
  The following is the transcript of Ross Perot's Wednesday
            morning appearance on NBC's Today show 6/24/92
    BRYANT GUMBEL: Thank you for being with us.
    PEROT: Good to be with you.
    Q: Let's talk about--let's start talking about the
 headlines that you have generated over the weekend that
 relate to what is charged to be clandestine investigations
 that you have either orchestrated or okayed, specifically
 against George Bush.
    He's angry. Do you think his anger is political or
 personal? 
    PEROT: First off, I did not generate the headlines. The
 Republican dirty tricks committee has been carefully putting
 this together for weeks. This has nothing to do with
 anything but politics, and it's factually wrong. And I think
 if we have time in this half hour, let's just go through it
 piece by piece.
    Q: Well, let's go through it piece by piece, okay; let's
 take each of the charges in turn. Let's do away with the one
 of his sons, first of all. What's your account of what
 happened, the so-called investigation of his children?
    PEROT: First, I have supported President Bush and his 
  family since 1969, when I first met them. I have never said
 anything about his family except the warmest, kindest
 things.
    I received an unsolicited report that 2 of his sons were
 involved in activity relating to the Nicaragua contra
 project. I called him father-to-father and said, I have no
 idea if there's any truth to this or not, but I felt you
 should know this is going around.
    He thanked me. End of story. There was no investigation.
 That's it.
    Now, that was in 1986. He then wrote me a nice, warm 
  letter thanking me for telling him. Now, keep in mind,
 nothing ever happened until they carefully put this whole
 thing together. This is called redefining your opposition.
    Q: Well, let me, if I could, read the letter because that
 was the script we had up there. It says:
    Dear Ross, Tomorrow is Christmas, and today the gears
 here are shifting, at least for me. This is the time to
 count one's blessings. Hence, this letter.
    You see, I was very touched by your calls about my kids.
 They are all straight arrows, uninvolved in intrigue, and
 yet the rumor mill links them, and Ross, it hurts them. You 
  understood all this. What counts in life are honor, family
 and friends. We Bushes are very lucky. These troubled times
 will pass, but caring friends make it easier.
    Happy New Year. George.
    Was that the end of it?
    PEROT: That's it. That's it. No investigation, no
 nothing. I just let him know.
    Q: Then how do you explain his apparent anger over the
 past 48 hours at this?
    PEROT: You're working in a vacuum. First, they carefully
 build this new character that didn't exist 90 days ago. A 
  huge amount has been written about me over the years. None
 of this was ever around. Now, then, carefully put together
 over a 90-day period. They have been worried to death that I
 will announce on my birthday, June the 27th.
    I would just say if you take a list of everything
 relating to this that has hit in the last few days, it is a
 carefully orchestrated plan to try to damage me at a time
 when people thought I would announce. And I have said again
 and again, I will not announce on my birthday.
    Now, this is politics at its lowest and worst. I would
 never say anything to hurt anybody's family. I don't want to 
  say anything to hurt another candidate. They're shooting
 themselves in the foot. That's the first rule of war; don't
 shoot yourself.
    Q: Do you think George Bush's anger is artificial?
    PEROT: Yes. I think it's a total act because there's no
 basis for it.
    Q: You're saying he knows better?
    PEROT: Again, any time over the years that they have ever
 asked for my help or support, I've tried to be responsive.
 You just take everything I've said to them the last 90 days.
 It has been nothing but positive and complimentary about him 
  and his family, and I have never said an unkind word about
 anybody in his family. And I don't want to, and I won't.
    Q: What of reports that you hired a Washington, D.C., law
 firm to look into a transaction by which George Bush's
 former partner, then sharing Pennzoil, took a considerable
 tax deduction on a piece of property? Did you not?
    PEROT: Let's look at the whole picture. In 1970-- this
 involved a large ranch in New Mexico--in 1970, I was offered
 that ranch. It's a 500,000-acre ranch. Pennzoil bought it.
 In 1986, people representing Pennzoil came to me and said
 Pennzoil wanted to sell the ranch. 
    And they showed it to me. I said, wait a minute, this was
 a 500,000-acre ranch, it's now a 400,000-acre ranch, and
 they said, we gave a hundred thousand acres and got a $48
 million tax credit.
