Perot Lovers Spurn All Advances by Rival Suitors : Politics: About 75 supporters hear pitches for Clinton and several fringe candidates but most aren’t impressed.

Ross Perot’s Orange County supporters were wooed by representatives of other candidates including Democrat Bill Clinton Saturday, but most were not impressed. They want Perot back.

Sitting on the grass outside Westminster City Hall, about 75 Orange County supporters of the Texas billionaire fired angry questions at local Democratic leaders, applauded furiously for a man representing failed conservative candidate Patrick J. Buchanan and wondered aloud where President Bush’s people were.

Orange County Republican Party Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes declined to attend the rally, but reportedly invited a few Perot supporters to breakfast Monday instead.

The original purpose of the Westminster gathering was to discuss the campaign’s transition from signature-gathering to precinct organizing. But Perot’s surprise withdrawal from the presidential race Thursday turned it into a rally where representatives of various candidates vied for the crowd’s allegiance and Perot’s volunteers vowed to continue their fight for change.

Trying to capitalize on the enthusiasm Perot generated in Orange County, speakers from four presidential campaigns took turns telling the crowd that their man was the one who would most effectively challenge the system.

Maureen Ridgeway, director of the county’s Democratic Party, held a handwritten sign that said “Help Change America,” and, on the flip side, “Join the Revitalized Democratic Party,” as Perot himself called it.

“Look at the similarities between Bill Clinton and Ross Perot--there are a lot of them,” said Linda Moulton-Patterson, a member of the Huntington Beach City Council and the California Coastal Commission. “They’re both committed to change.

Moulton-Patterson and her husband, Jerry, who spent 10 years in the U.S. Congress representing central Orange County, talked of the enthusiasm they saw at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.

“The Clinton-Gore team is going to be the winning team, and we want you to be on that team,” Moulton-Patterson declared.

But the Perot people responded better to the fringe candidates, exploding into applause when James (Bo) Gritz campaign organizer Dave Hall said his candidate was “not afraid to step on toes, name names and speak out.” And when Lena Platt, a volunteer for Lyndon LaRouche, told them: “It’s our responsibility to establish a grass-roots movement to determine who the President is going to be.”

“This is not the end of your campaign, it’s the beginning of your crusade,” said Kurt Lohbeck, Southern California Chairman of the Buchanan campaign. “I plead with you, not only do not quit--turn up the volume.”

After hearing half a dozen speakers representing candidates such as LaRouche and Gritz as well as Clinton, most people said they would still like to vote for Perot.

“This movement will not die as long as we keep it alive,” Clarence Friend of Huntington Beach, who organized the event, told the people perched on lawn chairs and blankets in the hot sun.

Dressed in black as a sign of mourning for his lost candidate, Friend won cheers from his audience when he expressed hope that Perot would re-enter the race. Even without his standard-bearer, though, Friend urged the volunteers to stay active. He distributed voter registration forms as people left. And he urged the group to write a political platform and endorse any candidates willing to sign it.

“We are not the apathetic citizenry that the Democrats and Republicans think we are,” Friend said. “Some of us are Democrats, some are Republicans, but I don’t think any of us care about that today. I think we care about our country.”

At the meeting’s close, cut-rate T-shirts and buttons were on sale in what was billed as a “souvenir liquidation,” as two entrepreneurs caught off guard by Thursday’s announcement struggled to regain their investment in Perot paraphernalia.

Robert Bell and Steve Johnson have about $15,000 worth of buttons and shirts that say “Perot ‘92: The Party’s Over,” and they are worried that campaign offices around the country will return their merchandise rather than pay outstanding debts estimated at $30,000.

For these local entrepreneurs, Perot’s announcement is not just a political letdown--it’s a business nightmare. Both men abandoned jobs, hoping to reap financial benefits from a four-month presidential campaign while also gaining extra time to work for Perot.

Now, Bell and Johnson hope that Perot will reimburse them for any losses, or that collectors will relieve them of their inventory.

“In the long run, it’s going to be a nice item to have,” Bell said of the square buttons, of which there are only 10,000 nationwide. “But it’s not going to be a nice for me to have 5,000 of them.”

BACKERS BACK AT IT: Perot volunteers regroup after a pep talk from Texan. A1