Quayle Goes on Talk Show to Begin Presidential Bid

Dan Quayle, whose rocky term as vice president made him both a staple of late-night humor and sympathetic favorite of social conservatives, Thursday became the latest entrant in a growing GOP presidential field.

Appearing on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Quayle announced formation of an exploratory campaign committee, a necessary first step toward raising the roughly $20 million needed to vie for the Republican nomination in 2000.

Citing an “assault” on middle-class values, a “squeeze” on middle-class pocketbooks and “a debacle in foreign policy,” Quayle declared, “On each of those key issues facing America, I am the best qualified person in America to handle those issues.”

He provided few specifics, however, and had little opportunity during a somewhat scattershot 20- minute appearance on King’s rapid-fire chat show.

Quayle, 51, tiptoed to the edge of a run nearly four years ago before unexpectedly withdrawing, citing family reasons. With his three children now grown--and his face lined and sandy hair edged with gray--Quayle on Thursday declared the time ripe for, in effect, a comeback campaign.

“I’ve thought about this for a long time,” Quayle said, “I’ve wanted to be president for a long time, and the year 2000 is looking like my opportunity to run.”

With his announcement, Quayle becomes the fifth Republican hopeful to join the increasingly crowded field. Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Smith of New Hampshire, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and Rep. John R. Kasich of Ohio have all established formal campaign committees.

Magazine mogul Steve Forbes and activist Gary Bauer are expected to follow suit, while Texas Gov. George W. Bush, former California Gov. Pete Wilson and former Red Cross President Elizabeth Hanford Dole are also mulling the race.

Foremost among GOP contestants, Quayle’s reputation widely precedes him--for good and ill.

“With most candidates, you ask how they build up name ID, how do they raise money, what issues they emphasize,” said William Kristol, who served as Quayle’s vice presidential chief of staff. “The primary question with Quayle is, can he overcome the image he was saddled with in 1988 and which he never succeeded in overcoming during his vice presidency.”

Quayle was plucked from relative obscurity as Indiana’s junior senator to serve as then-Vice President George Bush’s 1988 running mate. Quayle stumbled through a difficult campaign and, once elected, was more noted for his gaffes--misspelling “potato,” for instance--than any substantive achievements. Perhaps Quayle’s most celebrated moment as vice president came in 1992, when he delivered a speech attacking the morals of TV’s fictional Murphy Brown.

At the same time, the relentless mockery helped make Quayle a sympathetic figure among Republican loyalists, particularly religious conservatives attracted to his values agenda.

After leaving office following Bush’s 1992 defeat, Quayle began plotting his political resurrection. He good-naturedly spoofed his spelling problems in a potato chip ad, penned a well-received autobiography and ultimately returned to San Francisco, the scene of his Murphy Brown speech, to claim vindication after Clinton echoed Quayle’s condemnation of unwed motherhood.