Perot Flexes Muscle Via Satellite Rally : Independent: He draws cheers of thousands in five-state hookup, and at Florida in-person appearance, where he qualifies for ballot.

“Watch my lips,” Ross Perot told thousands of cheering supporters here Friday in the flesh, and via satellite hookup in five other states, in the most impressive demonstration of national strength yet staged by his infant volunteer organization.

“In five weeks you, on your own initiative in all 50 states, organized this great country . . . and the political pros still don’t know what hit them,” the Texas billionaire declared, beaming with appreciation and self-satisfaction. “And in plain Texas talk, they ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Perot, who is preparing to declare his independent candidacy for President, received an official letter from the Florida State Board of Elections stating for the record that his organization had collected more than enough certified signatures to put his name on the November ballot. All told, Perot backers here claim that 30,000 volunteers gathered over 250,000 signatures, no mean feat in a state considered to be the most Republican of the 10 largest states, and which President Bush carried with 61% of the vote in 1988.

The evidence of Perot’s potential strength here is freighted with political significance for the general election against Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton. If Perot could carry Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, along with two other big states where he now leads in the polls--California with 54 electoral votes and Texas with 32--he would have a base of about 111, or roughly 40% of the 270 needed to win the White House.

The Orlando rally, which drew about 5,000 Perot supporters, was linked to similar gatherings in five other states--Columbus, Ohio; Montgomery, Ala.; Topeka, Kan.; Cheyenne, Wyo., and Boise, Ida., where Perot supporters claim to have collected enough signatures to get on the ballot, although their efforts have not yet been officially certified.

In addition to Florida, Perot already is assured of a ballot position in nine states--Alaska, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, Delaware, Maine, Kentucky, Wyoming and Texas.

The event made use of the satellite technology that could come into play in Perot’s vision of electronic town meetings, in which citizens around the country ask him questions. But on this occasion, except for a few brief comments from Perot supporters at the satellite-fed rallies, communication was a one-way street, with Perot doing all of the talking and his supporters all of the cheering.

“We have got to stabilize the declining job base and turn it around and have a growing dynamic job base,” he said in brief remarks. “Bluntly put, if you’re breathing I want you working. And frankly I want you working because I love you, but that will never sell to the cynics. So let’s just leave it this way, I want you working so that you’re paying taxes.”

Later, answering reporters’ questions, Perot expanded on his comment to ABC’s “20-20” news program that he probably would not hire a homosexual for a major Cabinet post.

Perot said he was thinking about Senate hearings on the nominations of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court and former Sen. John Tower for defense secretary when he answered the question.

“I realized if we ever did, the people in the confirmation process would destroy that person forever,” Perot said. “But in terms of respect for individuals’ rights, those are fundamental in our country. . . . I don’t feel it’s the government’s responsibility to get involved in people’s lives.”

He also said the United States should press the United Nations to solve the Haitian refugee problem. “It is a world problem that involves a world organization, and the shorter the time span to restore democracy in Haiti, the less the suffering,” Perot said.

Perot also took another swipe at Bush’s handling of the Persian Gulf War, saying, “I want you to know I will not go to war to prove my manhood.”