Clinton Aides Shaping Conference : Economy: More than 100 experts and average Americans will discuss President-elect’s platform. It’s unclear whether Perot will be invited.

President-elect Bill Clinton will invite more than 100 experts and average American “stakeholders” to an economic brainstorming session Dec. 14 and 15 in Little Rock to “put meat on the bones” of his economic plans, aides said Tuesday.

And in a sign he may be making progress in winnowing the list of candidates for Cabinet posts, Clinton met with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen of Texas and Sen. Timothy E. Wirth of Colorado. Bentsen is considered a strong candidate for Treasury secretary and Wirth for energy or Interior secretary.

Offering new details of the much-discussed conference, aides said it would be loosely structured and intended to draw comment on all the particulars of Clinton’s economic platform, from investment tax credits to job-creation to worker retraining programs. Aides emphasized that the gathering would not alter the broad outline of Clinton’s program, but could shape some details of the plans he submits to Congress next year.

“This is assessment, it’s input,” said Mickey Kantor, the former Clinton campaign chairman who is organizing the conference. “It’s part of a continuing process of learning and analyzing what’s going in the economy.”

Aides plan to present Clinton a master list of thousands of possible participants by the Thanksgiving holiday, and believe he may make his selections over the weekend.

While aides declined publicly to identify any expected participant, one aide said the Rev. Jesse Jackson is likely to get his publicly stated wish to take part. Still unclear was whether an invitation would go to Ross Perot, whom Clinton once identified as someone he would like to have working with his Administration.

Discussion of the economic conference, held during the regular press briefing in Little Rock, brought further attempts to lower expectations about the event.

Those expectations initially soared when one transition aide referred to the gathering as a “summit.” Since then, aides have insisted on calling it a “retreat,” “conference” or “audit.”

Kantor compared the meetings to opinion-gathering sessions Clinton used during his 12 years as governor to float major proposals.

He said the conference would begin with four or five roundtable sessions in which participants would talk, without prepared papers, with each other and with Clinton and Vice President-elect Al Gore. The general meetings are to be held at the Arkansas Statehouse, and smaller ones at Little Rock hotels, Kantor said.

He said the sponsors would invite live TV pool coverage of the event. He said he expected participants to include economists, representatives of large and small business, and “real” people. Kantor was not specific about who those “real” people might be, but he said the conference would draw “a wide diversity of folks,” including “stakeholders,” those who “struggle” with the economy every day.

Even Republicans would participate, he predicted.

Kantor cited as a possible discussion topic Clinton’s proposal for an investment tax credit. This proposal should be talked about “by people who have to deal with that kind of situation every day in business, whether it’s small business or big business, small banks, big banks, consumers,” Kantor said.

Aides were asked about the need for such a conference, considering that Clinton has discussed his proposals--and gathered public comment--over a yearlong campaign. Asked if these economic plans hadn’t been “discussed to death,” Kantor replied: “We’re going to discuss them to life.”

Clinton’s aides attempted to dampen speculation about the meaning of the unannounced trips to Little Rock on Tuesday by Bentsen and Wirth and plans for Clinton to meet today with former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt.

Bentsen, the 71-year-old chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and one of the most powerful congressional leaders on economic affairs, has been widely rumored to be in line for the job at the Treasury--expected to be the most significant Cabinet post in the Clinton Administration.

Wirth, who heads a Senate subcommittee on energy regulation and conservation, has been mentioned frequently as secretary of energy or Interior, while Babbitt has been considered a candidate for chief of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers said Wirth, who did not seek reelection this year, met with Clinton “to discuss a broad range of issues relating to the transition and the new Administration.”

As for Bentsen, transition communications director George Stephanopoulos, said: “I think he’s just going to have a general discussion about a number of issues with the governor today.”

Bentsen is highly regarded by the business community and was a leader in the congressional fight to expand individual retirement accounts. He also was a major opponent of the Bush Administration’s attempts to lower capital gains taxes without a corresponding increase on taxes for the wealthy.

Last week, Bentsen met in Washington with Clinton transition director Warren Christopher. Bentsen has said in recent days that he is “happy where I am,” and many who know him well say that he prizes the independence he has as a Senate leader--something he would sacrifice if he became a Cabinet member.

Others close to Bentsen say privately that he has left the door open to be considered for Treasury.

Myers said Tuesday’s meeting did not “rule (Bentsen) in or out.”

The transition aides were asked whether new signs of life in the economy--including a rise in durable goods orders--might make it unnecessary for the new President to propose a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus program.

“I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet,” said Stephanopoulos. He said he saw hopeful signs in a rise in the consumer confidence index and news of improving durable goods orders. But he noted that housing starts are down and unemployment claims “are still up.”

“Even the most hopeful signs we see right now are still mixed .. . . We still need a significant economic package next year.”

Stephanopoulos said Clinton would not use his Thanksgiving weekend trip to Southern California to tour riot-damaged South Central neighborhoods.

He said Clinton had been to South Central “several times” during the campaign. “I don’t think that he’ll necessarily go back on this trip, but you can count on him being back there as President,” he said.

Times staff writers James Risen, in Washington, and Ronald Brownstein, in Little Rock, contributed to this story.