PEROT WATCH

Ross Perot's new political party has less than a week to gain about 78,000 members if it wants to field candidatesm in its flagship state, California. So far, state officials said today, the Reform Party has registered just 10,217 of the 89,007 voters it needs to win a place on California's 1996 presidential ballot. But Perot's United We Stand America disputes the figure. "We are now over 50,000, and we are surging ahead rapidly," executive director Russ Verney told the Associated Press. "Fifty thousand is a hard and fast figure. We photocopied those before turning them in.." Meanwhile, the state says, the science-oriented Natural Law Party is closest to qualifying, with 69,438 registered voters.