April 14, 1999
Web posted at: 3:43 p.m. EDT (1943 GMT)

HUNTINGTON, Indiana (AllPolitics, April 14) -- Saying it is time to "reclaim the values that made America great," former Vice President Dan Quayle officially launched his bid for the 2000 Republican nomination Wednesday.

"Today I announce that I will seek and I will win the presidency of the United States of America," Quayle said, pledging to restore integrity to the White House after "a dishonest decade of Bill Clinton and Al Gore."

"In your hearts you know that prosperity without values is no prosperity at all," Quayle told a crowd of supporters in his boyhood home of Huntington, Indiana. "I am here to tell you that I will lead the fight for our values and our families."

Dan Quayle announced Wednesday that he is a candidate for the presidency

The former Indiana senator kicked off his presidential campaign at Huntington North High School, where he graduated in 1965.

In his first official campaign event since President Bill Clinton defeated the Bush-Quayle re-election ticket in 1992, Quayle concentrated much of his criticism on Vice President Al Gore, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, while still getting in a few shots at Republican front-runner Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Condemning what he called the "arrogance," "disdain for the values parents are trying to teach their children," and "contempt for the law" that Gore displayed in supporting Clinton during his impeachment, Quayle warned "this will not stand ... we will fight back."

And alluding to Bush's early responses to questions about the NATO action in Kosovo, Quayle said: "We do not need another president who needs on the job training."

Quayle also answered those in the Republican party who say GOP candidates "shouldn't address the issue of values or virtues because it might be risky or divisive," responding: "What is the greatest challenge facing America today, is it jobs or is it values? It is values."

Quayle, a social conservative, pledged that so-called "family values" will still be a focus of his 2000 campaign, as they were in 1992.

The vice president made headlines during the 1992 campaign when he questioned the morality of TV sitcom character "Murphy Brown" for having a child as a single mother.

"When you speak the truth ultimately you will win. Remember Murphy Brown is gone and I'm still here fighting for the American family," Quayle now says.

Infamous for several public gaffes during his time as vice president, Quayle tackled that issue head on Wednesday.

When talking about the need to return to the fundamentals of education Quayle joked: "No more fuzzy math where four plus three feels like seven. It is seven. No more creative spelling either, I've tried that and it doesn't work"

It was an obvious attempt to make light of his famous misspelling of the word potato during a school spelling bee.

On other key campaign issues, Quayle, complaining of a "middle-class tax squeeze," proposed a 30 percent across-the-board tax cut.

Calling himself an "internationalist" and deriding the Clinton Administration's actions in Kosovo, Quayle also said he is the best qualified potential commander-in-chief in the field of 2000 candidates.

"We must reject the idea of isolationism," Quayle said. "But that doesn't mean we should get involved in every civil war around the world."

Quayle added: "We handed this administration the most favorable foreign policy cards of any administration since World War II and unfortunately one-by-one-by-one they frittered them away."

The 52-year-old former senator and representative is considered a longshot for the nomination despite his popularity among grassroots activists and Christian conservatives.

Outside of those groups he faces a sometimes negative public perception as a result of that series of missteps during his term as vice president, including what one supporter called the "potato factor."

He also faces a large Republican field vying for the 2000 nomination. Early surveys have already placed Bush and former Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole at the front of that pack.

Among the GOP pool are several social conservatives who will be wrestling over the same votes, including Gary Bauer and Pat Buchanan. Quayle's campaign team also has come together slowly, and he only raised about $2 million in the first quarter of 1999 -- $1 million less than projected.

Quayle supporters argue that the former vice president will exceed the low expectations while Bush won't be able to live up to his early top billing. If the former vice president can emerge from Iowa and New Hampshire as the choice of social conservatives, his miscues would fade from memory in the showdown against Bush, supporters say.

"I think Americans will begin to see a rejuvenated Dan Quayle with great campaign skills," said Rep. David McIntosh (R-Indiana). "George Bush has done a good job of building interest, but now he has the tough job of rising to those expectations."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Wednesday, April 14, 1999

• Quayle formally kicks off 2000 bid
• Clinton offers $300 tax credit plan
• Starr: Independent Counsel Act should not be renewed
• Adviser: Clinton may not challenge contempt citation
• U.S., China agree to quickly resume trade talks
• Elizabeth Dole touts foreign policy credentials at Naval Academy
• Government tries to keep Nixon's daughter off witness stand
• House OKs $1.74 trillion budget for 2000
• Congress moves on flag desecration constitutional amendment
• Refugees tell harrowing tales to Senate panel
• IRS finds no evidence of widespread violation of taxpayer rights
• Bush to collect backing of four Iowa congressmen
• Teens favor heavily advertised cigarettes

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