Sunday Morning News

CNN 20: Ross Perot on "LARRY KING LIVE," February 20, 1992

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Well, Ross Perot has become intertwined in my life, I guess. In '92, when Ross announced that he would run, a friend had told me they thought Ross would be interested in running. It was the first question I asked him, he said he was not.

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H. ROSS PEROT, ENTREPRENEUR: It's important in this old world to play your strengths, so...

KING: Your strength would not be as president?

PEROT: My strength is creating jobs and fixing things.

KING: Well, isn't that what a president could do?

PEROT: Well, I'm not sure, in our present system.

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KING: I liked him, he was spritely and he was fun, obviously, a good interview. Then I asked him again midway through, and he said, no. And then I finally pressed and I said...

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KING: Can you give me a scenario in which you'd say, OK, I'm in?

PEROT: Number one, I will not run as either a Democrat or Republican, because I will not sell out to anybody, but to the American people, and I will sell out to them.

KING: So you'd run as an independent?

PEROT: Number two, if you're that serious, you register me in 50 states, and if you're not willing to organize and do that, then this is all...

KING: Wait a minute. Are you saying...

PEROT: ... just talk. KING: Hold, hold,. Wait a minute.

PEROT: Stay with me, Larry.

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KING: And I thought nothing of it. And I went and did my radio show, and people started calling in saying, where do I help Ross Perot, how do I send money in? That really -- wow. And then he would later tell me that a bellhop in the hotel he was staying in put $5 under the door after watching him that night.

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