Perot For President?

Reform Party leaders are launching a petition drive to draft founder Ross Perot into the presidential race, saying the Texas billionaire is a natural to pick up the reform banner if Sen. John McCain loses the GOP nomination.

“A McCain defeat could produce a vacuum that Perot could fill,” said National Party Secretary Jim Mangia.

With a chairman loyal to rival Jesse Ventura ousted Saturday during the party's shout-fest in Nashville, the coast is clear, Perot's supporters say.

Mangia said that since the meeting, he's received dozens of e-mails and phone calls from supporters of the draft-Perot effort.

“They want Perot,” Mangia said.

It would be the third time Perot has run for president on the ticket of the party he founded, after finishing with 19 percent of the vote in 1992 and 8.5 percent in 1996. This year, he would face former Republican Patrick Buchanan in a fight for the party's presidential nomination and for the $12.6 million in federal matching funds that come with it.

Such a challenge would not deter the conservative columnist, Buchanan said this week.

“Clearly, he would be a formidable challenger for the nomination,” said Buchanan, who was publicly backed by Perot's 1996 running mate, Pat Choate, until Choate was picked Saturday to succeed rival Jack Gargan as chairman. Choate immediately resigned as chairman of Buchanan's White House bid.

Perot or no Perot, Buchanan said Monday, “we would go right ahead with our campaign for the nomination.”

A third-party challenge by either man could have major impact on the presidential race by taking votes from the Democratic and Republican nominees, depending on who the major parties pick.

The Texas billionaire's prospects this year were said by senior Reform Party officials to depend heavily on how well McCain fares against Texas Gov. George W. Bush in South Carolina's GOP primary on Saturday. Polls show Bush slightly ahead of the Arizona senator.

McCain, whose congressional crusade for campaign finance reform draws support from Reform Party members, could drain support from the third party's grass roots and make a bid by Perot unappealing, the thinking goes.

So popular is McCain among some factions of the Reform Party that there's even been talk of nominating him on the party's ticket even if he captures the GOP nomination.

For his part, McCain has said he would only want the GOP's nomination but would accept the Reform Party nod just as he would accept support from any group as the Republican nominee.

If McCain loses the nomination, the equation for the Reform Party changes, these officials said.

Without McCain in the race, “Perot is the man who can carry the real reform message into November,” Mangia said. “The Reform issues McCain is running on are the issues Ross Perot gave expression to in the 1992 and 1996 campaigns.”

According to senior Reform Party officials, Perot sees South Carolina as a major test of the McCain campaign's long-term viability.

The senior officials said that Perot could announce his candidacy the way he did in 1996, on CNN's Larry King Live, as soon as next week depending on how McCain does in South Carolina.

As he has for months, Perot refused comment Wednesday. But the official closest to him, former National Party Chairman Russell Verney said Perot is aware of the draft effort but is “busy with his business” and did not request the petition drive. Verney declined to gauge Perot's interest in running.

“He is not scheduled and does not have any intention of appearing on Larry King Live,” Verney said.

Perot, 69, founded the Reform Party as United We Stand, America after his 19 percent showing as an independent candidate in 1992.