Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 12

A12 Austin American-Statesman Saturday, July 18, 1992 This section is recyclable f92 Perot aides conduct post-mortem If cz 't fit' i' as' flf race, Horanlc said he will continue to John Horanlc waves a flag from atop his roof adorned with Ross Perot's name In Penn, Pa. Despite the Texas billionaire's announcement this he might use immmMmum I i Death blow delivered by Clinton, insiders say By Jack Nelson Los Angeles Times Service NEW YORK Ross Perot decided to end his quest for the White House after he saw his cam-paign apparatus begin to unravel and top political aides told him that, with Democratic nominee Bill Clinton's political fortunes improving, his chances of victory were slim to none. The Texas independent had agonized for several days over internal problems and missteps on the stump that threatened to sink his campaign, sources said. But he considered remaining in the race up until late Wednesday, when he made his decision after conferring with Tom Luce and Morton Meyerson, his longtime aides. Earlier Wednesday, Ed Rollins, a leading Republican strategist, left the campaign in frustration.

And Hamilton Jordan, a top Democratic consultant, told Perot he shared Rollins' view that the unconventional campaign Perot insisted on conducting was a loser. Rollins said Perot saw "the potential of winning diminishing day by day, and I think he just didn't want to run the kind of campaign he would have had to run to win." Clinton's choice of Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate and the positive public response the selection elicited from voters was a major factor in Perot's decision not to run, said one campaign adviser. The Democratic ticket had surged ahead of President Bush and Perot in opinion surveys conducted during the Democratic convention. "Here you had a guy (Clinton) who had 55 percent negative ratings, and all of a sudden he has 50 percent favorable ratings," the Perot adviser said.

"Ross Perot said he believed if he stayed in the race under the circumstances, it would have gone to the House, and I think he believed that." In announcing his decision not to run, Perot emphasized that point, saying such an outcome would be unacceptably disruptive to the country. Over the past two weeks, the insurgent Perot campaign had been plagued by problems in the Dallas headquarters and in some of the offices around the country staffed by volunteers. In Dallas, where a campaign staff of about 150 people has operated, Rollins and about 10 political operatives he had brought with him to the campaign were increasingly at loggerheads with other campaign officials especially those who had been with Perot from the beginning of the quest. Aggravating the differences over strategy, some Perot officials blamed Rollins for leaking recent reports to the news media that the campaign was in disarray and that Jordan was considering resigning. The news accounts infuriated Perot.

i' Perot, who has been exceptionally uncomfortable with the idea of such traditional campaign trappings aa motorcades, frequent press conferences and image-building advertising, ignored much Ross Perot speaks to Barbara Walters of ABC's 20-20 Friday about his decision to drop his unofficial independent bid for the White House. week to not enter the presidential add lights to his sign. 'swing vote' "1. I i 1 AP ra Walters, Perot also disclosed that his supporters are scheduling a mass march in Washington on Labor Day and have invited Bush and Clinton to address the rally. Perot also told Walters he had given supporters "everything I have" and didn't believe he had let them down by bailing out of the presidential campaign.

On that program, he made no allusions to a possible role as a power broker, saying he would "vote quietly" in November. He declined to endorse either Bush There followed an hourlong meeting, during which Perot and Meyerson debated the options back and forth. "I told him basically there were two choices go all out and win, press it to the wall or stop, because any intermediate plan was foolish," Meyerson said. "One of Perot's chief concerns," he said, "was how his volunteers would react. He suspected accurately, as it turned out that many would not only be shocked but feel betrayed and abandoned." The Perot campaign began to unravel last week, although one top campaign official said it had been "paralyzed" almost since Rol ft inn i ii I Perot backer John Oplncar Is orga nizing the Grassroots Continuum, clearinghouse for volunteers to; work In and out of politics.

Perot supporters; seeking direction! for enthusiasm i By Laylan Copelin American-Statesman Capitol Staff Texas and Austin supporters of presidential pretender Ross Perot groped for direction Friday in the; aftermath of the Dallas billion-; aire's quick exit from elective; politics. "We don't know where we are! going," said Miller Hicks, Central Texas coordinator for the Perot-volunteers. "I'm waiting for direc-! tion from Dallas." But the signals from Dallas; headquarters were mixed, at afternoon. In one volunteers determinedly tried to! carry on the presidential bid while, in another, paid staff members and-movers glumly carried out supplies! and equipment. "It's just two different personal-; ities," said Michelle Kaihani, a paid staff member who worked in! Perot's Dallas phone bank but has; been reassigned to help close state; offices.

"The volunteers are still bo! enthusiastic. But on the other it's just very quiet." Joe Grant, assistant to the direc-; tor of Perot's field operations in! Dallas, said Perot would leave his; name on the Texas ballot. He also; said plans are being made to close' the volunteer offices Perot is pay-! ing for. Others in the campaign were not so sure. Hicks said campaign officials! told him to keep the Austin office! open for now.

He said volunteers from across; the country were flying to Dallas headquarters today for a meeting; with Perot. "I don't know if I'm going," said Hicks, an Austin businessman. "I' have no reason to believe he is go-! ing to change his mind." But Hicks and other Perot sup-; porters said the national grass-! roots movement might continue! without the billionaire. "I've had all kinds of Hicks said. "People have talked to me about heading a national or-; ganization to maintain our princi-; pies." He said congressional candidates even phoned to seek endorsements.

Another Austin faction of the Perot volunteers pressed ahead Friday with its embryonic version of a new national organization. Austin businessman John Opin car said that Perot's volunteer advisers in the Dallas office ousted him as a volunteer leader several weeks ago. He and Austinite Rosemary Conway also said the "Dallas clique" of volunteer leaders intimidated people and ordered investigations of many of the orginal volunteers. They also blamed the "Dallas clique" for betraying Perot. "We think he received bad advice about how decimated this movement has become," Opincar said.

Opincar and Conway remain Perot backers. Opincar is funding a hot line and organizing the Grassroots Continuum. He and four other supporters, including one from California, announced their new organization at a press conference at the Capitol. Opincar, however, foresees local chapters of Perot volunteers going different directions in the presidential campaign without Perot participating. Though he hopes Perot will re-enter the campaign, Opincar added, "This movement wasn't about him; it was about a deep-seated feeling for change." Without Perot, Opincar envisions the Grassroots Continuum as a clearinghouse for volunteers to work in and out of politics.

John Wilson, an Austin cable installer, said the group will have life without Perot. "I believe he is the match that lit the candle," Wilson said. "Now we must keep the flame alive. Whether he becomes part of this again is not important." But on Friday, Perot said if neither Democratic nominee Bill Clinton nor President Bush "has responded to the will of the people, well, I'm going back to my volunteers. We will meet again." He called a successful protest vote for him a "very, very, very long shot." Some supporters felt angry and betrayed by Perot's withdrawal, but others said they would stage marches and rallies to persuade him to change his mind.

In a separate interview Friday on ABC-TVs 20-20 with Barba sive and condescending. The crestfallen Perot called Jordan and several other advisers to discuss his frustration. "He anguished at the thought that he had said something that would hurt or offend people," Jordan said. Shortly thereafter, according to Jordan, Perot began to discuss the possibility that he might not want to run after all. For the next several days he apparently mulled over his options, aides said.

But not until about 9 p.m. Wednesday did Perot summon his longtime confidants to his walled estate in North Dallas for a serious discussion of whether he should decide not to run. Perot says By Scott McCartnty Associated Press DALLAS Ross Perot left open the door to an llth-hour electoral gambit Friday, saying he could assume the role of a power broker able to deliver a decisive "swing vote" in the presidential election. Returning to the television show where he had launched his abortive bid as an independent presidential candidate, Perot announced he would meet here today with leaders of his grassroots organizations to begin hammering out a new political movement, bankrolled by himself that would ask congressional as well as presidential candidates to endorse its platform. "We can provide the swing vote as to who gets to be the next president of the United States," Perot said on CNN's Larry King Live program.

"Stay the course as a united team," Perot told his disappointed supporters. "Now then, if we stay together we can force the Democrats and the Republicans to do the right thing for the country." The Dallas billionaire dropped out of the race Thursday, saying he had determined that his campaign would prove divisive and might drive the election into the House of Representatives. of the advice offered by professionals on his staff. He insisted on doing things his way, which led to gaffes in the past two weeks that depressed the spirits of aides and aggravated Perot's own frustration. Of all Perot's gaffes, his aides cited his speaking appearance before the NAACP convention in Nashville last Saturday as the one that hurt him the most and caused him to reconsider whether he wanted to run for president.

In his Nashville speech, he several times referred to the delegates as "you people" and to blacks as "your people," and made other remarks the delegates found offen By David Elliot American-Statesman Capitol Staff Austin-area residents who supported Ross Perot's presidential bid prefer Democrat BUI Clinton over Republican President Bush by a 2-1 ratio, according to an unscientific, call-in survey sponsored by the Austin American-Statesman. Of 186 Perot supporters who called the newspaper's Inside Line, 96 said they will throw their support to Clinton. Fifty said they would vote for Bush, and 26 said they would support a third-party candidate, such as Libertarian Andre Marrou. Another 14 said they will not vote in the November election. The survey was conducted the day after Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in New York.

Comments from readers who phoned indicate that Clinton's acceptance speech made a big difference. in election or Clinton. i But he said he will decide when he meets with leaders of his independent movement in Dallas today whether his name should be removed from the ballots in states in which he has been certified as a candidate. "It's not appropriate for me unilaterally to take my name off," said Perot. Perot said he had heard the anger directed at him after his Thursday announcement to quit the presidential race.

"I don't care what people call me. I don't mind being cut to pieces for a good cause," Perot told ABC. Asked if he would reword anything of the past month, he referred to his miscues at a NAACP convention one week ago that black leaders termed offensive and insensitive. Their chief complaint was his reference to "You people "Well, certainly," Perot said. "I love people, and I would never say anything to hurt or offend anybody." For Perot, it was a return to the airwaves from which he sprang.

In February, Perot appeared on King's show and offered to run for president if volunteers got his name on November ballots in all 50 states. This article includes material from the Los Angeles Times. lins joined the staff 45 days ago and internal tension and other problems began to develop. On Thursday of last week, Perot appeared on the NBC Today program and seemed uncomfortable from the outset. Looking tired and sounding testy, he engaged in unfriendly verbal jousting with host Katie Couric.

He denied that his campaign was conducting polls when in fact it has been polling voters for several weeks. He dismissed serious questions about his potential running mate and a well-documented news story about his use of a private investigator in a business dispute as meaningless "gossip." backers But a 21-year-old woman who identified herself as an independent disagreed, saying: "I cannot support a president who I do not believe will appoint a Supreme Court justice who will be pro-choice and who himself, because of his party's platform, is not pro-choice." A few callers said they will vote for Clinton because of his selection of Al Gore as his running mate. Those callers each mentioned the environment. Perot supporters who said they will vote for Bush expressed their view that he is a better-known commodity. "Now that (Perot's) not in it, I'm going to do the safe thing, I think, and vote for George Bush," one man said.

Another man who said he'd vote for Bush likened the two-way race to a cartoon show: "It's like either voting for Rocky or Bullwinkle," he said. "I have decided to take someone who's been there before." Clinton beats Bush in survey of Perot fit's like either voting for Rocky or Bullwlnkle. I have decided to take someone who's been there before, Reader' response Perot's followers 186 Perot supporters called Inside Line to say they would now: Vote for Vote for Clinton Bush Not Vote for another, vote -(or were 14 undecided) 26 Staff graphics I "Well, I think that after listening to Clinton's acceptance speech last night, I think that he would be a good person for the job," one woman, who identified herself as a 41 -year-old Republican, said. "I like his enthusiasm. I like his idea of being 'sick and tired of being sick and and I think he can make some needed changes." But other callers said they are troubled by nagging concerns over how the Democrats will handle federal spending.

"Democrats give everything we have away and don't think anything of the budget," said a 71-year-old man. And after a party convention where more attention than ever was paid to gay and lesbian issues a 50-year-old mother had this to say: "I was interested in Perot until he made his position on gays known. I'm the mother of a gay son, and I am overwhelmingly grateful to the Democrats." The issue that callers mentioned most often was abortion a topic on which the candidates clearly differentiate themselves. "This thing of abortion on demand is stupid, ridiculous and everybody knows it," said a 59-year-old man who added that he is afraid of "liberal, hypocritical Democrats." i.