    I said, wait a minute. This to me made no sense. The
 whole ranch, 500,000 acres was for sale for 24 million.
 That's roughly 5 million dollars for a hundred thousand
 acres. Do you follow me?
    Q: Good deal.
    PEROT: Suddenly it's times 10. And as I was looking at
  the ranch to see whether or not to consider repurchasing,
 this had to do with what the value of the ranch would be.
 The whole ranch, the remaining 400,000 acres was brought to
 me in 1986 at $50 million. In other words, I could buy 4
 times what the government got several years earlier for $2
 million more than the government--
    Q: Understood.
    PEROT: Do you follow me?
    Q: Understood.
    PEROT: So I couldn't make it make sense. So under the
 Freedom of Information Act and completely in accordance with 
  all the laws, rules and regulations, I had a lawyer dig the
 facts up and I analyzed the facts in my decision of whether
 or not to buy the ranch. And I never bought the ranch.
    Q: But you did assemble the documents for that purpose.
 Did you not turn them over to the Washington Post
 afterwards?
    PEROT: They came to see me and ask about this
 transaction, and asked to see the documents, and I said,
 here.
    Q: They asked about it independently?
    PEROT: But you're missing the point. This has to do with 
  whether or not the land was appraised fairly and whether or
 not they got a tax credit or a tax deduction. This does not
 mean then-Vice President Bush was in the middle of getting
 this benefit for them.
    I was looking at it as a business transaction. For
 example, they could have gotten this tax deduction without
 his knowledge or awareness.
    Q: Do you think they did?
    PEROT: I don't know how it happened.
    Q: Do you think he had a hand in that considerable tax
 deduction? 
    PEROT: I don't know. I have no idea.
    Q: Did you expect the Washington Post to explore that
 possibility? Is that the reason why you gave them the
 documents?
    PEROT: They came down and were interested in this
 transaction. I explained the transaction to them, and then
 they never did anything with it.
    Q: You talked about the politics and what you say are the
 motivations behind this. You have no doubt, seeing the way
 the Republican camp is now anxious to portray you,
  characterize you as somebody who is hung up on
 investigation, anxious to look behind everyone's door.
    And let's show you a brief clip of the vice president's
 statement, and then--
    PEROT: We're wasting time. We'll do that, but the point
 is, this is the propaganda; let's talk about the facts in
 the time we have.
    Q: Let's at least allow the propaganda even time, if you
 want to--
    PEROT: Hitler's propaganda chief would be proud of what
 we're about to see. 
    VICE PRESIDENT QUAYLE (video clip): Ross Perot, having
 the IRS, the FBI and the CIA under his control. Who would be
 investigated next?
    PEROT: Well, first you create a false premise. You do it
 very carefully over a 90-day period. Then you create a
 critical mass and bring out the things that have caused us
 to be here together. Then you get the vice president to make
 a statement like that that has nothing to do with the facts.
    If you look at my whole life, I have meticulously
 followed the law, I have meticulously obeyed the
  Constitution. Anybody that knows me or knows anything about
 me would understand that I would never even consider
 violating the great principles that this country is founded
 on.
    This is nothing but politics at its worst and lowest.
    Q: Let's see if we can separate fact from fiction.
    PEROT: Great.
    Q: No one has ever said you did anything illegal or
 unethical. Your friend and campaign chairman, Mr. Luce, was
 on this program yesterday, told me he had never hired a
 private investigator on your behalf. 
    I read a quote from you in US News and World Report that
 you had hired such an investigator 3 or 4 times.
    PEROT: But--
    Q: Which is it? I'm just--
    PEROT: Well, excuse me. It's neither. The point is, Mr.
 Luce, acting as my attorney, has never hired a private
 investigator, so he's telling the truth. I don't have to go
 through him to hire a private investigator, right?
    Now, then, on 3 or 4 occasions in my whole business
 career, I have had to get a private investigator. Now, that
  is not a pattern when you consider this had to do with
 people who were doing improper things, like taking money, so
 on and so forth, where we had to get to the bottom of it and
 make sure that it was stopped.
    Another one had to do with a person who had rented a
 house from me, who was having fights in the front yard,
 totally disrupting the neighborhood, and not paying his
 rent. We went through the court system and under Texas law
 had him evicted. And under Texas law, after a person like
 that, who is creating problems like that, is evicted, you
 can go in to inspect your house. Inspect is quite different 
  from search. We were allowed to go in and inspect to make
 sure he was not damaging the house in the few days he had to
 move out.
