THE CLINTON INAUGURATION : He Fits the Bill : Look-Alike: Salesman Pat Rick of Laguna Beach quickly realized that he could cash in on his similarity to Clinton.

Salesman Pat Rick first noticed the stares last February while walking through airports .

“People would frequently stop and ask me if I was Bill Clinton. Or people would say, ‘Gee, you look like Bill Clinton,’ ” said Rick, whose job as a medical equipment salesman requires him to spend a lot of time traveling.

He realized his facial features were “extremely close” to Clinton’s. His salt and pepper, combed-backed hairstyle “is practically identical,” they share the same skin coloring and blue eyes, and they’re close in age--he’s 44, Clinton’s 46.

“I could see it,” he said, “and I quickly decided to capitalize on it.”

The Laguna man’s first step “was to interview with some celebrity look-alike agencies here in Southern California. I was advised to have some professional photographs taken. I did that. I began to distribute those photos to various talent agencies locally.”

It paid off.

On Inauguration Day today, Rick will achieve something of a peak in what has turned out to be a fledgling career as a Bill Clinton look-alike: He’ll appear as the “surprise guest”--and master of ceremonies--at an inaugural ball at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. *

Like Clinton’s march to the White House, Rick said his side career has been marked by “slow, steady progress.”

He has appeared at private parties and corporate functions for companies such as the International House of Pancakes in Los Angeles; some gigs require him to speak, others to merely “show up and wave and shake hands.”

During the campaign, he also teamed up with well-known George Bush look-alike Archie Kessell of Huntington Beach. They engaged in a mock debate for a liquor company function and appeared on TV’s “Hard Copy” in a spoof titled “Bushman Returns.”

Rick even marched in the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena with Orange County Liz Taylor look-alike Carol Reed and other celebrity impersonators. During the election, he did “a modest amount” of stand-up comedy, performing as Clinton at the Cannery Restaurant in Newport Beach.

Rick won’t say whether he bears a political similarity to the Arkansas Democrat (“I plead the Fifth.”) And he declines to say how much he has made off his resemblance to Clinton, although he concedes: “I’m getting paid good money.” (A good presidential look-alike reportedly can earn $30,000 to $50,000 a year in appearances.)

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The mild-mannered salesman acknowledges that he’s not a perfect double for the President-elect. His nose isn’t as bulbous, and Clinton is a little taller and heavier.

But, as Rick sees it, “it’s how you pull it off. And it’s a situation thing. Most people have never been up close and in person with Bill Clinton. So quite often the differences in size and weight are completely ignored.”

Besides, it’s often the little things that help put the likeness across.

In studying Clinton’s mannerisms, Rick has noticed that the left-handed politician gestures with both hands but favors his left. Clinton also has what Rick calls “the famous left-handed credit card thrust”: He holds his left hand as if he were handing over a credit card to someone, sort of a thumb-over-fist gesture.

Rick has also mastered Clinton’s “slight smirk, like he knows something we don’t know.”

But the East Texas native fancies himself more than just a mere Clinton look-alike; he’s also a sound-alike.

“I’ve got the Bill Clinton (voice) if I have to,” he said with a slight rasp to his voice and putting “a little cowboy twang in it: It’s kind of like an educated Southern sheriff.”

Like Clinton, Rick has high hopes for the next four years, although he has no plans to give up his sales job.

He’s looking forward to making more personal appearances and “advertising and sponsorship opportunities.” Television and the film industry frequently uses look-alikes, he said, and discussions are under way for humorous speaking engagements on the university circuit.

As a look-alike, Rick has found it’s important to keep his budding notoriety in perspective.

“You’re not that person, and you can’t really pretend to be,” he said. “Some look-alikes are too caught up and even attempt to live a similar lifestyle to the person they happen to look like.”

Like the new President himself, Rick’s Bill Clinton is a work in progress and, following the inauguration, he’ll be taking notes.

“Clinton hasn’t really revealed himself to us yet,” Rick said. “Ten minutes after he’s in office--when the press is unleashed on him--the real Bill Clinton will emerge, and he’ll offer me and others much more material.”