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Jewish World Review Feb. 23, 2000 / 18 Adar I, 5760

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Will Ross Perot aid POW McCain?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- IN 1992, 104 million Americans voted in the presidential election. In 1996, the number dropped to 96 million.

The sad drop in turnout tracked a similar decline in votes for the Reform Party candidate. Twenty million people voted for party founder Ross Perot in '92. Just 8 million did so in '96.

Let's suppose that the reason for this lower vote last time was the lack of a provocative alternative to the two major parties. Perot, the new kid on the block eight years ago, had lost much of his pizzazz by the time of his second run .

The question for the election this year is how to attract the independent-minded, turned-off voter. What would bring out the Reagan Democrats, Reagan Republicans, libertarians and, in some cases, the just plain grouchy who took a good long look at Perot in 1992?

One sure way to depress the turnout would be to offer such voters the too-exciting-to-bear choice between the legacy twins, George W. Bush and Albert A. Gore. That would guarantee a national March-through-November snore-athon.

One way to inflate millennial year turnout would be the creation of a coalition between hopeful, reform-minded independents and a hopeful, reform-minded Republican presidential nominee.

A perfect candidate to head this fusion ticket would be John McCain, a man who has made campaign finance reform into a crusade. Unlike Bush, he preaches that the GOP's heartiest future lies in the activism, reform-mindedness and vision of Teddy Roosevelt. Also, he is not a Bush, a family that Reform Party founder Ross Perot, for some reason known best to him, despises.

A fusion ticket backed by Reformers as well as Republicans would present Perot with an added plus. It would keep his party's nomination free from the clutches of Patrick J. Buchanan, a man who last year wrote a book, "A Republic, Not an Empire," that condemns the Western democracies for standing up to Hitler in 1939.

The patriot Ross Perot did not create a political party to have it overrun by a political arch-conservative looking for a more receptive home.

How does Perot feel toward McCain, a man who has this year championed the Reform Party cause of campaign finance reform?

History offers an intriguing clue. Back in 1970, the Dallas multi-billionaire flew to Southeast Asia with hopes of getting food and medical supplies to American POWs like John McCain.

Thirty years later, a somewhat different Perot mission to help a former Vietnam POW may be at the strategy stage. Maybe this time, Perot will make it through with the supplies.



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

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