked he might "throw away my speech and announce" himself as a candidate for the presidency.
At a news conference after his speech, Quayle called for a flat-tax system. He said a flat tax would be more fair to American families and would take away the advantages of special interests.
Asked for examples of special interests that take advantage, Quayle didn't want to get specific. "Do you want me to go down the list from A to Z?" he asked. "You can name any special interest group."
During the news conference, someone also asked Quayle if he would consider accepting the vice presidential nomination this year.
"Oh, I think once as vice president is probably enough."
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. Former Vice President Dan Quayleby CNBspeaks at the first night of W&L's Mock Presidential Convention.
color KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT