PEROT BOWS OUT : Democrats, GOP Gear Up to Woo Perot Volunteers

On Saturday morning, representatives of President Bush and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton will address about 200 Ross Perot volunteers at an auditorium in Orange County, Calif.--one of many such meetings that will be held around the country in the weeks ahead as both parties vie for the loyalty of the Texas businessman’s followers.

Minutes after Perot declared Thursday morning that he would not be a candidate, a battle of political persuasion got under way on the state, county and precinct levels. The prize: Perot’s army.

Both Bush and Clinton wanted to woo Perot’s volunteers not only because their votes are up for grabs, but also because the men and women who were working to assist Perot are expected to have considerable influence with like-minded citizens in their communities.

“The race now will be for the volunteers,” predicted New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. “The first one to persuade the volunteers gets the Perot vote, presumably.”

While both Bush and Clinton appealed publicly for the support of Perot volunteers, it will be up to party operatives across the country to do the work of contacting all of them and asking them to join forces with one of the major candidates.

Party leaders in California, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Texas and Florida said they were already contacting Perot volunteers. While both parties predicted they would lure the Perot people to their side, neither initially reported winning anything more than a few converts.

“I don’t anticipate any home runs in the first 48 hours,” said Marty Wilson, director of the Bush-Quayle campaign in California. “We are going to contact as many as possible and invite them into our camp.”

In Orange County, Democratic and Republican Party operatives were still making their plans for appealing to the Perot volunteers when they received a surprise telephone call from Clarence Friend, a local organizer for Perot, who invited them to address a meeting of volunteers on Saturday at the Westminster Civic Center.

Republicans and Democrats quickly agreed to be there.

Howard Adler, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, vowed to do “everything I can” to bring them into the Democratic camp. “This may be an historic opportunity for Democrats in Orange County, and I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen,” he said.

Likewise, in Ohio and Kentucky, party workers reported receiving unsolicited telephone calls from Perot supporters who were either seeking information about the party nominees or had already decided to switch. “I’ve even registered one or two,” said Kathy Taliaferro, a volunteer at the Democratic headquarters in Louisville, Ky.

Simon Ferro, Florida Democratic Party chairman, said he would take immediate steps to recruit Perot volunteers, calling them “highly energetic, motivated people who now have a lot of time on their hands.”

Democrats predicted that they would lure more Perot supporters into their camp than the GOP because Clinton is offering change and because Bush angered Perot’s people by criticizing their candidate. Clinton has said little about Perot.

“The timing is perfect--a time when people are taking a second look at Bill Clinton,” said John Marino, New York state Democratic chairman.

McCarthy, however, said the Republicans would succeed because Perot’s supporters are conservatives who have voted for Bush in the past and will find it difficult to support Clinton because he favors abortion rights and would jeopardize jobs with measures to protect the environment.

Kentucky state Rep. Steve Riggs, a Democrat, was so excited by the prospect of winning Perot supporters that he marched down to Perot headquarters in Louisville, with television cameras there to record the event. “I wanted the Clinton folks to be the first to welcome them with open arms,” he said.

Unfortunately for Riggs, Perot’s headquarters were empty.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers William Eaton and Dave Lesher.