    We did that. To give you a sense of who this person was,
 he's now in jail somewhere. He's a person that never should
 have been in the house. Fights in the front yard, worst
 kinds of problems that we had while he was there.
    Q: Okay. What about your relationship with Special
 Detective James Beatty (phonetic)?
    PEROT: I don't have a relationship and he is not a
 detective. Now, James Beatty is a police officer, or was a 
  police officer in Arlington, Virginia, and I don't have a
 special relationship with him.
    See, this is miscasting things.
    Q: Okay. That's why we're here. We're trying to--
    PEROT: I know, but this got covered yesterday, Bryant, so
 now, you know, listen real close. This is a police officer,
 not a private investigator.
    Q: Okay, he's an undercover police officer, that's fine.
    PEROT: Undercover police officer. He had this
 information. People said he wanted to talk to me, asked me
  to call him, set up a meeting. I asked him if he wanted to
 see me. He came to my hotel room. He presented this
 information. And here's what I did with it. I gave it to the
 appropriate law enforcement authorities, walked away from
 it, and that's it.
    Now, that is not chasing down information on someone.
 That's having someone bring it to you. And I handed it to
 the FBI, and that's the end of that.
    Q: Let me show you why that may not be the end of it,
 because here's James Beatty's account of--just one sec--
 here's James Beatty's account of that same conversation and 
  how it came about.
    PEROT: Well, wait just a minute. We can agree--
    Q: One second, one second.
    PEROT: How old is this account?
    Q: They're going to rewrap the tape right now.
    PEROT: How old is it?
    Q: This tape was recent. If you're asking me the exact
 date, I do not have the exact date. It was taken this year.
    PEROT: Okay, but no, I called him, so I think the main
 thing--you're about to show the people--
    Q: Okay, well, let's roll it and listen together. 
    PEROT: Let's see what we got.
    JAMES BEATTY (on tape): He called me up and said that he
 had learned that I had information about a party that he was
 interested in, and would I be willing to talk to him about
 it?
    Q: Did you call him up?
    PEROT: I just told you that I was told that he wanted to
 talk to me. I then called, and I wasn't even sure what
 about. And I said, did you want to talk to me? And he says,
 I have something I want to talk to you; he came over to my
  hotel, gave me this file. And I turned it over to the FBI.
    Now, let me ask you and your audience, what would a law-
 abiding citizen do? This had sworn depositions from the
 presidential Crime Commission, it had direct ties in with
 organized crime. Now, see, I am not a law enforcement
 authority or specialist, what have you. I turned it over to
 the FBI.
    First I took it to the vice president because I was
 working with him on a project, and I said, this was given to
 me, what should I do with it? And after a long, long, long,
 long pause, he says, I guess you should turn it over to the 
  FBI. And I did.
    Now, let me ask you this. What would you have done and
 what should I have done? Throw it in the waste basket?
    Q: I'm not the one running for president.
    PEROT: No, that's not the point. What is the--
    Q: Well, it is the point, because what I would have done
 is irrelevant.
    PEROT: No, you're a citizen; you're a law-abiding
 citizen. I'm a law-abiding citizen. I am given this. I turn
 it over to the law enforcement agencies. I'm not running
 around like Sherlock Holmes trying to do anything. 
    Q: Okay. Then let me give a little bit of a backdrop to
 this, all right?
    PEROT: Sure.
    Q: Because we're talking about this--
    PEROT: Let's go on to the next one.
    Q: No, no, no. We ought to name--
    PEROT: Or stay with this one.
    Q: No, let's stay with this one. We ought to name the
 citizen, okay? The citizen was a Defense Dept official,
 Richard Armitage, right?
    PEROT: That's correct.
    Q: All right. The reports are, the claims are that you
 were feuding with him and were in fact trying to spread the
 idea that he was not working as hard as he otherwise might
 have been to repatriate American MIAs, in part because he
 had been and was being personally compromised by a
 relationship he had with a young Vietnam girl. Is that true?
    PEROT: No. No.
    Q: Are any parts of it true?
    PEROT: Almost none. Let's take what is true.
