PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Greeted by a boisterous crowd of Reform Party leaders under the elegant roof of his $100,000-per-member club, tycoon Donald Trump said he would become a "very serious candidate" for the presidency if they would have him on their third-party ticket.

Roughly two-thirds of the 170 party members gathered in the Gold and White Ballroom of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club raised their hands when he asked who among them would support his White House bid.

"We've come really from being a very successful businessman to being a very serious candidate," Trump told the crowd.

He told reporters earlier that he would make an announcement in mid-February, and that the event would likely take place in New York City's Trump Tower.

On-stage in the pillared ballroom, Trump reached out to supporters of party founder Ross Perot, who were left out of his event last week with the leader of an opposing faction, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

"I'm very proud to be in the party of Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura," Trump said.

The crowd, pumped up by wine and hors d'oeuvres, applauded and cheered.

Perot's right-hand man, former national chairman Russell Verney, said he welcomed Trump into the race.

"This is him reaching out to all parts of the Reform Party, and that's good," Verney said. He acknowledged it's in the party's interest to encourage a race between two marquee names -- Trump's and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan's -- because it would build the Reform Party's base and keep it in the headlines.

Even a rich candidate, he said, "can reach out to the disaffected voter unaffiliated with any party and inspire them to get back involved in politics."

But some in the crowd greeted Trump with skeptical questions rather than open arms, probing whether his interest in the race is an interest in the Reform Party, or in his own future.

One woman pressed him on whether he would attend the Florida Reform Party's convention next weekend in Tampa. Trump said he's "looking at that very seriously."

Another asked whether, if the party's presidential nomination went to someone else, he would still contribute money to the Reform Party to help build it. He hedged, saying he could not support it if it nominates Buchanan, for example.

"If I agreed with an opponent and the views of an opponent who got the nomination, I would absolutely support" the party, he said.

"I am focused on making a good decision regarding whether or not I should seek the Reform Party presidential nomination," Trump said in a statement Thursday, a day before he ferried some of the party's leaders to Florida aboard his plush 727.

"I am anxious to talk with Reform Party leaders about whether it is possible to achieve unity within the party and whether it is possible for a Reform Party presidential candidate to win in 2000," Trump added.

For their part, Reform Party members who traveled from as far away as Wisconsin said they were eager to meet with the wealthy developer.

"At first I couldn't imagine him being our president," said Miriam Lancaster, 84, of Orlando. "But if he can run our country the way he's run his business, we'll be out of debt in no time."

"Anyway," she added, "it's Friday night! I'd rather be here."

The party, moved from poolside indoors due to wind, was held at the 72-year-old Mar-a-Lago, named for its "sea-to-lake" spot on 18 acres between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth.

Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built the estate in 1927, willed it to the federal government to use as a winter White House, but its $3 million-a-year maintenance fees were too much for the government. Trump bought it in 1985 for $8 million of its $25 million asking price, and a decade later he turned it into a members-only club, according to the club's Web site.