Forbes Joins GOP Race for White House : Politics: Publishing magnate offers himself as Washington outsider. He favors flat tax and currency backed by gold standard.

Publisher Malcolm S. (Steven) Forbes Jr. formally joined the crowded Republican presidential field on Friday, bringing to the race the disadvantage of starting late and the advantage of a self-financed campaign that could provide staying power when money problems force other candidates to fade.

The 48-year-old chief executive officer of the publishing empire founded by his grandfather offered himself as a political outsider who would promote an entrepreneurial spirit as President.

He criticized his GOP opponents for offering a “narrow, cramped and constricted” vision to the nation, and President Clinton for practicing a “weak and aimless foreign policy.”

“High taxes and high mortgage rates have put families on a treadmill, and the treadmill is winning,” Forbes said, stressing the major themes of his campaign--a plan for a 17% flat tax and stable currency backed by the gold standard.

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“Usually, candidates come to a race like this after years in either state or federal government. In the past that may have been good for the country, but no longer, not today. I am running because I believe this nation needs someone in the White House who can break the old patterns, someone who can unlock the stranglehold that the political class has on American life,” Forbes told an audience at the National Press Club.

Forbes, who embraces the supply-side economic theories popular during the early years of the Ronald Reagan Administration, is expected to spend as much as $25 million of his personal fortune in his quest for the White House. That figure prompted a spokesman for one of his opponents, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, to quip: “His campaign certainly will be good for the economy. It will trickle down through the hands of his political consultants.”

In an interview with The Times before he declared his candidacy, Forbes said he would not be running at all if Jack Kemp, the former housing and urban development secretary and an ardent advocate of supply-side economics, had entered the race. But after Kemp decided to remain on the sidelines, a scramble by some supply-side conservatives to find a suitable substitute ensued.

The group, led by economic theorist Jude Wanniski, eventually turned to Forbes.

“They and others did not have to make much of an argument about the void and vacuum that is out there,” Forbes told The Times. “The question was would I be an effective candidate, could I get the message of growth and opportunity across to a broad audience in a convincing way?”

A spokesman for Kemp said Friday that the former New York congressman was out of the country until next week. “He is close to Steve and he certainly likes his message, but he can’t make an endorsement of anyone at this point,” the spokesman said.

Forbes’ self-funded entry into the race promoted the inevitable comparisons with Texas businessman Ross Perot’s independent presidential campaign in 1992. But aside from ample checkbooks, there are stark differences.

Perot is a self-made billionaire; Forbes, a graduate of Princeton University, is the eldest son of Malcolm S. Forbes Sr., the media tycoon who drew widespread attention by flying hot air balloons, driving motorcycles and escorting Elizabeth Taylor.

Goldman reported from New York and Krueger reported from Washington.