O.C. Backers Not Quitting on Perot : Reaction: Some are enraged by withdrawal, others stunned, but most vow to keep working and hope he changes his mind.

If Ross Perot had a heartland in California, it was in Orange County.

The Texas billionaire’s biggest, most active office in the state--his Southern California headquarters--is in a shopping center here near John Wayne Airport. And on Thursday, its volunteers reflected the feelings of their counterparts around California and the nation: shock, disbelief, sadness and anger.

“I’m devastated. I can’t go home, I couldn’t go to work,” said Judy Gronquist, 45, of Costa Mesa. “Perot’s been my whole life. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. We did the job for Perot. We gave it to him on a silver platter. He dropped the ball on us.”

Most of the volunteers--including Gronquist--vowed to keep working for Perot. Although some said they will reluctantly consider voting for Republican President George Bush or Democratic nominee Bill Clinton, most refused even to contemplate the choice. A handwritten sign on the Perot office window Thursday morning read: “We Will Not Give Up.”

In some Perot offices, reaction was more intense: near downtown Los Angeles, volunteers trashed their campaign office. In Ventura County, an 8-foot, 350-pound sculpture of the diminutive, can-do Texan was dropped into a dumpster. In Sherman Oaks, one distraught supporter, tears streaming down his face, had to be escorted into a back room to deal with his grief.

Perot loyalists in Orange County spent much of Thursday firing off telegrams, letters and fax messages to him in Texas, begging him to reconsider his decision not to run for President. One of those messages said: “Don’t wilt in the sun like a wildflower.”

“I’ll still vote for him; I’ll write in Perot’s name if I have to,” vowed Peggy De Bernardi, 62, of Huntington Beach, a volunteer who was answering phones in the Irvine office. “I’m a registered Democrat, but I’m not thrilled about either (major political) party.”

Sitting nearby were Joe and Mary Martin, a retired Santa Ana couple who had been answering a steady stream of phone calls from shocked Perot supporters.

“Yes, I’m just a little disappointed. I thought he’d be more like a Texan and fight it out,” Joe Martin, 66, told one caller. “But my wife and I are still going to work for him.”

Turning to a reporter, he added: “I’m a registered Democrat and my wife’s a registered Republican, but neither of us has been political before. But when Perot became a possibility, we decided we had to get involved, and we have been.”

Again and again, Perot supporters brushed aside the question of whom they would now support. Many said they still intended to vote for Perot, even if they had to write in his name on the November ballot. Marian Landers, 57, of Laguna Beach was among the hard-core dedicated.

“I haven’t changed the way I see things,” she said. “I will not go back, no matter what, to voting for the lesser of two evils. I will vote for Ross Perot.”

The most fervent supporters refused to surrender, echoing a Winston Churchill quote that Perot himself was fond of repeating: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.”

David Bouffard, 27, of Newport Beach stood in the center of the Perot office and spoke in a loud, angry tone: “We will persuade Ross Perot to change his mind.” “There is no alternative for us. We’re going to tell Ross Perot that we don’t know why you did what you did this morning--maybe you were just in a bad mood. But we’re saying to you, you’ve got to change your mind.”

Bouffard had a soul mate in Richard Carey.

“We’re not giving up; most of us aren’t, in fact 99% of us aren’t,” said Carey, 38, of Santa Ana. “We don’t want politics going back to business as usual. We don’t want special interest groups telling our government how to pass laws. I’m concerned that if we don’t have someone like Ross Perot, our country will be doomed in another four years.”

Carey blamed the news media in part for Perot’s withdrawal, saying reporters “might have worn Ross down with trivial questions” rather than letting him focus on important issues.

Phillip Yarbrough, 31, of Santa Ana, one of five regional office managers for Perot in Orange County, said volunteers were fielding many calls from people who were “dismayed” about Perot’s withdrawal. He said his office would continue to be a haven and clearinghouse for volunteers who want to keep working, or for those with questions. But he acknowledged that the office may have to close soon.

Ray Davis, a 75-year-old retired physicist from Costa Mesa, was among the few Perot supporters in Orange County willing to discuss the possibility of voting for someone other than Perot.

“I’ll probably vote for Clinton; I can’t stand Bush,” said Davis, a registered Independent.

Sheida Hodge, an Irvine resident who immigrated from Iran 28 years ago, said: “The Russians had their own democracy movement, the Chinese had their democracy movement--Ross Perot was our democracy movement.”

Hodge, 47, a registered Democrat, said if she couldn’t vote for Perot, she would not vote at all.

“I’m not going to vote for Clinton or Bush, that’s for sure,” she said.

Al Russell, 49, of Mission Viejo said Perot has been his role model. Russell said Perot’s withdrawal is “just a problem that needs to be repaired. He can be talked back into it. He can reconsider. It’s up to us, it’s up to the volunteers.”

Joanne Laufer, who has been the media coordinator for Perot’s Orange County campaign, said she has been been working eight to 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for no pay. She added that no one in the Orange County Perot office is a salaried campaign worker. Perot’s withdrawal announcement “felt like someone hit me over the head,” she said.

A registered Independent, Laufer said, “I know I won’t vote for Bush; there’s no way.”

Dee Scott, 64, of Mission Viejo said that before becoming a Perot supporter she had been a lifelong Republican, but had switched her registration to Democrat because she became disillusioned with Bush.

Scott said she had been working up to three days a week as a Perot volunteer. If Perot is out of the race, she said, “I don’t think I have any choice except to vote for Clinton. I’d do anything not to vote for Bush.”

Don Ferren of Fountain Valley, who served as purchasing manager for Perot’s Irvine office, said at least 8,000 people have worked in that office since it opened in April. He said that he and his wife, Marcy, who manages the office, were devastated by Perot’s announcement.

“For the last four months, our whole life has revolved around Ross Perot,” he said. “We held him on his word when he said, ‘If you put me on the ballot, I’ll run.’ We held up our end of the bargain.”

Don Ferren said he is a registered Republican but added that he will not vote for Bush.

A registered Democrat, Gronquist said she still plans to vote for Perot. “I worked to get him on the ballot so I could vote for him,” she said. “I’ve got to vote for him.”