USA: ROSS PEROT REJECTS BOB DOLE'S REQUEST TO QUIT ELECTION RACE скачать в хорошем качестве

USA: ROSS PEROT REJECTS BOB DOLE'S REQUEST TO QUIT ELECTION RACE

(24 Oct 1996) English/Nat U.S. Presidential candidate Ross Perot was digging in his heels Thursday, saying he would campaign to the bitter end. Perot's comments at the National Press Club in Washington came a day after Dole campaign officials asked him to withdraw from the race. Analysts say that Perot remaining in the contest makes it even tougher now for Dole to sway undecided and independent voters. And new polls showing wider margins for President Clinton suggest an uphill struggle for Bob Dole in the final days before the election. It was perhaps Ross Perot's highest profile appearance in the campaign so far - thanks in part to reports that Bob Dole's campaign manager had asked him to quit the race. But at the National Press Club in Washington Thursday, Perot made it clear he had no intention of giving up. SOUNDBITE: The point is am I in this for a long haul? yes! Do I intend to campaign to the bitter end? Yes! SUPER CAPTION: Ross Perot, Presidential candidate He refused to comment on details of a meeting between him and Dole campaign manager, Scott Reed, in which Reed is said to have asked Perot to withdraw, Perot also refused to speculate on the reasons why Dole had approached him at this late stage in the campaign. SOUNDBITE: I think I would just like to leave all of this in the hands of the Dole Camp and they've said enough already I think to cover all the answers and the thing I want to make crystal clear to all of you, I've given five years of my life to this, I have worked night and day and I do it for one reason and that is concern for the future of this wonderful country. And I'm probably the most blessed man alive in this country because of my family and the parents I had and my children and my ten wonderful grandchildren and I just cannot in good conscience live with myself knowing and understanding what we're doing to the greatest country in the history of man, and I will continue to work tirelessly for as long as I am here and I'll probably be here a long time. SUPER CAPTION: Ross Perot, Presidential candidate Dole, on the campaign trail in Florida, Thursday, remained defiant amid media reports that his plea to Perot was an act of desperation. SOUNDBITE: And we know the liberal media is not going to report on all these things because they want him re-elected, they like it the way it is, but the country does not belong to the liberal media nor does it belong to Bill Clinton, it belongs to the United States. SUPER CAPTION: Republican presidential candidate, Bob Dole And despite national polls showing Bob Dole trailing Clinton by as much as 20 points, he sounded like someone who could still win the race. SOUNDBITE: It's all up to you, it's not up to anybody else, it's not up to the poll takers. As Jack Kemp says, don't watch the scoreboard stay in the game, stay in the game, it's about the fourth quarter, oh we're a little bit behind, but we're gaining every day, we're gaining every day, we're gaining every day, and we're going to make it. SUPER CAPTION: Republican presidential candidate, Bob Dole His colleagues in the Republican camp refused to shed any light on Wednesday's now controversial meeting. SOUNDBITE: You're going to have to ask Ross Perot or Scott Reed what they talked about, I'm not aware of what they talked about or what the meeting was about. It is obviously in our goal and has been from the day I was elected chairman to win the support of the 19 per cent of voters who voted for Ross Perot in 1992. SUPER CAPTION: Haley Barbour, chairman of Republican National Committee Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...