Texas Billionaire Stumps In Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AllPolitics, March 29) -- After Texas A&M University students' questions raised his ire, Texas billionaire Ross Perot took no questions during a campaign-style speech at Florida State University speech Thursday that drew an overflow crowd of 1,500.

America needs his new Reform Party, he insisted. "We the people have got to take back our country," he told students and faculty. "We need a little less talk and a lot more action." The feisty businessman directed barbs at President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and former President George Bush.

He didn't, however, mention Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), the presumptive GOP nominee who, in recent days, has called on Perot to rally his supporters behind the Republican agenda.

Perot, however, urged his audience to "join us and participate with us." Only that way could runaway spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security be contained, he suggested. Responding to recent GOP appeals, Perot has said it isn't enough just to pass his reforms through Congress: "We've got to shock the political system."

Will they? As at Texas A&M, Perot aroused skepticism as well as support. Political science major Geoffrey Bowles, speaking to the Associated Press, asked: "I agreed with everything he said, but what is he going to do about it?" But another student, Nathan Bigelow, told AP: "I'd like to see him (run)."

The thin-skinned Perot doesn't take easily to criticism. He accused a skeptical Texas A&M student of cynicism. When Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol called Perot "not an entirely sane individual" last week on CNN, Perot called the network and demanded a chance to respond.

In 1992, Perot garnered over one million votes in Florida. Some 750,000 Floridians are registered independent, and Perot needs 65,596 signatures by July 15 to assure a Reform Party slot on the general ballot.

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