Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Headline Article Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 13:29:30 EST Message-ID: <15.1992Oct26.132931@AmeriCast.com> #m#gm#m#Race For White House Flavored With A Strong Southern Accent Paul Sperry TEXARKANA, Texas - Not since Jimmy Carter have presidential politics been so South- ern fried. Indeed, three candidates on the tickets for the White House trace their roots to Southern towns within 300 miles of each other. And another would like to. To use Southern hyperbole, Bill Clinton was born just a stone's throw from Ross Perot's hometown here, where he's still known as "Mr. PEE-row." It's 30 miles away to be exact. Just another ironic twist in a year of strange politics. "It is ironic," said Bob Nash, Clinton's longtime economic adviser in Arkansas and a Texarkana native. "They're all straight down the interstate." Sen. Al Gore, Clinton's Democratic running mate, hails from Memphis, Tenn. - just a half day's ride from here, cutting across Arkansas through Hope, Clinton's birthplace, and Little Rock, the state's capital. In fact, all three candi- dates' birthplaces - Texarkana, Hope and Memphis - have all or part of their city limits within the state of Arkansas. Bush's adopted hometown of Houston is just a half day's ride from Texar- kana to the south, along Texas state highway 59. When Bush visits Houston, he loses his Brahmin accent and frequently inter- jects "fixin' ta" when he says he wants to go somewhere or do something. He'll often make a beeline for his favorite Houston brisket house. And, about once a year, he'll migrate farther south to Beeville, Texas, to hunt. Bush was elected to Congress from a Houston district and ran an offshore oil company from the city. But that's about as much as he can claim of the South. In fact, he was born in Milton, Mass., schooled in New Haven, Conn., and still "summers" in Kennebunkport, Maine. Henry Ross Perot, on the other hand, is a bona fide Texan. But he wasn't rich, nor was he Henry Ross Perot, when he was born in Texarkana in 1930. At birth, his parents - horse trader and cotton broker Gabriel Ross Perot and Lulu Ray Perot - named him Henry Ray, after an uncle. His name was later changed to Henry Ross to keep the name Ross alive in the Perot family. His older brother by that name had died of spinal meningitis. Today, the name H. Ross Perot is indelible in Texarkana, even though Perot dropped the "H" when he first entered the race. "You can't help knowing about them. They're the most famous fami- ly in Texarkana," Nash said during an interview in his Little Rock office, where he now oversees the Arkansas Development Fi- nance Authority. "We used to call him 'Mr. PEE-row,' " he added. "Everyone there still calls him that. That's just the way they pronounce it." Though one of the largest cities in a tri-state region known as "Arklatexas," Texarkana is still relatively sleepy. It's easy to see where the king of colloquialisms got his country wit. But even Texarkana hasn't escaped Perot's hard touch. Perot offered to donate the local theater he owned to the city - but on one condition. "He wanted his name on it," said Nash, a 45-year-old black man, who frequented the theater back when it was segregated and known as The Strand. Now, the city operates The Perot Theater. Perot also bought his childhood home, a modest brick structure. But, because the original color could not be restored to the bricks, he had it dismantled and rebuilt with the bricks turned around. Nash says that Perot is well-known but not neces- sarily popular in the area. And, obvious bias aside, he doesn't think Perot has a chance in the election. "The only way Perot could win is if Bush or Clinton get run over by a truck," he said. Texarkana doesn't seem to be cashing in on the celebrity of its hometown boy like neighbor Hope, which is about 30 miles north on Interstate 30. A gas station marquee with "Welcome - Birth (sic) of Bill Clinton T-Shirts" greets travelers exiting the highway. To say Hope, where Clinton lived until age 7, is a Southern anachronism would be an understatement. The main road leading into the depressed little town is lined with watermelon stands and intersected by dirt roads. Kentucky Fried Chicken is the busiest restaurant in town. And one of the few stores not boarded up downtown is called "Bubba's Sports Wear." Unlike the Clinton-Gore ticket, which one local described as "wild-eyed Southern boys," the other tickets carry Yankees. James Stock- dale, Perot's running mate, was born in Galesburg, Ill. Quayle was born in Indianapolis. +++ d This article is copyright 1992 Investors Business Daily. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrange- ment with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more informa- tion, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM