Campaign ’88 : Kennedy’s Labor Pitch

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), in Los Angeles to speak at a dinner honoring former Democratic Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas, stopped by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on Friday to talk about a host of legislative issues and to trumpet the virtues of presidential candidate Dukakis, governor of Kennedy’s home state of Massachusetts.

Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, was warmly greeted by 60 Southern California labor leaders, according to William R. Robertson, executive secretary of the labor federation and host of the closed-door gathering.

“He (Kennedy) said Dukakis was one of the main forces in improving the economy and getting new business in Massachusetts,” Robertson said. “He pointed out that Dukakis had excellent relationships with the labor in the state.”

Kennedy predicted that Dukakis would be the Democratic nominee and that there would not be a “brokered” convention, although consideration would have to be given to the concerns of the other two principal contenders in the race--Jackson and Gore, Robertson reported.

The labor leader said Kennedy did not ask any of the labor leaders to endorse Dukakis, mindful of the AFL-CIO guidelines that ask individual unions not to endorse a presidential candidate until the federation makes an endorsement.