From: puccio@media.mit.edu (Jim Puccio)
Subject: Excellent News!
Organization: M.I.T. Media Laboratory
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 03:29:44 GMT

Looks like we're going to have Dan Quayle to kick around for a while more.
This just in, from The Washington Post, Saturday, July 25, 1992:

Quayle Tells Staff He's on Ticket
Comments After Meeting With Bush

by Ann Devroy and David S. Broder, Washington Post Staff Writers

  Vice President Quayle said yesterday he will remain on the Republican ticket
this fall, bringing to a close 10 days of discussion in which he and President 
Bush had considered the advantages and disadvantages of the vice president
stepping aside.

  After meeting with bush yesterday, Quayle told key aides and political
associates that he considered talk of his leaving the ticked "a closed matter."

  Asked by a reporter if he is staying, he gave a one-word answer: "Yes."
Asked about rumors that he had offered to step down, he said, "The president
and I have had a great many conversations about the campaign, but I'm not going
into details."

  Close associates of both men said, however, that over the last 10 days, Bush
and Quayle had seriously weighed the impact of a possible Quayle departure and
asked for advice on the question.  The discussions appear to contradict the
White House's dismissal of rumors about Quayle and Bush's own description of
the speculation on Wednesday as "absurd."

  The private drama of the Bush and Quayle discussions have occurred against
the backdrop of public suggestions by some Republican officeholders that Quayle
should step aside.

  Sen. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.) was among the first national-level Republicans
to say outright more than two weeks ago that such a shift would help Bush.
Quayle aides and other Republicans blame the public discussion not only on 
Quayle's low standing in the polls but also on party officials desperate to 
find "a magic bullet" that would propel the president forward from his position
nearly 30 points behind Democratic nominee Bill Clinton in the public polls.

  Bush on Wednesday called Quayle's spot on the ticket "very certain," and that
night Quayle, on the "Larry King Live" show, was asked directly if he had 
offered to remove himself.  Resorting to the standard vice-presidential 
position of not discussing what he and the president talk about, Quayle
nonetheless said, "We have had a number of discussions and, believe me, if I
thought I was hurting the ticket, I'd be gone."

  Quayle, according to several sources, told a meeting of staff and advisors
yesterday that the resignation issue was moot and that they should press ahead
with preparations for the Republican National Convention next month and the
fall campaign.

  Calls to that effect went out to Quayle friends in Congress and the 
conservative movement -- all designed apparently to stop the tide of rumors
that Quayle might be sacrificed in order to "jump start" a Bush campaign that
is lagging far behind Clinton at the moment.

  "He's going to be on the ticket," said Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., a former
White House political director who was one of those who met with Quayle.  "He's
thought about it, conferred with the president about it, and had made up his
mind that the ticket and the next administration will be stronger if he stays
the course."

  Quayle aides played down the idea that Quayle had made some dramatic offer to
sacrifice his own ambitions to the cause of Bush's reelection.  "He didn't
write a letter of resignation and tell the president, 'Accept it or reject it.'
It wasn't like Al Haig or Henry Kissinger," said one Quayle associate, 
referring to two famously temperamental secretaries of state in earlier
Republican administrations.

  "It was more like, 'Mr. President, we all serve at your pleasure, and if you
want to change the team, or change me as part of the team, it's your right.'
But he is convinced now that isn't going to happen.  Bush-Quayle is the 
ticket," the associate said.

  "He had clearly talked to others and reflected on this thing and talked to
the president about this and has decided his mind is made up on staying on the
ticket," said one GOP advisor.  Another GOP source said Quayle had explicitly
"done what was expected of a loyal vice president" and told the president he
would withdraw if Bush wished.

  Bush is known to have discussed the Quayle issue with some of his closest
senior advisors.  One source said Secretary of State James A. Baker III was
among those Bush spoke with more than once over the past 10 days on the issue
and that Baker had agreed that replacing Quayle, even if the move was 
orchestrated to look like Quayle's decision, would be a political mistake.

  The argument against dropping Quayle starts with the idea that such a move
would look disloyal and politically expediant, as well as being seen as a sign
of panic.  Most conservatives have rallied to Quayle's defense and a move on
him would add to the already dispirited and angry mood among that core GOP
constituency, Quayle advocates say.

  In addition, Quayle himself  has argued publicly that a vice-presidential 
ticket switch would do no good because presidential races are determined by the
candidates at the top of the ticket, not their running mates.

  The argument in favor of dropping Quayle centers on Quayle's poor standing in
public opinion polls, the strength of his opponent, Democratic Sen. Albert
Gore Jr. (Tenn.), and the "magic bullet" theory.

  One Republican source said Quayle is putting "substantial focus" now on the
speech he will give at the Republican convention in Houston and on his 
activities leading up to the convention, including themes he may try out on the
road beforehand.

  "My impression is the issue is now closed with the vice president," the 
source said.  "He has gone through the process, through the exercise, and while
the vice-presidential pot may be stirred between then and now, it is a finished
issue."

[Article reproduced for educational purposes only, under the Fair Use
guidelines.]

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| "Being dumb is just about the worst thing there is when it comes to holding |
| high office."                                                               |
|     -- Harry Truman                                                         |
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