DOLE'S OVERTURE REBUFFED : PEROT REJECTS PLEA TO BACK GOP RIVAL.

Byline: Richard L. Berke The New York Times

Ross Perot on Thursday dismissed Bob Dole's move to persuade him to withdraw from the presidential race as ``weird and totally inconsequential,'' fanning an already heated debate about why Dole dispatched his campaign manager to try to win the Texan's endorsement.

After a long-scheduled speech at the National Press Club here, Perot insisted in a question-and-answer session that he was not about to turn on the Reform Party that he established. ``Am I in this for the long haul? Yes,'' he said. ``Do I intend to campaign to the bitter end? Yes.''

The failed mission by Scott Reed, Dole's campaign manager, gave the candidate's political foes, as well as some in his own party, further ammunition to portray his White House quest as verging on hopeless.

Even some of his senior aides said they were stunned that Dole had sent an emissary to meet Perot, given that the two have often collided over issues like trade and tax cuts - and that just weeks ago Dole worked to exclude Perot from the presidential debates.

``It's like we gave him an extra debate near the tail end of the campaign,'' said one senior Dole adviser, grousing that Reed's move had only generated more attention for Perot. The adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, added: ``I don't understand it. We gave Perot a forum for his anti-Clinton platform. It may be worth a few points for him.''

Perot, savoring the newfound interest in his flagging campaign, could not stop smiling during his appearance here Thursday, even as he coyly refused to discuss details of ``private conversations'' with Reed. ``I would just like to leave all of this in the hands of the Dole camp,'' he said, ``and they've said enough already, I think, to pretty well cover all the answers.''

Perot also sought to make the most of the platform to deliver the sort of scathing critique of Clinton that might have come from the Republican nominee, predicting ``a second Watergate'' if Clinton is re-elected.

Dole's overture to Perot left Haley Barbour, Republican national chairman, who has had a strained relationship with Perot, struggling for a public explanation of Dole's motivations. Barbour also had to acknowledge that the campaign had not alerted him about it beforehand.

``I don't know any of the ins and outs of the meeting,'' Barbour said at a news conference, at which he had hoped to talk about the Democrats' troubles.

But Barbour had this to say about Perot's presence in the race: ``There's no question: A vote for Perot is a vote for Clinton.''

Some Dole advisers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Dole, Reed and a few others had for several days been mulling over ways to shake up the race but that Dole himself was the prime mover behind Reed's trip. They said that Dole apparently believed that Perot might be looking for a graceful way out of what could be a humiliating third-place finish.

One senior adviser, referring to Perot's short-lived decision to abandon his presidential campaign in 1992, put it this way: ``The idea was that Perot's running so poorly and at least in his history he's dropped out of a race, so it might be a good idea to establish some communication.''

Some Dole advisers said the thinking was that Reed's trip Wednesday would be well-timed because three days earlier, Dole had announced a plan to overhaul the campaign finance system, a signature issue of Perot.

In addition, the Dole aides figured they could take advantage of Perot's distress over the latest fund-raising controversies that have enveloped Clinton and the Democratic Party.

As the Dole campaign tried to play down what some aides said was an embarrassing episode, Dole, who was on a campaign sweep of the South, and several of his advisers refused to publicly discuss the meeting with Perot. Dole was said by aides to be furious that word of the Perot meeting leaked out, and on the road Thursday he was particularly hard-edged, denouncing the ``liberal media'' for protecting what he described as a disgraced White House.

But there was ample reaction from aides to Clinton, who, as they also stumped across the South, continued to express scornful puzzlement at the Dole campaign.

``Mystification,'' said White House spokesman Mike McCurry when asked his reaction to Reed's mission. ``Because there's no apparent reason to believe that that would be a useful initiative.''

Some Republicans speculated that Perot had lured Reed to Texas with a suggestion that he was open to backing Dole. But Dole advisers said they do not believe Reed had any assurances.

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PHOTO Reform Party candidate Ross Perot on Thursday dismiss ed a request by Bob Dole's campaign to throw his support behind his Republican rival Thursday.

Associated Press