    Q: All right.
    PEROT: Let's take what is true. I had never met him.
 Everything I knew about him you could put on the head of a
 pin, okay? And this came in. Now, interestingly enough, I'm
 a pretty simple fellow, right after it came in, he was in
 the Defense Dept, I was in the Defense Dept going through
 the MIA files at the request of Vice President Bush. This
 shows the relationship, that he had me doing this study,
 which I didn't want to do, but they stayed after me to do it
 and I finally did it.
    So the first thing I did after I got the file is talk to
 him. I said, look, I was given this. I don't know anything
 about it, but if this is true, it's very compromising to
 you, and you have a very sensitive position--which has
 nothing to do with MIAs. He had a very sensitive position in
 the Defense Dept. And I said, I just want to make sure you
 understand this is floating around. If it's true, these are
 very serious allegations.
    Then I gave it--I asked the vice president what to do
 with it. He said to turn it over to the FBI, and the rest is
  history.
    Q: Did you not keep a photograph of Mr. Armitage and the
 young lady in your possession in your office safe?
    PEROT: No. I had a copy of the file that the police
 officer gave me.
    Q: Did you keep a copy of the photograph in the safe?
    PEROT: That was included in the file.
    Q: Okay, because I also want to show you another clip--
 this isn't a film festival going on here, but I want to show
 you a clip of a Washington Post reporter, David Remnick, and
 what he said when he talked to you about this. Okay? 
    PEROT: Fine.
    Q: Let's roll it.
    DAVID REMNICK (on tape): And the subject turned to POW-
 MIA, and all of a sudden, Perot bounced out of his chair,
 went into his office safe and came out with a photograph.
 And in the photograph was a high-ranking Pentagon official
 seated next to a Vietnamese woman. That's it; it wasn't a
 very compromising photograph at all.
    But Perot explained that this woman was somehow a very
 sleazy character who was involved in criminal activity of
  some sort and that therefore the Pentagon official was to
 be discredited simply by sitting next to her.
    PEROT: Well, it's not a correct description of the
 photograph. The thing he fails to mention is he brought this
 up, I didn't bring it up, in terms of this part of the
 conversation. He raised the issue on this individual. I told
 him I didn't want to talk about it on the record at all. He
 agreed to go completely off the record.
    I discussed with him off the record, and he has
 completely miscast that particular photograph, which--that
 photograph by itself is not significant. But the documented 
  file, including sworn testimony from the presidential Crime
 Commission is what is significant. And my concern as it was
 given to me was a person with these possible contacts with
 the underworld, because we're talking about organized crime
 here-- now, that has nothing to do with MIAs--could be
 compromised from a security point of view, and so I handed
 it over to law enforcement.
    So the question is, did I discuss this with David Remnick
 at his initiative off the record? The answer is yes.
    Q: There are other things to talk to you about besides
 these kinds of charges. We're going to try to talk about 
  them for a few more minutes as this morning proceeds with
 Ross Perot.
    Q: Back to Mr. Perot, who's kindly consented to stay with
 us for about another 8 minutes. And I thank you for that.
 And during the break, we were talking about what you said
 are the silly tactics of the Republican Party in focusing on
 your personality.
    In taking up their stand, I said that perhaps they are
 doing so because there are policies to focus on. So let's
 try to talk about that if we could.
    PEROT: But could I make one point? 
    Q: Sure, go ahead.
    PEROT: They're not focusing on my personality. They're
 creating a new personality that doesn't exist. That's a very
 important point. If they wanted to focus on my personality,
 that'd be fair. They're creating a new personality very
 carefully. And then this week they have a massive rollout
 for the American people, and it's not working because it's
 not true, and the phone banks are alive and going crazy with
 anger over what they're trying to do.
    Q: The responsibility for that, those dirty tricks, as
  you characterize them, those flights of fancy, do you think
 it lies in the Oval Office?
    PEROT: There's no other place for it to be.
    Q: President Bush is to blame?
    PEROT: He is in charge of the whole process. That party
 does not run out there out of control.
    Q: Is this part of his promise to do anything to get
 elected?
    PEROT: I don't know. I don't know, but it's not working.
 You see, here's the good news. The good news is this will
 hurt them and hurt them badly because the American people 
  are just furious with this little theater program they run
 in Washington.
