Cutting The Grass

By SOPHFRONIA SCOTT GREGORY

ROSS PEROT PITCHES HIMSELF AS A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, WITH the people helping him, in true grass-roots fashion, to get on the ballot. But as Perot gathers strength, the little people are finding themselves pushed out by local bigwigs. In Virginia a Perot backer says he was ousted, partly over his desire to include more blacks in the campaign. One Oklahoma activist, wary of losing control to local heavies, says he's keeping 35,000 petition signatures in a bank vault until he delivers them to state election officials. The Perot campaign insists that it is not trampling the grass. "Democracy, after all, is an unruly process," says Perot spokesman James Squires. Big changes are afoot within Perot's inner circle too. Hamilton Jordan, campaign manager and chief of staff for Jimmy Carter, has decided to join the campaign, as has former Reagan adviser Ed Rollins. They're just the kind of political pros Perot has been seeking.