THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300418
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 57 lines
Ross Perot, attacking with the single-minded ferocity of a barracuda, is bent on tearing away chunks from Bill Clinton's fat lead in the last frenzy of Tuesday's presidential election.
Perot has been doing a better job of chewing at Clinton's bulk than has Republican Bob Dole.
By the time the Democrats arrived for their August convention in Chicago, it was plain, as I noted then, that incumbent Clinton, not Dole, would be Perot's prime target, a fact that eluded blissful Democrats as well as the Republicans.
Nor, even as the two parties fenced in September over the format of the October presidential debates, did the Republican camp comprehend that to allow Perot to debate would help Dole.
Throughout the campaign, GOP strategists seem to have been laboring at least one election behind.
Thus, while the two camps were dickering over terms of the candidates' debate, Clinton favored admitting Perot: ``I enjoyed having him in there in 1992. I thought he made a valuable contribution. I'm not afraid of any debate.''
Yet, mark this, Clinton's two negotiators voted in the end to shut out Perot. In the two camps' closed sessions, the Dems probably said that if the Repubs would give up demands for more than two debates, then the Dems wouldn't insist on admitting Perot.
Thus, the Dems agreed to excluding Perot, whom they didn't want anyway, to escape more than two debates. They were artful, reflecting Clinton's shrewd mental maneuvering. At least, that's my guess. One day we'll learn, when they all write books.
Only after the first debate, when Dole couldn't pin down Clinton on the ethics issue, did the Republicans realize they needed Perot in the debates to carry the fight to Clinton and destabilize the Democratic campaign.
In the second debate, Dole pleaded for a third one to include Perot and Ralph Nader - a child begging older boys, too late, for a last turn at bat.
Then Dole got two breaks. First, the disclosure of foreign donations to the Democrats. Second, Perot's surfacing at the National Press Club. Perot was ecstatic. To face a horde of reporters was almost as good as a chance to debate.
Perot brushed aside a covert plea by the GOP to withdraw in favor of Dole. The attempt, he said, was weird, inconsequential. But he tore into Clinton, predicting Watergate II if Clinton wins. Dole took heart, heightened his attacks.
Both began to inch up in polls - Dole desperate to win, Perot straining for a double-digit finish to nail down a footnote in history.
They attack Clinton, 2-on-1, as they could have done long ago; Clinton counters 18 hours a day to withstand them - a furious, fascinating finish. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Ross Perot hopes to nail down a double-digit finish at the polls on
Tuesday. by CNB