ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190164
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VALLEY FORGE, PA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Above
Ross Perot launched his third-party presidential campaign Sunday with a scathing attack on the Republican and Democratic parties as captives of ``special interests'' and responsible for the escalating national debt.
``Have you listened to the messages from the other parties in the last few weeks?'' he asked cheering delegates from the Reform Party.
``Can we count on the two political parties to solve these problems? They are the problem.''
Perot, using charts and graphs, sounded familiar themes from his 1992 campaign, in which he received more than 19 million votes.
As he attacked trade agreements and budget deficits and complained that special interest groups control the major parties, delegates cheered and waved signs reading ``Repeal NAFTA,'' ``Abolish the Federal Reserve'' and ``Ross the Boss.''
Perot asked the delegates, ``Do you get this kind of blunt, straight talk from the other political parties?''
``No,'' they responded.
In his first presidential bid, Perot spent nearly $60 million of his own money, most of it on television commercials in which he appeared with a pointer and charts to support his argument that neither Republicans nor Democrats were taking effective action to balance the budget and reduce the size and power of the federal government.
The votes Perot received in 1992 qualified his new party for $30 million in federal campaign funds. He said on CNN's ``Larry King Live'' Sunday night that he plans to accept the money, which would limit him to spending $50,000 of his own funds.
Perot received the Reform Party nomination three days after the Republicans nominated Bob Dole for president. Next week, the Democrats will nominate President Clinton for a second term.
One major decision facing Perot was the choice of a vice presidential candidate. Reform Party Chairman Russell Verney said Perot was just starting the decision process.
In his speech, Perot paid brief tribute to former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm, the man who unsuccessfully challenged him for the Reform Party nomination.
``Thank you, Dick,'' Perot said.
Earlier, Lamm addressed the convention and equally briefly congratulated Perot. The former Democratic governor has said he doesn't know whether he will vote for Perot.
``I'm going to sit on my back porch for a couple of weeks and really think about this,'' he told The Associated Press. While repeating his support for the Reform Party, Lamm said it has been ``too much in the shadow of Ross Perot.''
Lamm addressed the Reform Party convention and condemned the Republican and Democratic parties as incapable of reforming the political system. He told the delegates, ``We can reform and renew America, but it will not be done by politics as usual.''
But Lamm devoted most of his speech to an appeal to cut off immigration to the United States while welcoming and continuing benefits for immigrants already in this country.
``There's a question of how many, who should they be, and how should they be chosen. When the bathtub overflows, one turns off the tap,'' he said. ``Do we want to have as many people as they do in India?''
For Dole and Clinton, Perot represents a potential danger.
Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, who unsuccessfully challenged Dole for the GOP nomination, said on Fox ``News Sunday'' that he expects Perot will receive 9 percent or 10 percent of the vote in November and ``they are potential Republican voters.''
Campaigning on the other side of the state, Dole told a spirited Pittsburgh rally, ``If you've been a Perot supporter, come to us. We are the reform party.''
Rep. Richard Gephardt, the House Democratic leader, predicted Perot would not have an effect on the outcome of the election.
Asked on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' whether he would vote for Clinton, Dole or Perot, Lamm said he could vote for any of them but then indicated that his opposition to Dole's 15 percent tax cut plan would make support for the former Kansas senator unlikely. As for supporting Clinton, Lamm said, ``Sure, I did before and I could again.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB