Perot snares 4,600 local signatures

(Ball State Daily News – Page 2 – May 14, 1992)

Texas billionaire expected to be on Hoosier fall ballot

By DAVID SPEAKMAN
Staff Writer

Local Ross Perot supporters collected thousands of signatures in a grass roots effort to put the independent candidate on Indiana’s fall election ballot.

“We collected over 1,500 signatures in the first day,” said Carolyn Wenz, Perot’s Delaware County Coordinator. “During the two weeks we were out, we collected 4,600 signatures total.”

To qualify for the Indiana ballot, candidates must collect 29,919 signatures. “Now I believe we are over (the required number of signatures),” Wenz said.

Wenz, a one-time presidential campaign coordinator for Robert Kennedy in 1968, said the country is at a crucial moment. “We are at a crossroads – a make-or-break moment. If this man gets in the White House, we will change the course of history.”

Wenz is not alone in her assessment of the political scene. “The Republicans and the Democrats don’t know how to run the country. It wouldn’t hurt to give Perot a chance,” said Jean Thurman, office manager at WBST radio.

Thurman explained why she signed Perot’s petition. “I didn’t like any of the other candidates. But I did like how Ross Perot came from a poor background and established his business,” she said.

“The choice we have between Bush and Clinton is pathetic,” said Wenz.

“George Bush has forgotten middle America.” Wenz pointed to Bush’s cut of the luxury tax on yachts. “That tax cut really helped me out.”

“Bill Clinton lost his credibility when he said he smoked marijuana and then claimed he never inhaled,” she said. “Yeah, right.”

While many political pundits are writing Perot off as a protest candidate, his supporters say otherwise. “He has a definite chance to win, and I’m not saying that just because I’m working for him,” said Wenz.

“As the summer goes on, Bush will continue to sink in popularity and Clinton will fade away,” Wenz said. “Ross Perot is popular right now and a lot of people don’t even know who he is.”

“Look at the polls,” she said. “He hasn’t officially announced his candidacy and he is winning in Texas and California.

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