Perot Vows ‘a Better, Stronger Country’

A day after his Reform Party elected him as its first candidate for president, Ross Perot accepted the nomination with a pledge Sunday to “pass on a better, stronger country to the next generation.”

“Thank you for creating a Reform Party,” the billionaire businessman told a cheering crowd of about 2,000 at the campaign kickoff rally here. “I am honored and I am humbled that you have chosen me as your candidate to be president.”

For Perot, accepting the presidential nomination of the year-old organization that he created and financed represents both the end of his ad hoc political ambitions and the beginning of a more formal political movement.

After failing to win the White House in 1992 with his United We Stand, America, Inc., a political organization he helped create as a draft movement, Perot has spent the last year setting up the Reform Party’s structure in every state.

“We’re going to get the facts out to the American people,” Perot said of his presidential campaign this year.

Perot outpolled former Colorado Gov. Richard D. Lamm by a 2-to-1 margin for the party’s nomination. Early in his remarks, Perot complimented Lamm and thanked him for participating. He never mentioned Lamm again.

In his remarks, Perot attacked the Democratic and Republican parties as captives of “special interests” that will not have the political fortitude to balance the budget and bring down the national debt.

“Can we count on the two political parties to solve these problems?” he asked the delegates meeting in this town where George Washington and his Revolutionary War soldiers spent the winter of 1777-78.

“They are the problem,” the Texas billionaire proclaimed.

Perot’s themes echoed those of his upstart independent campaign in 1992, when he received more than 19% of the popular vote, or about 19.7 million votes. Many observers believe that most of those voters would have otherwise chosen the Republican ticket headed by then-President Bush.

Perot’s appeal seems to have waned this year. The party mailed ballots to the 1.1 million voters who signed petitions in the past year seeking a place for Perot on state ballots, but only about 50,000 returned their ballots by mail, computer or telephone.

Perot won about 65% of the Reform Party vote, compared with 35% for Lamm.

In a nearly hourlong speech, which rambled with personal anecdotes and folksy witticisms, Perot said both established parties avoid dealing with the nation’s serious fiscal and social problems because they are more concerned with helping lobbyists and political contributors than the American people.

“Isn’t this a compelling argument that the people who own this country should have their own political party with no special interests controlling it?” Perot said to shouts of affirmation from the partisan audience.

Perot has yet to name a vice presidential candidate to share the Reform Party ticket with him this year.

Perot, appearing on CNN’s “Larry King Live” immediately after addressing the party delegates, said he had decided to accept the $30 million in federal campaign funds that he qualified for on the strength of his showing in the 1992 election.

His agreement to accept federal funds automatically limits him to spending $50,000 of his own money. Four years ago, when he did not qualify for federal funds, he spent $60 million of his own fortune on his campaign.

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Lamm, who addressed the delegates at the start of Sunday’s rally, held off until the closing remarks of his address to compliment his rival for winning the nomination. “I want to congratulate Ross Perot,” he said quickly before slipping off the stage.

In his remarks, Lamm pledged to continue supporting the party’s goals, but he declined to offer his support to the nominee’s campaign.

Instead, Lamm thanked his supporters and compared his short-lived campaign to “riding a tiger” and “drinking out of a fire hydrant.”

Then, he added: “I don’t regret a moment of it.”

However, Lamm agreed with Perot on the need for a third major party.

“The two major political parties are not going to reform our campaign election system,” Lamm said, repeating a theme of his stump speeches. “We have America caught in this very strange Catch-22: the best politics is the worst public policy. A great nation is not always fortunate enough to have politically popular answers to its solutions.”

During his 15 minutes on stage, a grim-faced Lamm urged the party’s leaders to add immigration restrictions to its key issues. “How many people can we accept in the U.S. in a world of limited resources?” he asked. “How many people do we want living in America?”

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Earlier in the day, with no organized activities planned until after the dinner hour, the convention took on a surreal air. Delegates passed the time by listening to patriotic music and posing for pictures with people dressed as Benjamin Franklin and the Statue of Liberty.

Reform Party members milled about the convention center complex, chatting among themselves and being interviewed by the dozens of reporters attending the convention’s final day.

“This is historic,” said Richard Toliver, who is on Perot’s payroll as a community organizer for Perot’s business and political activities. “But I’m not in it for the history. I’m in it because I’m sick and fed up with politics as it’s been in this country.”

Toliver said he was convinced Perot had a “credible chance” to win the November election.

“Mathematically it’s a possibility because you have to begin with the 20 million votes he got in 1992 and add to that the Democrats and Republicans who say they are dissatisfied with their own party,” Toliver said. “If we get 10% from both parties, we can win in November.”