Perot Meets With Baker, Brown Amid Hints of Re-Entering Race

Ross Perot said Tuesday he “made a mistake” when he abandoned his presidential bid, and later he held separate, private meetings with White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III and Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown to discuss his political intentions--all apparent signs of his increasing desire to rejoin the race.

In a day of negotiations that were shrouded in secrecy, Perot met with Baker at the former secretary of state’s Washington home and talked with Brown in a dressing room at the CBS television studio.

Both meetings were one-on-one, with no one else present, and both Baker and Brown said they promised not to divulge the substance of the talks. But speculation immediately focused on Perot’s interest in joining the two major presidential candidates in a three-man debate--a decision that presumably would require the assent of both President Bush and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.

Asked if the debates were discussed, Brown said: “We agreed not to talk about the substance of our conversations.”

Baker also refused to divulge the nature of the talks, but said through spokesmen that he met with Perot at the Texas billionaire’s request.

Perot has made a series of statements hinting that he wants to re-enter the campaign, and repeated in a television interview that he would leave the decision up to his grass-roots supporters.

“It’s all in the hands of the volunteers,” he said. “They’re evaluating it now. We’ll know in a few days.”

Perot said that when he withdrew in July, he hoped that the Republican and Democratic campaigns would address the issues on which he campaigned, including ways to reduce the federal deficit.

“In retrospect, I think I made a mistake, because they really didn’t face the issues,” he said.

Democratic Chairman Brown said he tried to convince Perot that Clinton’s economic plan deserves his support, but there was no immediate sign that he succeeded.

Bush and Clinton have been engaged in elaborate shadow-boxing over the debates, and Perot’s entry into the race could confuse the issue further.

Bush has insisted that the debates should include a panel of reporters, while Clinton has agreed to an independent commission’s proposal that only a moderator should come between the candidates. Because of the dispute, the first debate, scheduled for Tuesday evening, was canceled.

Perot, who will be on the ballot in all 50 states, does not believe he could win the presidency, former spokesman Jim Squires said, but he does believe he could affect the outcome in Texas and Florida--both states Bush is counting on.

“This is an invitation to Bill Clinton to put a serious economic proposal on the table,” Squires said.

Campaigning in Memphis, Tenn., Bush shrugged his shoulders when asked about the Baker-Perot meeting and said: “Don’t know much about it.” And White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that Baker had made clear to him that the discussion had been “private and it’s going to remain private.”

Times staff writer Doug Jehl contributed to this story.