Throughout April, the draft efforts continued, and Perot appeared on talk shows, discussing his plans and positions on political issues.[33] During an appearance on Larry King Live, Perot stated that he was closer to a decision on a potential campaign, and that he was willing to spend $100 million of his own money to finance it.[34] On the Today Show he was interviewed by Katie Couric, and proposed to cut Medicare and Social Security for "people who don't need it".[33] He appeared on Face the Nation later in the month, and argued that wealthy Americans should spend more than average Americans to eliminate the budget deficit.[35] His budget numbers were contested by Tim Russert on Meet the Press, during a heated interview, after which, a frustrated Perot considered dropping out of the race.[23] C-SPAN ran a speech by Perot, where he announced that he hoped to run a campaign without "political pros"[36] to avoid the "dirty tricks"[36] of past campaigns. After this appearance, campaign consultant Raymond Strother explained to Perot that professionals such as pollster Mark Penn were essential to a successful campaign.[36] In late April, Perot hired former Chicago Tribune editor James Squires as press spokesman to handle the large volume of interview requests from the media.[37] At the end of the month, Perot realized that he had spent too much time visiting talk shows, and announced that he would spend his next few weeks focusing on the issues.[38]