European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Perot s peril staying ahead of Success by Robin Toner the new York times Here in the air conditioned sprawl of a Dallas office Complex Ross Perot is trying to reinvent presidential politics. No one is quite sure where he is headed but everyone is paying attention. The Texas billionaire has won himself a nomination of sorts by taking his bid for the presidency to the electronic primaries of Larry King David Frost and Phil Donahue. That s a lot easier than slogging through Iowa and new Hampshire. Recent Public opinion polls show him nearly even with president George Bush and gov. Bill Clinton nationally and at the head of the pack in Texas and California a must win states for Republican presidential campaigns. Both parties As a result now take him deadly seriously. The Clinton Camp seems puzzled and quietly obsessed with Perot while the Bush forces in Texas need Only the slightest encouragement to happily highlight the billionaire s warts. Quot he s a very smart Guy and a terrific salesperson but he also shoots pretty fast from the hip and he gets hot in a hurry Quot offers Fred Meyer the state Republican chairman. Quot i think it s going to be a very difficult period for Perot in other words is no longer the can do entrepreneur chatting up talk show hosts and standing disdainfully outside the fray. The fray is overtaking him. The Challenge for the Perot Campaign these Days is coping with its Success his new status As a not yet declared but absolutely serious presidential candidate. Quot the test of his candidacy is whether he can continue to play by his own rules or whether he a forced in the end to play by the conventional rules Quot said Geoffrey Garin a democratic poll taker. Perot is already bowing somewhat grudgingly to one of the conventional rules a presidential candidate ought to have detailed positions on the issues last week Perot announced that he was cutting Back on his interviews and Public appearances to devote himself to developing policy positions. He hired John p. White an Eastman Kodak executive and former budget official under president Jimmy Carter to help him do it. Political professionals in both parties said it was a Perot petitioners Are working coast to coast. Smart move to Quot shut it Down for a while Quot As one put it Given Perot s increasingly testy exchanges with reporters on issues like balancing the budget. The Perot Camp is also dealing with another hard convention of modern politics a press corps that was busily frisking Clinton a few months ago is now poking through Perot s flamboyant career. James Squires the former editor of the Chicago Tribune who recently became a spokesman for the Perot petition Campaign said he was Fielding 20 Calls a Day from investigative reporters about Quot alleged character Quot the process we re going through now. Is bouncing around on grenade fragments and there s no Way to avoid it Quot Squires said. Quot no one can live 60 years and not have a lot of enemies and say and do things you have to explain Quot still the Quot scrutiny phase Quot is almost certainly an adjustment for Perot who has thus far shown some Talent at charming the press. At an Impromptu news conference in a new York hotel hallway last week a press corps Only recently gnawing on Clinton during the democratic primary Campaign seemed remarkably jollies by Perot. Rival Camps Hope that Perot after going through the investigatory carwash for a few weeks looks less and less like a Folk hero celebrity and More and More like a politician. Quot i m absolutely convinced that or. Perot a personality is a Complete and total unknown to the american people Quot said Jim Oberwetter chairman of the Bush Campaign in Texas. Quot i m not sure America wants to go on a Blind Date with this Man that lasts for four years. He son the front porch with 1,000 roses and it s time to ask some others suggest that the Perot mystique can withstand these storms thanks in no Small part to a huge Campaign War Chest and the paid advertising it can produce. Eddie Mahe a Veteran Republican consultant said Quot if he a going to spend $100 million he ought to get a big chunk out on the table so he can define himself before you All do it for in general Squires says that the Perot Campaign is inclined to resist the conventional political Wisdom. Instead of 30-or 60-second commercials Squires said Quot it might be better if our candidate bought 30 minutes of time every once in a while and talked to the country. Nor would the Texas billionaire necessarily follow the Normal routines of a presidential Campaign the daily flights from one Media Market to another. Quot Ross Perot is not going to get any votes by walking off an air plane doing a 15-minute photo of or answering questions on the sidewalk Quot Squires said. But the Perot Campaign might have its own version of a convention the press Secretary suggested perhaps highlighting the volunteers and supporters who have scrambled to get him on the ballot around the country. That would help Perot stay on the radar screen this summer when the major party candidates will Likely get a significant boost from their own conventions. George Shipley a Veteran democratic consultant in Texas argues that so far Quot Perot s candidacy has been generally brilliantly marketed a Larry King Donahue Frost that s where America Shipley acknowledged that Perot encountered rockier going last week on Abc s Quot meet the press where he struggled to explain How he would balance the budget. But Shipley added Quot America is not where meet the press is. America is at Church on sunday morning culturally at Quot Perot had been running what a been a counter elite Campaign up until a meet the press Quot Shipley added along the Way the consultant said he has Quot captured the imagination of ticket splitters the suburbs the Reagan democrats Southern Whites and a Large element of american a new York times lbs news poll last month did in fact show Perot with strikingly Broad support but it also showed that even Perot a supporters knew Little about him suggesting that his backing was As much discontent with politics As usual As a rallying toward him. In All of this there is one Clear conclusion. Almost everybody takes Perot seriously these Days. Quot i done to think hell collapse Quot said Squier. Quot you Only collapse when you run out of Money