Christopher Boian
Washington - Flamboyant New York real estate agent Donald Trump announced on Thursday he was planning a run for the White House on the Reform Party ticket and said he'd like talk-show host Oprah Winfrey to run for vice-president.
"The polls have been unbelievable," 53-year-old Trump said in a taped interview with the Larry King Live show on CNN. "So I am going to form a presidential exploratory committee."
"If I couldn't win, if I felt I couldn't win, I wouldn't run," he said. "I'm not looking to get more votes than any other independent candidate in history. I'd want to win. So we'll see."
Formation of an exploratory committee is the first formal step toward launching a presidential campaign and Trump said his committee would become operational from Friday. He expected to make a definitive decision on a run by January.
Trump has not actually asked Winfrey to run for vice-president and said he would still need to give some more thought to his vice-presidential nominee.
"I don't know that she would ever do it," he said, but added "that would be a pretty good ticket; she's a very exceptional woman."
Trump said he didn't expect much competition from conservative commentator and perennial presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, who has also expressed an interest in the Reform nomination.
"Buchanan just blew himself out with the book and his love affair with Adolf Hitler," Trump said. "How he said this is beyond belief.
"This guy is obviously enamoured with him (Hitler), and it's ridiculous."
Buchanan published a book last month claiming that the United States should not have entered World War II when it did because Hitler was not directly threatening the United States.
Trump is a registered Republican, but has supported candidates from both parties in the past.
"Generally speaking, I'm conservative, and even very conservative," Trump said. "But I'm quite liberal and getting much more liberal on health care and other things."
"I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better. It's an entitlement to this country if we're going to have a great country."
But Trump blasted the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying he'd promote "fair trade" over "free trade".
"The fact is that the world is ripping off this country. Germany is ripping us off big league. Saudi Arabia is ripping us off big league. France, I mean, they're the worst team player I've ever seen in my life.
"Japan, we're like a whipping post for Japan."
Trump said he would finance the campaign from his own billions, but that he would accept government matchng campaign funds "because you don't want to be a total schmuck".
Talk of a potential Trump presidential bid has circulated for months, with speculation centering on a campaign to win the nomination of the Reform Party, founded by another billionaire, Ross Perot.
Jesse Ventura, a colourful, straight-talking former professional wrestler elected last year on the Reform Party ticket as governor of the Midwest state of Minnesota, has actively courted a presidential bid by Trump, party officials admit.
But Reform Party officials cautioned that the New York real estate mogul had so far had no contact with the party's leadership.
"Buchanan is the only one I would consider a potential candidate at this point," Reform Party spokesperson Donna Donovan said.
Still, Trump's announcement injected a fresh element into a 2000 presidential election that has so far been shaping up as a traditional two-party fight.
"I'm delighted" at Trump's announcement, said Jack Gargan, a retired financial planner who takes over as head of the Reform Party in January.
"He'll be an interesting candidate. And of course it's up to the people of the country to decide who our candidate will be."
Trump gained notoriety in the 1980s for his real estate prowess, but has remained in the celebrity gossip spotlight through a disastrous bankruptcy in the early 1990s, a stunning financial comeback and a string of high-profile marriages and divorces. - Sapa-AFP