Ex-Reagan, Carter Aides to Run Perot Campaign : Politics: Top strategists Rollins and Jordan give undeclared bid credibility, much-needed experience.

In the wake of poll results showing that many voters in Tuesday’s closing primaries would rather have cast their ballots for him, Ross Perot on Wednesday bolstered his planned presidential bid by hiring two top political operatives drawn from both major parties.

Hired were Hamilton Jordan, 46, who planned Democrat Jimmy Carter’s long-shot presidential campaign in 1976 and served as a key aide when he won, and Edward J. Rollins, 49, who was White House political director for Republican Ronald Reagan and oversaw his landslide reelection victory in 1984.

Jordan will be in charge of developing the overall strategy for Perot’s independent campaign, while Rollins is to supervise its day-to-day operations, Perot adviser Tom Luce said.

With one bold stroke, the Texas tycoon enhanced the credibility of his as-yet undeclared candidacy in the eyes of political observers and acquired experience for an effort that had been staffed mainly by political amateurs.

Perot told The Times that in hiring the two, “I avoid the learning curve.” He added: “They know the process and they’ve been around the bend and they’ll keep me from walking on the land mines.”

Perot also took pains to squash the notion that adding two veterans of the political system he is challenging would cause him to surrender any of the anti-Washington attitudes that apparently have sparked his surge to the forefront of the national political scene.

Reminded during an interview on CNN that he previously criticized other candidates for using political “handlers,” Perot said Rollins and Jordan “will not be my handlers. They will not get me up in the morning, dress me, give me words to say, tell me what to do and where to go. That’s not their role. Their role is to bring the experience of what’s involved in a national campaign in terms of getting it organized and making it work.”

By putting his campaign under bipartisan management, Perot also maintained his distance from the two major parties--a distance that seems to have helped him generate dramatic and growing appeal among voters of all political stripes.

The salaries being paid Jordan and Rollins were not revealed, but the Perot organization said in a press release that both would make less money than they have been earning--Rollins as a Washington-based member of a media consultant firm that does substantial work for business clients and Jordan as an executive of a Tennessee-based communications firm.

To avoid conflict of interest, Rollins’ wife, Sherrie, resigned Wednesday as head of the White House Office of Public Liaison, a position to which she had recently been appointed.

Apart from the financial sacrifice, Rollins said he would be jeopardizing friendships with many Republicans by signing on with Perot. “I will probably never walk into a cocktail party or dinner in Washington ever again without (encountering) open hostility.”

But he said of the Bush presidency, “I see a tiredness, I see a lack of vision, a lack of an agenda.”

Jordan, who served as chief of staff during part of the Carter Administration, said he initiated the negotiations with the Perot organization that led to his hiring. He said he had made the move because “the country is on the wrong track and both parties represent only incremental change.”

He dismissed the idea that he and Rollins, a conservative, would argue over ideological differences. “Until this country addresses the core issues and problems it has,” such as education and the deficit, Jordan said, “the differences between the two parties are moot.”

Former GOP consultant Doug Bailey, who now publishes the “Hotline” campaign newsletter, predicted the hiring of Jordan and Rollins signals “the beginning of a parade” of mainstream political activists who will join the Perot operation, either in paid or voluntary capacities.

Said Bailey: “Every consultant whom I know who understands at all the power of the Perot phenomenon--and most of them have gotten to that point now--would love to be part of that. This is a piece of history happening.”

In more practical terms, Luce acknowledged the importance of the savvy and experience that Jordan and Rollins are expected to bring to the venture.

He noted that Perot had remarked, “When you get ready to play in the NFL, you need somebody who’s played before.”

Luce added: “I think even if you’re going to run a spread formation, you need somebody who knows a lot about blocking and tackling. And that’s Ed Rollins and Hamilton Jordan.”

But like his boss, Luce sought to emphasize that the two high-powered recruits were being brought on not to redirect Perot’s campaign or replace the volunteers who have shepherded it, but to aid and expedite efforts already under way.

Jordan and Rollins “bring to this endeavor an understanding of what an incredible feat has been accomplished in the past 10 weeks,” Luce said.

During that period, Perot’s followers--with substantial help from his ample funds--have met the legal requirements for gaining him ballot position in nine states, including Florida and Texas. And they have launched similar efforts in every other state.

Polls in several states--including California--have found he would win a three-way presidential race against President Bush and presumed Democratic nominee Bill Clinton. Perhaps most dramatically, exit polling of California voters Tuesday by The Times indicated that had Perot’s name been on the ballot, he would have finished first in both the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Times Washington Bureau Chief Jack Nelson and staff writer Thomas B. Rosenstiel contributed to this story.