ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE TEXAS billionaire's candidacy could set up a political battle with former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm.
Ross Perot said Wednesday he will run for president again this year if nominated by the Reform Party, the organization he created in the wake of his 1992 bid.
His comments came just a day after former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm - once a prominent Democrat - announced his candidacy for the Reform Party nomination.
``If the people want me to [run], certainly,'' he said on Larry King's CNN television show. ``This is all I have done for the last five years, and the only reason I do it is because I love this country.''
Perot ran as an independent in 1992, spending about $60 million of his own money and finishing with 19 percent of the popular vote. He said he has dedicated his life in recent years to political reform.
The announcement - on the same show where Perot launched his surprise bid four years ago - sets up a competition for the Reform nomination, to be decided by party members at their two-part convention next month.
Lamm has not held political office since 1986, when he left the statehouse after three terms. In declaring his candidacy, he said he would run no matter what Perot does.
He said Wednesday that he would almost welcome Perot's entry into the race, saying it could boost interest and excitement in the nominating race.
``If I could get the nomination in this party he's created, if he wants to contest it, obviously that's the best scenario because you start off with a certain David-and-Goliath quality,'' he said from San Jose, Calif., where he was campaigning.
Knowing that activists across the country were gathering signatures to put his name in nomination, Perot said he was the best person for the job.
``If anybody should do this, I should do it. I'm in a unique position to do it,'' he said. ``A lot of people who would want to do it and might even be better doing it aren't in a position to do it, wouldn't have the freedom to do it. I have that freedom.''
``He was much more interested in his golf game,'' White House spokesman Michael McCurry said of President Clinton, who was in Charlotte, N.C.
Asked what he thought about Lamm, Perot said, ``He's a fine man. We're delighted he's on the ballot.'' He added that he wants to be supportive of Lamm ``in every possible way'' and make sure he gets maximum public exposure.
But he said, as he did in 1992, he will respond if his supporters want him on the ballot, although he did not say whether he would campaign for the nomination.
``If they feel I am the person they want to do this job then certainly I will give them everything I have to get it done,'' he said.
Perot said he wants to run again to be sure his generation is not the first to leave the next generation a weaker nation.
As for issues, Perot said:
Cigarettes should be taxed, with proceeds funding health care for smokers.
Abortion should be legal. Otherwise, rich women will go to other countries to have abortions and poor women will end up aborting themselves with ``coat hangers and all these terrible things.''
Social Security should be restructured or it will run out of money as more and more retirees begin collecting benefits.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB