PEROT FORCES SPEAK UP ON ENTERING RACE

Published: Thursday, September 24, 1992
Section: FRONT , page A8
Source: By Bruce Taylor Seeman, Staff writer

© 1992 Landmark Communications Inc.

Local volunteers who supported Ross Perot's flirtation with politics this spring are answering a campaign poll that could propel the renegade politician back into the presidential race, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Perot supporters nationwide are being asked whether they still want him to run for president. Results will be forwarded to his Texas headquarters via fax machine by noon today as the billionaire inches closer to a renewed candidacy.

Michael Rau, a local spokesman, said he expects about 100 Hampton Roads supporters to answer the poll as they prepare to campaign for Perot and the platform outlined by his organization, United We Stand America.

Perot quit the race July 16. He said Tuesday, however, that he regretted withdrawing because President Bush and Bill Clinton have not adequately addressed the nation's economic troubles.

``If either of these two guys had addressed this, I think Ross would have been tickled pink to go home,'' Rau said Wednesday.

A new Perot candidacy would help fuel an ongoing plan by United We Stand America to introduce its call for economic and government reforms into the races, Rau said.

If Perot jumps back into the race, ``We are going to mobilize like you've never seen a political organization mobilize before,'' he said.

Local Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the computer magnate for bouncing in and out of the race but said they're unsure what impact a new campaign might have.

Dean Allen Ablowich, chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Party, said he thinks Perot might be tempted to return to the race to satisfy his ego and antagonize Bush.

``I'm not sure he's going to get the same enthusiasm from the same amount of people,'' Ablowich said. ``There are some people who don't appreciate the way he's treated his volunteers by withdrawing from the race as he did.''

Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings, the Hampton Roads coordinator for the Clinton campaign, says the Democrats have purchased a regional list of Perot supporters from the abandoned campaign.

``We've been elated that the bulk of those have been breaking for Clinton,'' Stallings said. ``Now, what happens to . . . them now that (Perot) is back in the race? I would hope they would see him as a spoiler and stay with Clinton. We don't want to make them mad, but at the same time we want to say, `C'mon, folks, he's teasing you.' ''

The most recent poll in Virginia shows the president leading Clinton by 5 percentage points, 47-42.

The poll, conducted this month by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md., showed the race would be tighter if Perot re-entered the race, the projected votes would be: 39 percent for Bush; 36 percent for Clinton; 11 percent for Perot.