Perot Over Top in California Ballot Drive : Politics: He tells cheering supporters at two rallies that they collected 10 times the number of signatures needed.

Prospective presidential candidate Ross Perot told cheering supporters at rallies in Sacramento and Irvine on Thursday that a signature-gathering drive to place his name on the California ballot this fall has been a striking success, with volunteers collecting 10 times the number of signatures needed.

Perot said in Irvine that an army of grass-roots volunteers in California brought in 1.4 million signatures in the last five weeks and, in the process, “changed politics in this country . . . permanently.” Organizers said about 30,000 people participated in the signature drive across the state.

Under a bright blue sky at the Lion Country Center in Irvine, Perot urged an estimated 5,000 fervent supporters and curious onlookers to “take out the trash and clean out the barn” in Washington.

Although Perot and his senior advisers have promised an unconventional campaign, Thursday’s rallies had all the trappings of off-the-shelf political rallies--a brass pep band, singers, colorful hats, banners, Perot T-shirts and thousands of cheering supporters brought in by the busload from neighboring counties.

Perot himself dished up a heaping bowl of political oratory, and the crowds loved it.

At both rallies, Perot derided President Bush for doing nothing about the national debt other than hold a press conference. He made a sneering reference to the late-night television show appearance by Bill Clinton, during which the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee played the saxophone.

In Sacramento, he noted mockingly that Vice President Dan Quayle “is figuring out how to spell ‘potato.’ ” (Quayle earlier this week wrongly advised a student to add an “e” to the end of the word during a spelling bee.)

The Perot crowds in both cities were overwhelmingly white, with only a scattering of Asian, Latino and African-American faces.

In Irvine, Perot promised not to engage in racial politicking, saying that racial diversity in America “is a strength.”

Yet, he said, “every time we have an election we turn it into a weakness. We split the melting pot into all kinds of special pieces, pandering to everybody’s fears and special interests.”

Orange County marketing consultant Jack Brodbeck, Perot’s California media coordinator, said the campaign is trying to enlist more minority support. “We know this is an important outreach we have to work on,” he said. “The more we interact with minority communities, the more they like the idea of empowerment” that Perot offers, he said.

After speaking in Irvine, Perot met privately at a nearby hotel with about half a dozen gay and lesbian rights activists. The meeting, which was initiated by Perot supporters and not publicly announced, was apparently called to address a controversy in the gay community that Perot stirred up when he said he would not appoint a homosexual to his Cabinet.

Perot stressed to those at the meeting--including Niles Merton, publisher of the nation’s largest gay and lesbian publication, the Advocate--that he has always prohibited discrimination based on sexual preference in his own company and that he did not intend for his comment to be interpreted as being anti-homosexual.

Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney who also attended the meeting, said Perot’s comments were helpful, but she hoped that he would clarify his position on gay rights in a public statement.

“I think he was very clear in stating that he would not permit or condone or allow discrimination against any of his employees,” she said. “If that is his policy, it needs to be clarified.”

At the same time, however, Allred said she was impressed that Perot took time to meet with the group and that he was a good listener. She also said he was receptive to her suggestion that he name a woman as a running mate and that, although she supported Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in the past, she now has an “open mind.”

“This said something to me about the man--he is trying to show that he is interested in listening to people,” she said. “I’m interested in learning more about Perot.”

At the Sacramento event, three protesters from UC Davis tried to yell above the crowd: “What about the issues?” But Perot could not hear them and his supporters shouted them down.

Most people at both rallies seemed untroubled by Perot’s lack of definition on many major policy questions. He offered some glimpses into his goals, saying, as he has in the past, that his first task upon winning the presidency would be to rebuild the nation’s job base and “re-industrialize” America. He mentioned the need to repair the nation’s infrastructure and make American products the envy of the world.

The bulk of his addresses, however, were pep talks to the troops who have been gathering petition signatures to qualify his unannounced presidential candidacy for the state ballot. California law requires that the petitions contain the signatures of 134,781 registered voters. Perot supporters began turning in their petitions to local election officials this week.

In his speeches, Perot quoted his favorite line from Winston Churchill: “Never give in. Never give in. Never. Never. Never.”

He told his fans that they were embarked on a “long, hot march,” like the journey of the pioneers across the Plains. “It’s no time for the fainthearted,” he said.

Perot also sought to answer critics who have accused him of trying to buy the White House with his billions.

“That’s right,” he said to supporters in Sacramento. “I made that deal with you because you can’t afford it.”

Perot was surrounded by police and private bodyguards as he left both rallies. His schedule said he was to have lunch with a small number of his California organizers, but Perot aides would not say where the meeting would be held.

State Democratic Chairman Phil Angelides, working the press area in Sacramento before the speech, outlined his party’s strategy for combatting the Perot phenomenon, which threatened to overshadow the Clinton campaign in recent weeks.

Angelides acknowledged that Clinton and the party “have a long way to go” to regain credibility and the trust of the American people. But he said Perot is vulnerable on a number of issues, including the environment, national health care, personal liberty for minorities and gays, and economic fairness.

He said the Democrats would not adopt the Republican tactic of trying to “dismember the guy personally.” The Democrats, he said, would try to make the case that only they can right the nation’s economic ills and do it in a way that benefits all Americans, not just the wealthy.