Word: perots
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...LOOK AT ROSS PEROT'S ALL-NEW campaign team, you would not suspect that this man was girding himself for a four-week dash at the presidency of the United States. Gone are the professional pols and veterans of national elections who rode in on Perot's skyrocketing polls in June only to resign or be forced out in the campaign's spasm of self-destruction in July. In their place today stands a collection of old friends, obscure aides, in-laws and former military men chosen more for their unblinking allegiance to the chief than for their political acumen...
Welcome to amateur hour. Indeed, amateurism is now celebrated by Perot insiders as a boon in a season of finely crafted political double-talk and slick negative advertising. "This is anything but a professional organization," admits Orson Swindle, the top Perot lieutenant, called in to refurbish the sagging effort in the dark days following Perot's withdrawal. "We're all amateurs, but that's not a disadvantage. We've got the enthusiasm of the volunteers...
With so many neophytes in such critical positions, they will need all the enthusiasm they can muster. At the top of Perot's new brain trust is a tiny coterie of true believers: Swindle, running mate James B. Stockdale, legal adviser (and son-in-law) Clayton Mulford, media chief Murphy Martin and press secretary Sharon Holman. The 55-year-old Swindle has some seasoning in a political campaign, having been a congressional district chairman in his native Georgia during Ronald Reagan's 1980 race...
Swindle, a friend of the candidate's since 1973 and the conduit for Perot's orders to the field, is in many ways a perfect Perot operative: competent, self-effacing, obedient and intensely loyal. A former fighter pilot and POW like Stockdale, who ran Reagan's 1980 California campaign, Swindle served as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce...
...spite of his ostensible position as Perot's main adviser, Swindle has not been given the title of either campaign manager or political director. The rest of the inner circle are more like conventional field operatives, jumping when they receive Perot's frequent calls from his 17th-floor office in a Dallas high-rise, 2 1/2 miles from campaign headquarters. Clayton Mulford's main job since February has been to help get Perot on the ballot in 50 states and make sure the campaign complies with federal election rules and reporting requirements. Press secretary Sharon Holman, 45, has worked...