    The American people want action. They want something to
 happen in this country. Washington is a master of deception,
 coverup and deceit, and that's where we are.
    Q: All right, let's talk about what might happen if
 enough people put Ross Perot's name down on November 3rd. On
 May the 5th, you told the Newspaper Publishers Association,
 I believe, when asked about reducing the deficit, see me in
 60 days.
    The calendar says the 60 days run out on July the 4th. 
  Can we expect a detailed deficit reduction plan at that
 time?
    PEROT: You can expect a detailed deficit reduction plan
 when I'm ready. I am engineer and I follow the old
 carpenter's rule: measure twice, cut once. I am not going to
 send out a bunch of buzzwords like you normally see. And
 while you are pinning me down on this--and not you; I say
 you collectively--
    Q: I'm just using your words. You said, see me in 60
 days.
    PEROT: See me in 60 days. If I'm ready, we'll do it. If 
  I'm not ready, I'll say I'm going to take a few more days
 to do it.
    Q: What, see you in another 30?
    PEROT: Well, I'll tell you then. I'll be closer. Do you
 see what I mean? I'll be closer to the end of it. But can we
 agree that it's not in the interest of the American people
 to just run it out to meet a schedule if it's not done? That
 doesn't make sense.
    Now, while we're being so persistent here, could someone
 just ask the president once is he going to have one? Is that
 asking too much? 
    Q: I'd love to have the opportunity to ask him.
    PEROT: The point is, shouldn't we have a reasonably
 balanced deck here, or should we have a double standard?
 One, if you are in the office and if you are squarely
 responsible for helping build up $4 trillion debt, a $400
 billion deficit this year, a recession, millions of people
 out of work, a declining job base, shouldn't there be some
 accountability for the person in the office, or do Governor
 Clinton and I have to bear the total responsibility for
 putting together plans to fix the mess that he and his
  associates created?
    Q: Okay, so far, it's Governor Clinton alone bearing the
 responsibility, in all fairness. He's come out with his
 detailed plan.
    PEROT: How long ago?
    Q: Last week.
    PEROT: Did anybody ever press him for it before it came
 out?
    Q: Well, people had asked him throughout the primary--
    PEROT: I don't think so. No, no, no.
    Q: --throughout the primary season. 
    PEROT: See, you have to understand, I am the odd duck in
 the race. I have this unthinkable, unspeakable, improper
 thing happening where people are putting me on the ballot in
 all 50 states. This is supposed to be controlled out of
 Washington by 2 political parties that send a blast at the
 American people to say, here is what you're supposed to
 think, here is what you're supposed to do, and here is how
 you're supposed to vote. Do you follow me?
    I'm coming a different way, so suddenly I have to be
 treated in a much harsher environment, which is fine,
  because it's all Mickey Mouse. But I can't resist--I can't
 resist just bringing up, don't you think we ought to hold
 everybody to the same standard?
    Q: I think that's a great idea. We'll get to George
 Bush's plan when he has--
    PEROT: When he has a detailed plan, I'll feel tremendous
 pressure to have mine.
    Q: All right. In the interim, Bill Clinton has at least
 come forward and said, here is my plan. What'd you think of
 it?
    PEROT: Well, I haven't really had a chance to study it. 
    Q: Oh, come on, you saw the headlines of it.
    PEROT: But that's all I saw, and I think that's about all
 there is, is the headlines.
    Q: He says he can cut the deficit in half in 4 years. Can
 you do better?
    PEROT: When I'm ready, I'll talk about it.
    Q: Do you think you can do better?
    PEROT: Bryant, I'm not going to--this is too serious just
 to speculate about. We will come forward with a plan, we
 will go over it in great detail, we will explain it to the
  American people. Anything you get ready to do--see, I'm not
 interested in just--I'm not interested in winning the
 election. I'm interested in solving the problem. I'm
 interested in serving the people. I don't serve the people
 if I come up with half-baked theatrical sound bites, made
 for television, to attract attention.
    I will have a plan, and when I have it, we'll discuss it.
    Q: But Mr. Perot, allow me this. That in itself has
 become a sound bite: I don't want to speak in sound bites.
 Nobody is asking you to speak in sound bites here. If you
 wanted to lay your plan out for the next hour and a half, 
  we'd clear the deck.
