carolyn barta, a long time texas journalist was the author of our book and she's joining us for the rest of our program from her texas. you knew ross perot as a texas journalist long before many americans knew about him. can you tell us about his upbringing and what shaped the we knew on the national stage. >> well, perot was from texarkana. he had a very average texas childhood. he lived in a strong stable middle class family. as a boy, he broke horses. he traded horses. he was an eagle scout even in i think that he kept all the traits of the eagle scout. objectives for himself, goals, and then try to pursue those goals. he was very much in the texas tradition of the day, and as he grew, he went to the naval started his own businesses. represented, as doug said, can-do spirit of texas. his vision was big. the state was big. opportunityoundless here. the sky was the limit, sort of thing. he really sort of played into what was sort of the texas mythology, with texas politicians, who were larger life. very successful businessman who made a fortune here. they were risk-takers. they were not

and in dallas, carolyn barta. longtime texas journalist who wrote a book about the perot campaign. let's begin your telephone calls starting what ralph watching us in chicago. >> thank you. he missed his chance by not calling for a roadmap to peace on drugs as successful contenders grant used medical cocaine and jfk used speed medically. washington, jefferson, jackson, and lincoln used medical marijuana. each of our last three successful contenders used both grass and coke medically as well as recreationally. thank you. >> we are really getting at is the so-called war on drugs which became a popular phrase in 1980s in the united states. the problem was all of these urban centers -- whole generations of kids getting addicted to different types of narcotics. his whole life he has been a champion of education. working for public schools in particular, there were public schools where drug gangs were taking over. you could not go into them including in dallas which was a very rough city, people forget, in the 1980's and 1990's. ross perot took a hard line on cracking down on drugs. we h