Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993 TAG: 9311050113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton, visiting Kentucky to promote NAFTA, said Gore had challenged Perot to debate the issue on the CNN talk show "Larry King Live." He added, "let's see if he takes it."
The Texas billionaire responded eagerly. He proposed not one encounter but three between now and Nov. 17, when the House is slated to vote on the plan to wed the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Perot suggested debates at the sites of anti-NAFTA rallies he already has scheduled: Sunday in Tampa, Wednesday in Detroit and Nov. 14 in Seattle.
"They've issued the challenge and I've accepted it," Perot announced. "I'll see you there; I look forward to it.
"The president can show up at one, two or three of them - or he can stand back and watch Al," Perot said.
White House communications director Mark Gearan welcomed Perot's acceptance, but made clear the White House wanted only one debate, with Gore representing the administration.
"It's an important issue. It's in our interest to get the facts out there," said Gearan. "We need to work out details of time and place."
Sending Gore, whose image is of a technocrat, up against the hardscrabble Perot was seen by many as a sign that the White House is struggling to keep NAFTA alive.
The pact is in serious trouble in the House, where Clinton apparently is dozens of votes short of the 218 he needs to win its approval.
But the tactic could backfire, because if Perot can use the debate to fan economic fears, House members might find it more difficult to vote for the pact.
"It really is a risk, because the last election here just showed that there's all kinds of weirdness still out there," said Frank Schuchat, a pro-NAFTA Clinton supporter and Washington trade lawyer.
A master of the one-liner, Perot has reduced his opposition to the complex, 2,000-page trade pact to catch phrases such as "that giant sucking sound," his metaphor for American jobs going to Mexico.
That could make Gore's job of defending the agreement difficult, as the argument against the NAFTA "lends itself to demagoguery very well," said Schuchat.
The White House, however, denied that the debate is a sign of desperation. "It's just to bring attention to the issue, but it's not a desperation move at all," said deputy White House press secretary Lorraine Voles.
Perot, whose charts and homespun one-liners took the complicated issue of the federal budget deficit out of the committee room and into the living room during last year's presidential elections, has done the same this year with the NAFTA.
He's been holding anti-NAFTA rallies around the country and published a best-selling book - "Save Your Job, Save Our Country: Why NAFTA Must Be Stopped Now!" - deriding the agreement as detrimental to the future of American workers.
by CNB