    PEROT: All right, fine. What you're pressing me to do is
 give you the kind of short headline plan that is now in
 front of you from Governor Clinton. I want to have a much
 more detailed plan, and I want it to be a plan that will
 work, and most importantly, it's got to be a plan that when
 you go to the American people with the plan, you can build a
 consensus that they're willing to do it.
    Now, that's a complicated undertaking. It's this simple
 to the American people. If you want action, this is what we
 have to do. If you just want more sound--you know, I won't 
  say sound bites--
    Q: (Laughs) Say SOTs.
    PEROT: If you want more political promises nobody keeps,
 you know, I can give you that right off the top of my head
 right now, but you don't want that and I won't try to give
 it to you.
    Q: Okay. We've spent a lot of time talking about George
 Bush. Let me talk about Bill Clinton with you just a little
 bit. His headlines of late have centered around his spat,
 disagreement, split, whatever phrase you'd like to use, with
 the Reverend Jesse Jackson over the comments of a rapper 
  named Sister Souljah. Do you think Clinton was right in
 criticizing those comments?
    PEROT: Well, it's easy to sit on the sideline and
 criticize somebody who's in the game. Now, he was there
 speaking that day, he was there as a guest of the Rainbow
 Coalition. I personally would not have gotten into what I
 consider extraneous things. I would have talked about the
 real issues that face the country, the real issues of coming
 together, the real issues of building a united team. These
 are the--
    But now, again, I guess once you start down the Murphy
 Brown trail, if you've got enough handlers around you, they
 say, gee, you need to have a counterpoint. I don't know how
 all this came up. I don't even think it's worth talking
 about.
    Q: Well, here's the point.
    PEROT: That's politics. This is what's wrong with
 politics. All we do is waste time on Murphy Brown or Sister
 Souljah.
    Q: But I'm not--no, I'm not trying to waste time on
  Murphy Brown or Sister Souljah. In fact, she's almost
 irrelevant to the process. I guess the question is, does a
 presidential candidate have a responsibility to confront
 what he perceives as remarks that exacerbate racial
 animosity, no matter who says them and no matter the
 audience?
    PEROT: I would suggest it would be more productive to
 talk about bringing all of the different races together into
 a united team, because if we don't, we cannot win as a
 country. And in the time you have before a group like the
 Rainbow Coalition, I would have spent every minute on that. 
    When you start using examples like that to make a point,
 I think if you want to make that point, it would be--and
 again, I hate to second-guess somebody that's in the middle
 of-- you know, in the middle of activities when I'm sitting
 here on the sidelines.
    But it's better to talk about the issue and not to take
 an example, whether it's Murphy Brown, Sister Souljah or
 whoever, and just take the issue head on in terms of stress
 between the races, because there's a strong consensus there.
    Everybody in the Rainbow Coalition would have stood up
  and cheered about coming together as a united team. And
 that's what Governor Clinton was talking--trying to talk
 about.
    Q: In fairness to Governor Clinton, he said much of that
 in his address before the Rainbow Coalition.
    PEROT: Well, again, I am sure that in retrospect, he
 would just as soon not have the distraction of the example
 he used, but that's his decision, his business.
    Q: Okay, we have about 2 minutes left. Let me get to 2
 matters. I know you discount polls; you don't like them,
 don't believe in them, don't think they should be the gauge 
  of anything you do.
    On the other hand, those same polls that charted your
 rapid rise now suggest that the number of registered voters
 who think negatively of you has doubled in the past 6 weeks.
 How doest that strike you?
    PEROT: Compared to whom?
    Q: Just your own number, your own raw number.
    PEROT: I love this! I'll take my negatives over Clinton's
 and Bush's. (Laughs long and hard) I started from a very low
 base, and my negatives don't begin to touch theirs. So the
 point is, they have--not they--the Republicans have had a 
  non-stop saturation bombing to recast my personality. That
 would naturally have some impact.
    Now, you're giving me an opportunity this morning to set
 the record straight. That will have some impact. This is the
 tug-of-war politics. Isn't it a sad thing, though? It has
 nothing to do with rebuilding our cities, creating millions
 of jobs that we must have in order to rebuild our tax base,
 building the finest schools in the world, all the things
 that you and I and everybody else in this country know we
 have to do.
