He’s back? Perot resurfaces in Nevada TV interviews

Thursday, March 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

As Bob Dole's wife, Elizabeth, campaigned for her husband in Las Vegas and then Reno on Wednesday, Perot made the 1990s version of a whistlestop with 3-minute interviews by satellite from Texas on KTNV Channel 13 in Las Vegas and television station KRNU in Reno.

While continuing to downplay any impending candidacy, Perot left no doubt that he is available for a draft. But he used the first minute of his air time to promote the Reform Party.

"I'll cut the grass, I'll take out the trash, I'll do anything to make sure we solve these problems and pass on a great country to our children and grandchildren. That's what this whole effort is about," he said, urging Reno viewers to sign Reform Party petitions at a local Kmart.

A question about Nevadans' opposition to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas put the usually glib Perot on the spot.

"I'm not an expert on nuclear waste," he said. "I assume they're fighting it because they don't want it.

"Unlike most asses who're trying to get involved in public life, I could give you a one-minute sound bite, but having spent my life solving problems, you've got to go and study it, analyze it, figure out what the best solution is and do it. Now, Washington doesn't ever do that and that's the reason things don't work.

"You've got to figure out carefully where in the world can you put it and do the least damage, and I guess the attraction of Nevada is they consider it a remote desert area, but if you live in that area, it's not remote to you."

Perot also spoke by satellite from Dallas with television stations in Beaumont and Austin, Texas, Tulsa, Okla., Albuquerque, N.M., and a cable outlet in Key West, Fla.