TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=92TT2084> <title> Sep. 21, 1992: Remember Ross? </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992 Sep. 21, 1992 Hollywood & Politics </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> POLITICS, Page 25 Remember Ross? </hdr><body> The avowed noncandidate tantalizes supporters and worries rivals with hints of an October surprise By Laurence I. Barrett/Washington - With reporting by Edwin M. Reingold/Los Angeles and Richard Woodbury/Dallas Looking just like a candidate in search of TV coverage, Ross Perot turned up in Homestead, Florida, last week to commiserate with hurricane victims. In Phoenix, Arizona, meanwhile, Perot supporters held a midnight rally to start the petition drive that will place his name on the state ballot in November. Elsewhere, diehard Perotistas, with financial support from their billionaire hero, are completing work that is almost certain to give voters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia the chance to vote for a man who ostensibly abandoned his campaign for President in July. At Perot's Dallas office, his aide Sharon Holman says, "Everyone's on hold, waiting." Waiting for what? Perot's political headquarters in North Dallas has been stripped down. Rows of cubicles stand empty, and the phone bank that once accommodated 100 lines now has only 12. More than 400 calls a day still come in, many from people who want Perot to compete. While most supporters took Perot at his word in July, thousands of others, disillusioned with conventional politics, stayed in a movement that seemed to promise fresh approaches. Perot had no firm strategy when he abruptly fled the race two months ago. Then, faced with headlines that branded him a quitter, and with the anger of disappointed loyalists, he quickly improvised a strange quasi-candidacy. At a cost of $480,000 a month, he is maintaining 64 field offices in addition to the Dallas headquarters. They operate as part of a new advocacy organization, United We Stand, which is also the title of a book he brought out in August. The slim volume contains the austere economic plan, including tax increases and spending cuts, that Perot never announced while he was campaigning. It currently tops the New York Times paperback best-seller list. For states such as California, which require an official declaration of candidacy to get on the ballot, Perot has sent the necessary documents. Yet the day before his letter arrived in Sacramento, Perot told a TV interviewer that the chances he would actually run were "very remote, not even worth talking about." His most zealous supporters, however, refuse to take what Perot now says at face value. Says Orson Swindle, the former Marine combat pilot who heads United We Stand: "The Arizona thing is very important. It closes the loop on what Ross said in February--that if the American people put him on the ballot in all 50 states, he would put on a world-class campaign." In New Mexico, state chairman John Bishop even contends that Perot has been playing out a "brilliant strategy," remaining poised while George Bush and Bill Clinton slash each other. With seven weeks left in the campaign, Perot has no hope of mounting a serious, full-fledged effort. Still, he obviously seeks influence. To get it, he must do more than publish policy recommendations and carp in op-ed articles. Thus Republican and Democratic strategists are worried about an October surprise. "Perot enjoys the cat-and-mouse game," says Jim Oberwetter, Bush's Texas chairman. "I've heard rumors all week--he'll do something." On Friday Perot stoked the speculation during a C-SPAN interview. He and his followers, he said, would monitor the candidates to assess how well they toe the policy lines he has drawn. If Bush and Clinton both satisfy him--an unlikely prospect--Perot would stand down. If only one does, he might endorse that candidate. If they both fail his test, he implied, he might heed the calls from remaining fans to compete. One scenario envisages a condensed guerrilla campaign, waged by TV commercials and appearances on the talk-show circuit that he exploited effectively earlier this year. Even doing nothing, Perot will probably draw 3% to 4% of the popular vote from the none-of-the-above bloc. A few weeks of campaigning could easily double that, possibly affecting the outcome in key states. That prospect complicates planning by the Bush and Clinton camps, both of which are trying to analyze Perot's support. In California, Clinton's seemingly comfortable lead could be threatened. Bush could be the victim in Texas, which is critical to the President's re-election. That's why the G.O.P. now plans an expensive direct-mail appeal to more than 200,000 Perot supporters in Texas. The Republicans hope to persuade them that Bush is closer to their ideal than Clinton is. In fact, Perot's ideas on taxes and some related issues have more in common with the Democrat's plan than with the President's. Further, Perot's personal dislike of Bush was one of the motives for his initial plunge into politics. When Perot announced that he was out of the race, Clinton benefited initially. But recent polls indicate that many of the voters now uncommitted are Republicans who favored Perot last spring. If they drift toward Bush, as some analysts believe probable, Perot could attempt to court them with a targeted effort in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states. Whatever his strategy during the end game, Perot seems to be enjoying his mischievous role. He has spent about $13 million of his own money on his political movement this year. For that kind of cash, he apparently feels entitled to at least some influence. </body></article> </text>