Perot Should Be in Debates, Readers Say

Believing he deserves to be heard, Orange County residents overwhelmingly endorsed the right of Reform Party candidate Ross Perot to participate in the presidential debates with President Clinton and challenger Bob Dole, according to hundreds who phoned The Times Orange County edition last week.

By almost a 3-to-1 ratio, the more than 400 callers tabulated over a two-day period beginning Thursday described Perot’s inclusion in the debates as being the only proper course of action in both the political arena and the courtroom.

“I think it’s unconscionable that, in a democratic society, he should be disallowed from taking part in the debates,” said Lucinda Sanchez, 49, from Dana Point. “I’m ashamed to be a part of the United States with this issue.”

“Paranoid, lunatic or not,” Perot should be allowed to participate, said Richard Lake of Fullerton. “But the problem is: The Commission on Presidential Debates is made up of Republicans and Democrats. Who would expect them to use objective criteria?”

But more than 25% maintained that no Perot in this year’s debate was, in reality, the only sensible recourse.

“Where do you draw the line?” asked Joyce Zuck, 69, of Huntington Beach. “I just don’t think any insignificant candidate should be [in the debates]. There’s something like over 100 candidates.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates agreed. Saying he had no reasonable chance to win the election, that panel of five Democrats and five Republicans voted unanimously Sept. 17 to exclude Perot from the debates, which begin Oct. 6 in Hartford, Conn., and resume Oct. 16 at the University of San Diego.

Perot responded to the commission’s directive by filing a lawsuit in federal court and preparing a complaint with federal authorities to allow him to buy more commercial time on television. Most experts give Perot little chance of getting the federal courts to force his inclusion in the debates or to halt them altogether.

In 1992, the billionaire Texas industrialist won 19% of the vote nationally, compared with 43% for Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominee, who unseated incumbent President George Bush, who won 37%.

In Orange County, Perot won 24% of the vote in 1992, compared with 32% for Clinton and 44% for Bush. This year, current polls show Dole leading Clinton by 44% to 40% among “likely voters,” with Clinton leading Dole 43% to 41% among all registered voters.

Perot received 5% in both samplings, while 10% of the county’s voters remain undecided.

But judging by The Times poll on whether the Reform Party nominee should be allowed to share a stage with the Republican and Democratic nominees, Perot notched a much higher percentage. In terms of fairness alone, a consensus of callers agreed, Perot should be allowed to participate.

Some callers sought to justify Perot’s inclusion by saying the $29 million awarded in taxpayer contributions to the Reform Party serves alone as reason.