Volunteers for Perot Regrouping : Politics: The Texan’s troops are back on the job after his vow to work ‘night and day’ to sustain a grass-roots effort. They hope to be the swing vote.

Volunteers streamed back to the campaign offices of Ross Perot across the country Saturday, re-energized by the Texas billionaire’s latest pledge to lead a grass-roots movement that could still reshape the political landscape.

“We’re signing up new volunteers who are coming through the door in droves,” said Pat LaRue as 50 former Perot activists answered phones at a Pasadena headquarters that had been shut down by angry volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got to get people looking and questioning and voting.”

“This movement is bigger than Ross Perot,” said John Bishop, a New Mexico area coordinator for Perot. “This is a movement of the people, and we’re pressing on with this thing.”

Like the stillborn Perot for President campaign itself, the new Perot-led movement took life even though there were substantial questions about its direction and organization.

The transformation began Friday evening, just 36 hours after Perot abruptly announced his withdrawal from the race. In a television interview, Perot promised to “work . . . night and day” to maintain his grass-roots movement so it can “provide the swing votes to determine who gets to become the next President of the United States.”

He said he wanted to remain on state ballots to give his supporters a way to register protest votes if the major party candidates ignore their concerns.

Those words from the on-again, off-again candidate were enough to revive the sagging organization. By midday Saturday, campaign offices were bustling again.

Perot supporters in San Diego, holding the grand opening of a downtown voter outreach center, seemed unfazed Saturday by their leader’s abrupt departure from the presidential race.

“Perot has shown us the way, and we can take it from here,” Perot organizer Jack Flowers said, standing amid larger-than-life pictures of Perot and red, white and blue streamers and balloons.

“Mr. Perot was just a messenger. . . . He’s empowered us all to do much more and have a greater say in local politics and national politics,” said another Perot supporter, Gwen Hutchinson.

Hutchinson and others vowed to continue voter-education efforts and to recruit volunteers, although it was unclear what direction they would take in the campaign.

“We’ve had an overwhelming number of calls from people who want us to stay together,” said Lee Betancourt, office manager for Perot in Irvine. “We could be the swing vote in California. We’ve got 150,000 people who signed petitions and 10,000 volunteers just in Orange County.”

“We are the swing vote,” said Harvey Barnard, 51, an organizer in Grand Junction, Colo. “‘We could elect a cocker spaniel if we felt he addressed our issues.”

An informal survey by Times reporters found similar reactions from Perot volunteers in Alaska, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, Louisiana, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Alienated from the two-party system--and in some cases, equally angry at Perot himself for pulling out of the race--the volunteers said they intend to stay together as a political force.

In a meeting Saturday with leaders of about 50 state volunteer organizations in Dallas, Perot said he would provide moral support and unspecified funding. He told the volunteers he would devote his full time for the rest of the year to their efforts and encouraged them to continue plans to place his name on the general election ballot in all 50 states.

California state coordinator Bob Hayden said afterward that Perot would maintain a small central staff in Dallas to supervise the movement but that most of the staff and effort would be generated at the local level.

Perot made it clear, however, that unlike his presidential bid, he would not bankroll the entire effort. Hayden said Perot had promised financial support for the group, but the amounts were left “very vague” and that Perot had explicitly ruled out writing a blank check to fund the operation.

The group decided that it would not attempt to create a traditional political party. But they will try to keep the large Perot volunteer corps together as an issues-based “coalition” to play a continuing role in national and local politics.

The volunteer leaders plan to meet today to discuss their platform, budget and adopt a name for their movement. Among the suggested names discussed Saturday were the American Eagles, the Voice of the Eagle and the Owners of America. They agreed that Perot’s name would not be part of the title.

But despite the enthusiasm, thousands of one-time Perot supporters have already left the movement in disgust after his announcement that he was no longer seeking the presidency. It was unclear if the remaining organizers could assemble a coalition and provide the funding necessary to exercise the power they envision.

Volunteers around the nation said Saturday that they are united in their desire to keep their movement alive, but they sounded divided about Perot himself. Some continue to describe the computer software tycoon as a white knight, fighting for the good of the nation.

“Is Perot a genius or what?” asked a grinning Bill Maher, soon after the Portland, Ore., office reopened Saturday. He and others said they were delighted by Perot’s strategy for pressuring Bush and Clinton to bend to the will of his grass-roots movement.

But others said they felt betrayed by Perot’s withdrawal from the campaign and said they want to hear no more from him.

“He’s a lying, two-faced, hypocritical coward,” said Huck Nelson, 47, who met with 50 former Perot volunteers Saturday in Greenville, S.C., to plan a third-party organization. His grass-roots activists say they will draw up a platform with specific demands, but they want no involvement from Dallas and the Perot organization.

“He betrayed them,” Nelson said. “Now we’re the homeless of the political society.”

Dorothy Bell, 44, a Perot organizer in Aspen, Colo., said she doubted that most volunteers would again place great faith in Perot’s word. He “had a little temper tantrum when he pulled out the way he did, and now he’s backpedaling.”

A Los Angeles Times poll taken Thursday and Friday showed that more than a quarter of Perot’s one-time supporters now view him unfavorably, nearly one-fifth believe he was never serious about running for President and more than a third feel his withdrawal indicates he lacked the proper temperament to be President.

At the Dallas meeting, Perot remained vague on whether he would encourage supporters to vote for him in November.

And many Perot volunteers left Saturday’s meeting uncertain whether Perot was leaving the door open to a renewed bid. “We don’t know,” said Paul Fisher, Nevada state coordinator for Perot. “He doesn’t know.”

But Cliff Arnebeck, Ohio state coordinator, said: “If Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bush does not become a Perot-type candidate, (Perot) will be on the ballot, and he will be elected.”

Contributing to this story were staff writers Jonathan Gaw in San Diego; John Broder, Edwin Chen and Virginia Ellis in Dallas, Jack Cheevers in Los Angeles and Jodi Wilgoren in Costa Mesa; and correspondents Stuart Wasserman in Portland, Ore.; Mike Haederle in Albuquerque; Mary Tolan in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Laura Laughlin in Phoenix; David Hulen in Anchorage, Alaska; Florence Williams in Aspen, Colo.; Garry Boulard in New Orleans; Daniel J. Finnigan in Philadelphia; Bill Steigerwald in Pittsburgh, Pa.; Rhonda Hillbery in St. Paul, Minn., and Lyn Nabers Riddle in Simpsonville, S.C.