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Quayle, of course, seemed well aware of the relative unimportance of the ardent support of his hometown crowd, and for that reason he made sure that his announcement speech took a clear, if implied, shot at the GOP front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. "I intend to make foreign policy an issue in this campaign," Quayle said. "We don't need another president who needs on-the-job training. We can ill afford another president who has inexperience in foreign policy. You can only get so much from briefing books and crash courses -- you need experience. Today I can look you in the eye and assure you that on Day One, I will be prepared to lead this great nation."

Quayle also countered Gov. Bush's front-runner fund-raising status as well, saying that "the presidency is not to be inherited," and that "the presidency will not be bought. It must be earned." Bush's campaign war chest hovers around $6 million, roughly three times as much as Quayle's.

But Quayle's less subtle jabs were aimed at the Clinton administration, primarily Vice President Al Gore. Noting that Gore had appeared on television right after Clinton was impeached and referred to Clinton as the "greatest" president in recent history, Quayle expressed outrage.

"What arrogance," Quayle said. "What disdain for the values parents are trying to teach children. What contempt for the rule of law." Then, echoing his former boss's rhetorical salvo against Saddam Hussein, Quayle promised: "This shall not stand. Starting in this town, in this place, at this hour, we fight back."

In another slap at Gore, Quayle pointed out that "when President Bush and I left office six years ago, nobody questioned whether we would sacrifice national security for campaign cash."

Quayle couldn't have picked a better spot -- or a more loving crowd -- for his campaign kickoff than this sleepy farming town of roughly 17,300 residents, 80 miles northeast of Indianapolis and 30 miles southwest of Fort Wayne.

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