Quayle announces plans to seek GOP nomination

Associated Press, January 22, 1999

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Vice President Dan Quayle said yesterday that he will file a formal statement of candidacy for president next week, the first step in his bid to win the White House in 2000.

"I've thought about this for a long time. I've wanted to be president for a long time, and the year 2000 is looking like my opportunity," he said last night on CNN's "Larry King Live."

In an interview published in the Indianapolis Star and News yesterday, Quayle said, "I am uniquely positioned and prepared to be president. I can assure you I am serious. I am committed."

Quayle, who moved from Indiana to Arizona in 1996, said his campaign headquarters will be in Phoenix, but major campaign announcements will come in Indiana. He is expected to announce the formation of an exploratory committee in Indianapolis late next week and formally announce his candidacy in April in Huntington, where he was raised.

Quayle, George Bush's vice president and running mate in 1988 and 1992, calls himself a credible candidate whom the public will take seriously.

"It's going to be different for me this time around, running for president," he told the Star and News.

Quayle, 51, said he will push for a 30 percent across-the-board tax rate reduction and emphasize foreign policy.

Quayle has a wide fund-raising base and is well established in the early primary states.

Other potential GOP candidates include Texas Governor George W. Bush, former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, Ohio Representative John Kasich, former Red Cross Director Elizabeth Dole, Senator John McCain of Arizona, broadcaster Patrick J. Buchanan, millionaire Steve Forbes, and religious activist Gary Bauer.