Film producer Joseph Wouk, novelist Herman Wouk's son, is a key player in Perot's California campaign
Joseph Wouk didn't need a recent Los Angeles Times poll to tell him that Ross Perot stands as good a chance as George Bush or Bill Clinton of winning the next presidential election. It is enough, he says, to spend a day at a curbside table in front of the Perot petition headquarters in the upscale San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks. Wouk says he'd still be living in Israel if his failed scuba and deep-sea diving operation in Eilat back in 1982 had enjoyed a fraction of Perot's walk-in traffic. "Four out of every five people who walk by," he says, "sign the petition to get Perot on the ballot. And we're registering voters in droves who had never participated in the system before. It's astounding." Wouk, 38, is the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish novelist Herman Wouk, author of "The Caine Mutiny," "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." Appointed San Fernando Valley coordinator for the Perot petition effort in part because of his friendship with Perot's "interim" running mate, retired admiral James Stockdale, he has taken on the added task of liaison with the Los Angeles County Jewish community. Wouk joined the Israel Navy after graduating from Columbia Law School; his adventures are recounted in a forthcoming memoir, "Ground Zero: Hollywood the Holy Land." "I have a writer's feeling for people," asserts Wouk, who makes a living as an independent TV and film producer, "and I have a good feeling for Ross Perot.
But even if I wasn't completely sure about him, I'd still work on his behalf to prevent Bush from being reelected. Bush has been a complete disaster both for this country and for Israel, and another four years of him may break the backs of both. We need a visionary powerful enough to change our entire orientation." Wouk does not regard winning Jewish support for Perot as particularly challenging. Although hardly forthcoming about his views on Israel, Perot has made the requisite noises about standing by one's allies. Recently he's also made scathingly critical comments on America's one-time support for Saddam Hussein and on the Bush administration's overtures to Syria's Hafiz al-Asad. Wouk shrugs off Perot's recently disclosed membership in a restricted country club; he accepts Perot's explanation that it was the only such establishment in Dallas with a security system capable of handling a stream of threats against him and his family. Wouk was satisfied when Perot resigned, leaving a mezuzah a Jewish associate had given him as a gift to grace the locker room. "Perot thinks that was a great joke," says Wouk. "He said no one there would ever figure out what it was." "Every day, all I do is get calls from Jews about Ross Perot," says one local Jewish community activist. "My suspicion is that Jews are as ready for a change in this country as everyone else, and no one can pin anything bad on the guy." This, says Wouk, who is getting ready to blitz the Jewish community with a major outreach effort, is entirely to his liking. Wouk says the city's politically involved Jews may find it refreshing to encounter a candidate who is not interested in soliciting donations, since he'll be paying for his campaign out of his own pocket. As for those who say Perot eschews special interests but comprises one himself because of potential conflict of interests created by his own substantial business dealings with government, Wouk responds: "Ross Perot doesn't need to become president to make more money. If anything, he wants to put some back." Says Wouk: "I expect big things of Perot -- big changes. What I'm seeing here on the street makes me predict Perot will win by an avalanche."