Challenged for the leadership of his own party, Ross Perot said Thursday he is best qualified to be the Reform Party's presidential nominee and will do "whatever it takes" to win.
"The American people want me to do this. I worked night and day for the last five years on this subject," Perot said just two days after former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm announced he would seek the party's presidential nomination.Asked why he had not formally announced his candidacy, Perot said Thursday he already has, adding, "I will continue to do it and whatever it takes . . . whatever it takes to leave a better country for my children and grandchildren. If anybody should do it, I should do it, and I will do it and I'm in a unique position to do it."
However, Perot, interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," also said he wanted the Reform Party's nomination race "wide open . . . and I don't want to do anything that will tilt this thing in my favor."
"We have to be responsive to the people who created this party, and they have a strong desire for me to participate," Perot said Wednesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Perot's comments drew a quick reaction from Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, who said, "I would hope he wouldn't run. I would hope it would be a two-man race."
Interviewed on the Don Imus radio program, Dole said he didn't know what impact a Perot race would have on his own campaign. "Well, nobody seems to know. Some polls indicate he takes more (votes) from Clinton this time around."
At the White House, press secretary Mike McCurry said Clinton did not call Perot to welcome him into the presidential race, saying the president "was otherwise occupied."
"The more this fall is about substantive debate on ideas important to Americans' future the better. We haven't had much of that from the Republican side, so perhaps this other candidate's seeking the Reform Party nomination will enliven the debate," McCurry said.
Perot said he would make a second White House bid if he is nominated by the Reform Party, which he created in the wake of his 1992 run. Four years ago, Perot spent $60 million of his own money and took 19 percent of the vote.
Perot called Lamm "a fine man" but said he is best qualified to carry his party's banner.
"If anybody should do this, I should do it. I'm in a unique position to do it," Perot said. "A lot of people who would want to do it and might even be better doing it aren't in a position to do it, wouldn't have the freedom to do it. I have that freedom."
While Perot is a billionaire who can spend as much of his own money as he wants to on his own campaign, Lamm has modest personal resources and just $6,000 in his campaign coffers.
But Perot will have to fight for the nomination, to be decided by party members at their two-part convention next month. Lamm, a three-term governor and lifelong Democrat, declared his candidacy Tuesday, saying he would run no matter what Perot does.
On Wednesday Lamm said he would almost welcome Perot into the race, reasoning it could boost interest and excitement.