Quayle Declares He’s Healthy, Set to Campaign

Former Vice President Dan Quayle said Saturday that he expects to become a formal candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in mid-April, and, despite two recent hospitalizations, said he is healthy for the fight.

He also called for the return of U.S. troops from Haiti and said if he were in the White House, U.S. forces would be kept out of United Nations peacekeeping expeditions.

“In the coming weeks . . . I will be making some important decisions about the future . . . but I do want you to know this: My doctors told me, ‘You can go wherever you want; you can do whatever you want, and you can say whatever you want,’ ” he told 30,000 cheering Amway conventioneers at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

“I am back in the arena, and that’s where I’m going to stay.”

Before his speech, Quayle released a brief statement saying he planned to file a declaration of his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission by Feb. 21 and would likely make a formal public announcement in April.

Quayle, who will turn 48 on Feb. 2, was treated in November for blood clots in his lungs, a condition doctors said was caused by extensive air travel, which placed him in confined spaces for long periods of time and allowed clots to build up.

Earlier this month his appendix was removed. Surgeons found a benign growth on it and gave him a complete cancer screening, later saying they found no problems.

Commenting on his health, Quayle said: “In the last two months, I’ve gone through just about every test, exam or X-ray you can imagine. So I stand before you tonight to say: I’m scanned, I’m tested and I’m ready.”