Dole Urges ‘Sound Bite’ Perot’s Army to Sink Teeth Into Congress

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole labeled Ross Perot a “walking sound bite” Friday, yet beseeched the Texan’s supporters to join the GOP fold and vent their fury at Congress by expelling Democrats in 1994.

While taking time in a speech and later news conference to poke at Perot, Dole told the Republican National Committee that the GOP’s future depended heavily on winning back the Republicans who deserted the party to support the Dallas billionaire.

Citing a new poll by a Democratic group showing that the majority of Perot’s support came from Republican ranks and that anger at Congress was the single-biggest factor in their alienation, Dole offered this entreaty to Perot’s army:

“Keep in mind one thing: The Democrats have controlled the Congress almost completely for the past four decades.” Later, Dole added: “Give us the opportunity to govern . . . and if we don’t change things in four to eight years, then kick us out.”

Dole said Republicans shared much of the Perot agenda: support for deficit reduction, a line-item veto and balanced-budget amendment. But in citing areas where Republicans and Perot supporters have common ground, Dole still said it would “be very difficult” for the GOP to win the defectors back. And he couldn’t resist aiming a few barbs at Perot himself.

“I know he likes what he is doing, and he’s pretty good at it,” Dole said of Perot, who has, since winning 19% in the presidential race, pledged to turn his organization into a powerful national political force. “He is a walking sound bite.”

At his meeting with reporters, Dole said Perot had it easy--using his high media profile to offer folksy descriptions of the nation’s problems without being in an elected position to be accountable.

“I want to hear the solutions,” Dole said. “He’s got a big advantage: He’s not President Clinton proposing legislation or Bob Dole trying to oppose it.”

Since the election, Dole said Perot had smartly run from the taxes he proposed in the campaign to curb the federal budget deficit--a bigger tax package than Clinton’s--and unlike elected officials has a luxury when the going gets tough: “He can run back to Dallas in his private jet.”