Perot Will Hit Trail, Attend 2 East Coast Rallies : Campaign: The public appearances will be his first since re-entering the race. A top aide accuses the GOP of playing politics with the MIA issue.

Independent candidate Ross Perot announced Friday that he will appear at two East Coast campaign events this weekend, his first public rallies since re-entering the presidential race.

Meanwhile, the director of his campaign organization accused the Republicans of playing politics with the issue of the soldiers missing in action in Southeast Asia.

Perot, who has largely confined his campaign to the airwaves, will kick off a string of late-October appearances with a Sunday afternoon stop at the Flemington, N.J., fairgrounds. His next stop will be the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., later that day.

The schedule of other appearances has not been disclosed by Perot, who has been in seclusion in Dallas preparing a series of 30-minute TV infomercials and 60-second advertisements.

The Perot campaign this week filed papers with the Federal Election Commission showing Perot spent $26.4 million on his campaign in the first two weeks of the month, nearly all of it for TV time. The spending brought his total to $46.7 million. Perot has said he will spend $60 million on the effort.

There has been wide speculation that Perot would attend rallies in such highly competitive states as Texas, Florida or Ohio, so the choice of sites was somewhat unexpected. But Sharon Holman, Perot’s press secretary, said the reason was simple: “They already had planned rallies, and it fit in well with his schedule,” she said.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton appears to be leading President Bush by a margin of at least 10 percentage points in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bush aides have expressed hope that a strong Perot showing would help their man, but some independent analysts say it could do just the opposite.

Perot will appear at both rallies with James Stockdale Jr., the son of Perot running mate James B. Stockdale. The retired admiral plans a series of meetings with newspaper editorial boards next week, aides said.

Perot will run another hourlong commercial on ABC, appearing after “Monday Night Football” on the West Coast. Perot aides did not disclose the contents of the ad.

Orson Swindle, director of Perot’s “United We Stand” organization, Friday questioned the timing of the Bush Administration’s announcement that Vietnam had agreed to share its records on the fate of U.S. soldiers who disappeared during the Vietnam War.

“I find the timing almost suspicious,” Swindle told reporters at the daily briefing at Perot headquarters.

“The timing always creates suspicions when things just pop up,” he said. “You’ve been laboring away for months and years and all of a sudden right before election something pops up.”

Swindle added: “That does not negate the good news out of it. . . . This is welcome news.”

Tony Mitchell, a Bush-Quayle campaign spokesman, said the charge was “totally irresponsible.”

“One week people say the President’s not doing enough--and the next they suggest it’s all politics,” Mitchell said. “The President has been working on the issue of Vietnam long before this election began.”

In a 30-minute commercial broadcast Friday night on NBC, Perot responded to the Democratic and Republican arguments that a vote for him is a wasted vote.

“You are throwing your vote away unless you vote your conscience,” Perot says. “Don’t waste your vote on traditional politicians who promise you everything to get elected but never deliver.”

The statement comes in an infomercial that depicts Perot through the sentimental eyes of his wife, Margot; his son, Ross Jr.; and daughters, Katherine, Caroline, Suzanne and Nancy.

The children describe their father as a man who, even as he accumulated billions and won award after award, didn’t often mention such accomplishments for fear of overshadowing his family’s achievements.

Says Ross Jr: “He was so concerned that his honor would somehow hurt us, because we would feel like we would have to match him, that he hid that stuff.” Perot’s son said he would “have to go into a closet” to see his father’s trophies.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him step on a bug,” says Suzanne. “I remember once asking him, ‘Dad, why don’t you hunt and why don’t you fish?’ And he said: ‘You know, I don’t like to kill things.’ ”

The Perot children also describe their views on his candidacy.

“I feel very lucky because this will be the first time I’ve voted in a presidential election and I get to place my first vote for my father, which is very unique and fabulous,” says Katherine, who is a college student.

Perot’s commercials have been drawing high ratings. Thursday’s infomercial, which centered on various moments in Perot’s life, was ABC’s second-highest rated program of the evening, according to figures released Friday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

The infomercial, broadcast between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and competing for viewers against the World Series in most of the nation, drew a 9.5 rating, meaning about 8.8 million people watched. That topped the NBC situation comedy “Rhythm & Blues” broadcast opposite it.

It was the second-highest rated of Perot’s five broadcasts before Friday, trailing only a 12.2 for the first one broadcast Oct. 6.

Times staff writer Steven Herbert contributed to this story.

Today on the Trail . . .

Gov. Bill Clinton campaigns in Green Bay, Wis.; Des Moines, Iowa; Akron, Ohio; and Green Bay, Mich.

President Bush campaigns in Montgomery, Ala., Houston, and Lafayette, La.

Ross Perot has no public events scheduled.

TELEVISION

Sen. Al Gore is a guest on CNN’s “Both Sides With Jesse Jackson,” at 6 p.m PDT.

Bush is a guest on CNN’s “Newsmaker Saturday” at 10:30 a.m. PDT.

Perot airs a new 30-minute commercial on CBS at 5 p.m. PDT.

C-SPAN may air repeats of the presidential debates. For updated program schedules, call 202-628-2205.