    It's this simple. The American people when they go to 
  vote in November just need to figure out who's going to
 talk about it and who's going to do it. And if they just
 want to talk about it, I'm not their man. If they want it
 done and they want me to do it, I'll give them everything I
 have and I will go as their servant and I will be honored to
 serve them. It's up to them.
    Q: Final note. We keep on playing this silly little game,
 but we're playing the official game when we say "still
 undeclared candidate Ross Perot." Why do we still have to
 say that?
    PEROT: Well, one of my biggest problems, see, I need to 
  nail down my vice presidential candidate. And you know,
 Newsweek gave me some good leads this week.
    Q: I saw the cartoon.
    PEROT: One was Katie Couric.
    Q: And so I felt like probably we ought to get into that
 pretty hard today because of the fact that--just think about
 it. Talk about my negatives going to zero. Can you imagine
 if I had Katie as a running mate? Talking about zooming up
 to 80 % in the polls if I had Katie as a running mate.
    So you know, there's some interesting news out there in
 the future. So we'll just have to keep saying it. 
    No, on a serious note--on a serious note, I am waiting to
 get more of the states in and we'll announce at the right
 time.
    Q: Is there anything possible at this point that could
 dissuade you from running?
    PEROT: Yes. If the American people didn't want me to run,
 I would drop it in a minute. I'm doing this for them. Keep
 in mind, I will not do anything to win. This is not my
 lifetime mission. They are asking me to do this, and if they
 want me to do it, I will be honored to serve them and I will
  give them everything I've got, night and day, to rebuild
 the cities, reindustrialize America, pay down the debt,
 rebuild the schools.
    I am sick and tired of living in a country where you have
 to have bars on the windows and bars on the doors in a lot
 of the neighborhoods. I want to put America back to what it
 used to be and what it can be. And more than anything else,
 I and all these millions of volunteers across the country
 want to pass the American dream on to our children.
    Now, if the American people want me to do that, I'll do
 that. 
    Q: Is that the stump speech?
    PEROT: No. That's from the heart.
    Q: Ross Perot, when you get that detailed deficit plan, I
 assume we'll sit here and talk about it?
    PEROT: Yes, but we'll also--you put your wallet on the
 table, I put my wallet on the table, and--
    Q: We got to get a bigger table for your wallet.
    PEROT: No, we'll put the same amount of wallet, same
 amount--now, don't run away, Bryant--we'll put our wallets
 on the table, and I'll bet you, within 48 hours, everybody
  yawns and goes on to the next hiccup, whatever that is.
    Q: If we put our wallets on the same table, that table
 will go like this.
    PEROT: No, now, Bryant. Wait a minute. You make more
 every year than I do. See, if my salary--wait a minute, see-
 -
    (Laughter)
    Wait a minute. My companies pay on merit. I don't get
 paid anything. I know you're doing better than I am or you'd
 be down there in the line.
    Q: We got to get on out of here. 
    (Laughter)
    PEROT: Yeah. I got to go down and get in the soup line,
 too.
    Q: I'm sure.
    PEROT: Breaks your heart, doesn't it?
    Q: Ross Perot, I know you're traveling to Annapolis
 today, doing a press conference down there. Safe travels.
 We'll see you again.
    PEROT: Great. Good to be with you. It's always fun.

           R O S S   P E R O T  A C T I O N  K I T

1. You are encouraged to upload this text (including this appendage)
to your local BBSs.

2. You are further encourage to make hard copies of the following
petition and pass them out to friens asking each person to
   a. Circulate the petition.
   b. After you have filled the petition with names of registered voters
      in your voting district make photocopies.
   c. Mail one photocopy (with a brief cover letter to your local US
      Representative.  Mail one each to both of your US Senators.
   d. Mail one each to any candidate for the offices mentioned.
Take action today to help return this country to its owners.

The Petition:

We, the undersigned, demand that our U.S. Representatives and our U.S.
Senators and all candidates for those offices take the following pledge:

"If the 1992 Presidential Election is thrown into the U.S. House to
choose the President and into the Senate to choose the Vice President,I
pledge to support the Presidential ticket that receives the most popular
votes nationwide."

We, the undersigned, further state that those candidates who fail to
make this pledge before the election will not receive our vote.


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