Perot Spent Nearly $400,000 in March : Funding: Most of it was his own money. Hefty expenses for polling and ‘research’ underline seriousness of Texan’s presidential bid.

H. Ross Perot still says he is not formally a candidate for President, but the Texas billionaire spent nearly $400,000 of his own money in March in pursuit of that goal, according to his first financial filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Perot’s expenses included $180,000 to Mark Penn, a prominent New York-based pollster, for “research” and nearly $60,000 to purchase equipment for his nationwide telephone hot line, according to the financial report, which covers spending and fund-raising for the month of March.

Sharon Holman, a spokeswoman for Perot, would not say what sort of work Penn did for the campaign. Penn himself could not be reached.

But the size of the expenditure underlines the seriousness with which Perot has begun his presidential bid. A standard national poll, for example, would usually cost a candidate about $20,000; the size of Perot’s first-month research budget would imply that he has commissioned surveys in some key states as well as more detailed focus-group sessions to test possible campaign themes.

Perot has said he will run as an independent candidate if volunteers can get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. He plans to pay for his campaign out of his own pocket.

Perot contributed $409,824 of his own funds to the campaign and raised an additional $47,810 from contributors. Although Perot has said he would take no contribution larger than $5, his campaign, in fact, took several larger checks, including a few at the $1,000 legal maximum.

“Ross Perot is not seeking contributions,” the Perot petition committee said in a statement released to reporters along with the financial disclosure form. But, the statement added, local Perot supporters in several states have accepted contributions. The campaign also has received more than 5,000 contributions of $5 each, the statement added.

Overall, Perot spent $394,803 in March. In addition to the money paid to Penn, the bulk of the funds went to the telephone hot line. The expenses so far do not include the March telephone bill. “That has not come yet,” Holman noted.

While Perot’s campaign is awash in money, the front-running Democrat, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, ended March more than $2 million in debt. Clinton spent $5.4 million in March, a month that included the Super Tuesday primaries across the South, along with Illinois, Michigan and the first week of campaigning in New York.

Clinton has obtained a $3.5-million line of credit allowing him to borrow against his anticipated federal matching funds to cover his debt. The federal government matches contributions from individuals up to $250.

With the Arkansas governor the clear favorite for his party’s nomination, however, he is expected to have little trouble getting into the black. The Clinton campaign received $1.1 million in matching funds at the beginning of April and has requested another $1 million at the beginning of May. The campaign raised $2.2 million in March.

The campaign of former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. ended March with $438,702 in cash on hand, although Brown’s heavy spending for New York’s April 7 primary almost certainly reduced that cushion. Brown accepts no contribution larger than $100, contending that large contributions corrupt the political process. Brown had spent only about $600,000 in the first several months of the campaign but spent $1.7 million in March. His now famous 800-number brought in $1.8 million during the month.

President Bush’s campaign, meanwhile, remains at the top of the money contest. Bush raised $4.1 million in March, received another $600,000 in federal matching funds and ended the month with more than $7 million in cash on hand.