THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996 TAG: 9607080116
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 56 lines
Ross Perot ``is still looking for George Washington II,'' Richard Lamm said the other day, ``and I looked in the mirror and I don't think there is any resemblance.''
The former Colorado governor disparaged his looks while discussing his probable candidacy for the presidency with the Reform Party. He may enter the race at a conference Tuesday in Denver.
Sort of a cross between Perot and Paul Tsongas, Lamm, 60, proved to be an articulate campaigner Saturday on CNN's ``Inside Politics.''
He has a small, round face and a quick, engaging little grin reminiscent in its constant readiness to Jimmy Carter's but not as all-encompassing as Carter's, whose candle power could light a stadium.
Lamm would pester both Bill Clinton and Bob Dole; but his entry in the race would apt to be more of a drain on Clinton. A lifelong Democrat, Lamm has been consulting with party centrists who lacked the nerve to challenge the president. The party's candidates for the nomination will make speeches Aug. 11 in Long Beach, Calif. After a week of voting, the tally will occur Aug. 18 in Valley Forge, Pa.
Perot encouraged him to get into the process, Lamm said, but ``he didn't put his arms around me.''
He guesses that Perot won't run for president. ``I believe he has probably got very mixed emotions on this. Politics is a love-hate relationship. I sure know that,'' he said.
Perot's quandary must be excruciating. In his proprietary attitude toward the party he parented as United We Stand America, Perot is the doting father for whom no suitor seems worthy of his daughter's hand. There also is the question of whether, if he blesses the hitch, he should offer a dowry.
To make a credible race, Lamm said, he would need $20 million. With an exploratory committee, he has raised $6,000, which, he said, won't make either party tremble in its boots. Perot spent $60 million in garnering 19 percent of the vote in the 1992 campaign.
Lamm called Clinton his friend and Dole a wonderful man but said both parties are obligated to special interests. If you are a Republican, he said, ``you have to almost subcontract your conscience to Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition.'' The Democrats are too close to the trial lawyers and the National Education Association, he said.
Lamm presents a herd of hard choices, chief among them drastic cuts to preserve Social Security and Medicare from collapse.
Asked about confronting Perot for the nomination, he saw no problem there. Then, laughing, he said, ``That may be the most foolish statement I've ever made.''
Not if Perot has the wit to recognize that support of Lamm seems the surest way to advance his offspring - and redeem his credibility. ILLUSTRATION: Richard Lamm, left, says Ross Perot encouraged him to
get in the race for president, but ``he didn't put his arms around
me.'' by CNB