in Perot built his Fortune on controversial Federal contracts by Steven a. Holmes the new York times in 1hl popular folklore that surrounds him Ross Perot started his company electronic data systems corp., in 1962 with a $1,000 Check and built it through grit determination and Good Fortune into the largest data processing company in the world while that tale is largely True it contains another element that Perot and his business associates do not always mention the spectacular financial Success of the would be presidential candidate who presents himself As a Washington outsider and a private sector entrepreneur began in the mid-1960s with the help of lucrative contracts to administer the government s medical insurance program for the elderly. In addition questions were raised then about these contracts that belie the image Perot likes to promote of himself As a businessman who Quot plays in the Middle of the Field and not along the an investigation by a congressional subcommittee in the Early 1970s, for example explored questions about his conduct in securing the contracts Tor his fledgling company which he has since sold to general motors corp. The committees investigation did not find that Perot or his company did anything wrong. Among the questions raised by the social Secu Uty administration a and later dropped a were whether Perot might have overcharged the Federal government for processing medicare claims which were then administered by social Security and whether he ignored Federal requirements that he provide full Access to his books for government examiners who were trying to determine if his charges were reasonable. The panel also looked into accusations that Perot used Federal Money to develop the system to process medicare claims electronically and then refused despite the objections of social Security officials to allow the government to own the system and use it elsewhere. These questions had been the basis of a Sharp dispute Between Perot and the social Security administration during the final years of the Johnson Page 14 a the stars and stripes saturday to ministration but after president Richard m. Nixon took Tjce m 1969, the dispute was settled in favor of Perot 4&Quot 3 had ties to the Nixon administration. Although congressional investigators and critics of the t tracts did not suggest that Perot broke any Laws they j say he was Overly secretive skirted Federal rules and �1&Quot i used in what could be viewed As conflicts of interest a Quot of the time he won the medicare contracts Perot f red part time for Texas Blue Cross a Blue shield n administered the Texas medicare program. Some Quot Quot a a Quot i pers of the congressional panel also said that he 1 n administration was not completely forthcoming on a Ding All the facts. A e highest level of bureaucracy stonewalled us and defended both Perot and their own actions in tins matter Quot said John Buchanan a former Republican representative from Alabama who served on the subcommittee that investigated Perot s contracts in 1971 both Thomas m. Tierney the Federal official who made the decision to accede to Perot in the dispute and Morton h Meyerson a former vice president with electronic data Tio handled the original contracts with Texas Blue Cross Blue shield adamantly deny that any political pressure was brought to Bear on Perot s behalf Meyerson to whom Perot aides referred questions did acknowledge however that electronic data officials had pressed their Case with Robert h Finch then the continued on Page 16 what happens if Perot forces a deadlock by Martin Tolchin the new York times should Ross Perot do Well enough in the november election to prevent either president Bush or the democratic nominee from winning a majority in the electoral College the election would be decided by the newly elected House of representatives with each stale delegation casting one vote. The Constitution s 12th amendment provides that the House choose among the three presidential candidates with the most electoral votes since each state has one vote the one representative from Vermont would have the same Power As All 52 House members from California. The majority of a state s delegation would decide How the state voted. If a state failed to have a majority in favor of a candidate it would lose its vote. To to Oloc Ted a presidential candidate needs a majority of All the state delegations or 26 votes. Similarly if no vice presidential candidate received a majority in the electoral College the election would be decided by the newly elected Senate but each senator would have a vote rather than one for each state. The senators would choose Between the two vice presidential candidates with the most electoral College votes to be elected a vice presidential candidate needs a majority of the Senate or 51 votes. Democrats control the current Senate 57-43. If a president has not been elected by noon on Jan. 20, which the 20th amendment designates As inauguration Day and there is a vice president elect he becomes acting president until the House elects a president. If neither a president nor vice president has been selected the presidential succession act of 1948 becomes operative. The speaker of the House who is next in line becomes the acting president followed by the president pro tempore of the Senate and Cabinet officers starting with the Secretary of state Democrat control the current House 268-166. With one Independent and have majorities in 31 state delegations. Ten states have Republican majorities eight Are evenly divided and Vermont s sole representative is also the House s Only Independent member democrats Are expected o control the next House too but experts caution that this would not guarantee a Democrat s election As president because american party loyalty is weak and factors like How a member s constituents voted would come into play the other slates with one representative in the House Are Alaska North Dakota South Dakota and Wyoming the District of Columbia which has three electoral votes has no representation in the House or Senate and therefore would not participate in the House election two presidential elections have been thrown into the House of representatives the House needed 36 ballots to elect Thomas Jefferson in 1801. But Only one ballot to elect Jonn Quinoy Adams in 1825 May 16, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 15
