POLITICAL BRIEFING

ROSS WHO?: Republican and Democratic presidential strategists say their campaigns initially intend to respond to Ross Perot’s candidacy in identical fashions: Ignore him. . . . An aide to Vice President Dan Quayle, who launched the sharpest attacks on Perot earlier this year, said the GOP brain trust wants to see how the Texas billionaire affects the polls before resuming any criticism of him. A senior adviser to Bill Clinton said the Democrats expect Perot’s support to dwindle as his austere economic measures gain greater attention, but they plan to let the media provide that exposure. . . . Both sides acknowledge that their candidates could use Perot as a foil in the approaching debates. Bush might lump both of his rivals together as tax raisers; Clinton can point to differences between his economic proposals and Perot’s to underscore his pledge to protect the middle-class from tax hikes.