Clinton Turns Down Perot Request For 11th-Hour Debate

PHILADELPHIA (AllPolitics, Oct. 30) -- "I want to spend an hour candidly discussing with the president, criminal and ethical charges pending against him, his wife, his associates and other members of his administration."

That challenge to a debate came Wednesday -- not from Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, who is behind President Clinton in the polls by about 15 percent -- but from Reform Party candidate Ross Perot, who trails Dole by roughly 15 percent.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry responded Wednesday night that Clinton has no time Monday, the day before the election, to debate Perot.

In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, Perot, the self-made Texas billionaire, invited Clinton to "step forward and tell the truth" in a debate Monday.

Perot said he had purchased an hour of network television time Monday at a cost of $1 million.

"If somebody accuses you of something you never did, you should want to stand up and make it clear to the world that that is not true," Perot said.

Common Cause, a government watchdog group, has accused both the Clinton and Dole campaigns of misusing millions of dollars in campaign funds.

According to Perot, if Clinton will come forward to answer Common Cause's allegations, accepting Perot's debate challenge would "give him an opportunity to clear his name, set the record straight and assure him a landslide if he will do it."

Referring to Perot's request, Democratic Party Chairman Christopher Dodd said Wednesday night, "It's sort of very late in the campaign for that." Dodd made his comments on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Dodd added, however, that he thought it "regretful" that Perot was excluded from participating in the presidential debates in October between Clinton and Dole. "This is strange, to put it mildly. But, at the last minute, to debate on Monday night doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

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