Ross Perot may have the big name and the big money, but it's a new face the Reform Party needs in the fall presidential race, former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm says.
"I think that America needs somebody that doesn't lust for the office," Lamm said Thursday during a one-day presidential campaign tour in Minnesota.Four years ago, Perot spent $60 million of his own money and took 19 percent of the vote. Lamm has modest personal resources and just $6,000 in his campaign coffers. Perot has said he would run again for president if nominated by the Reform Party at its convention next month.
"I don't think it's best for the party that he runs, but listen, he built this party. Who am I to say?" Lamm said.
Lamm, however, provided no specific strategy on how he would defeat the Texas billionaire, saying only that he would do it the "old-fashioned way."
Perot, meanwhile, has said he is best qualified to be the Reform Party's presidential nominee.
"There's a lot of people in the Reform Party that honor him . . . but don't think he's the best person to take it to the next stage," Lamm said of his opponent.