HEADLINE: PEROT COMEBACK POSSIBLE, ALLY SAYS TEXAN MUST EXPLAIN WHY HE DROPPED OUT
Published: Friday, September 18, 1992
Section: State
Page: C5
By BOB KEMPER Daily Press

Ross Perot can make a political comeback if he can explain to his supporters why he quit the presidential race in the first place, a spokesman for Perot's Virginia supporters said Thursday.

A Mason-Dixon Research poll released Wednesday showed that Perot's popularity has plunged in Virginia since he dropped his independent presidential bid two months ago.

In July, Perot was virtually tied with President Bush among Virginia voters and was ahead of Democrat Bill Clinton. But the latest poll shows Perot would win only 11 percent of the vote if he were to reenter the race. And the number of people with a negative view of Perot has soared from 17 percent to 52 percent, the poll showed.

Perot this week reiterated his threat to re-enter the race, criticizing both Bush and Clinton for failing to seriously address the federal budget deficit.

Michael E. Rau, state communications director for United We Stand, America, the group that grew out of Perot's former campaign organization, is undaunted by the poll numbers.

A Perot candidacy could still be viable, he said. "The key to this is a logical explanation of why the organization shut down in July," Rau said. "If Mr. Perot gives a good, plausible explanation why this happened, most people would believe it."

Voters who had first turned to Perot - and many who had not supported him before - may now be so turned off by the tone of the Bush-Clinton race that they would return to the billionaire's fold, Rau said.

Copyright 1992, Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

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