Ross Perot

WASHINGTON -- Offering a blunt agenda for America, former Gov. Richard Lamm of Colorado launched his campaign yesterday for the presidential nomination of Ross Perot's Reform Party.Lamm, whose chances of becoming the third choice in this fall's election appear to depend largely on whether Perot himself decides to run, is stressing issues of "reform and renewal" dear to millions of 1992 Perot voters: balancing the federal budget, slashing the trade deficit and overhauling the political system.

ROSS PEROT's Reform Party has already performed a useful function by giving Richard D. Lamm a chance to proclaim himself a presidential candidate. The former governor of Colorado takes great delight in telling the American people what they don't want to hear.He accuses the present generation of a "self-indulgence" that endangers its progeny. He warns that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are going broke unless the affluent elderly are denied benefits they don't need. He questions costly medical procedures to prolong the lives of the terminally ill. And he is even for higher taxes, including a 50-cent gasoline tax.Mr.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Ross Perot is back on the stump, railing against the swelling debt and the ignorance and arrogance of Washington with his tinny, 'tween-us-folks style, quoting everyone from Cicero to Rodgers and Hammerstein and attracting camera-toting citizens like a national monument.But as Perot works to get his Reform Party, or, in some cases, his own name, on the ballot in all states and contemplates another presidential run, the Texas billionaire is finding voters more standoffish, more skeptical of him, his charts and his colorful Wal-Martisms than they were four years ago.Even among Reform Party staff and volunteers, there is a huge split between those who are pinning their hopes on Perot and those who see him as, in the words of the director of Minnesota's third-party effort, "the candidate of last resort."

LOS ANGELES -- Ross Perot and California members of his nascent Reform Party gave the new third party its first major road test as they assembled at a two-day conference here this weekend.In his keynote address yesterday, former Gov. Richard D. Lamm of Colorado championed two of the party's principles -- TC balanced federal budget and campaign finance and electoral reform. Lamm, a frequent and often provocative critic of what he sees as the major parties' reluctance to solve fiscal problems -- for example, by overhauling health care and Social Security -- said that with the coming retirement of the baby-boomer generation, and other factors, the New Deal had become "a raw deal" for "our children and grandchildren."

HAVRE de GRACE -- Now I certainly wouldn't presume to speak for the other 19,741,047 Americans who voted for Ross Perot in 1992, but it seems pretty clear to me that the Eary One won't be much of a factor this time around.There are two main reasons for this. First, we've come to know Mr. Perot a little better over the past four years, and that's not been to his advantage. To know him better isn't to appreciate him more. He used to be a funny little billionaire with eccentric mannerisms and homespun, perfectly sensible ideas.

WASHINGTON - The electorate apparently is going to be confronted with an unprecedented presidential campaign five months of back-and-forth from President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole right here in Washington.The conventional general-election campaign, in which candidates take their cases to the voters all over the country, will be largely delayed until after the two parties' nominating conventions in August.In one sense, there is some value and a certain logic in a series of confrontations between the president and his opponent.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Amid a rollicking bedlam of singing, shouting supporters, Patrick J. Buchanan declared last night, "We have made history again," with a victory in the New Hampshire primary over Sen. Bob Dole that brought stark embarrassment to the Republican establishment.Denouncing his foes for the negative advertising they ran against him, the fiery former news commentator proclaimed: "They did their worst. We did our best. People in New Hampshire voted their hopes, not their fears."

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A beaming Patrick J. Buchanan declared last night that his close second-place finish behind Sen. Bob Dole in Iowa's Republican presidential precinct caucuses means "there is only one conservative left who can win" in November.Mr. Buchanan's surprising showing, coupled with the fourth-place showing of Steve Forbes, made Mr. Buchanan a winner along with Mr. Dole. It enabled the former news commentator to cast himself as the standard-bearer for the party's most conservative voters, and the early alternative to Mr. Dole.

From the moment Charles Paglee first saw Marjorie Fuller lying forgotten in a Chinese nursing home seven months ago, he knew what he had to do."I said, 'I'm going to get this lady out of China,' " said the 29-year-old University of Maryland law student.And, with the help of Ross Perot, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch and a Baltimore physician's assistant named Melvin Jacob, among others, that's exactly what Mr. Paglee did.Considered a "stateless American," Miss Fuller, 72, had been consigned since 1958 to Chinese labor camps and, for the past 14 years, a nursing home.

What, ice skating again? Yep, on NBC this time. In interesting opposition, ABC is offering a new adventure for Little Orphan Annie.* "Figure Skating: The Gold Championship" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- See? We told you ice spectaculars are the most popular tactic of "sweeps" month. The last skate show from the big three networks offers a championship skated in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the usual suspects, including Oksana Baiul, Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano. NBC.* "Annie: A Royal Adventure" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)