Dukakis’ Strategy Must Overcome Party’s Handicaps : Wins Nomination on California Vote

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, hailed as “the kind of man who plays it straight, keeps his word and pays his bills,” Wednesday night won the presidential nomination of a Democratic Party stirred and unified by a single heady vision--the prospect of victory.

Dukakis officially defeated his last and toughest challenger, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, on the first ballot when California--in a maneuver engineered by Dukakis’ aides in recognition of the state’s past support and its future importance--cast 235 votes for the 54-year-old son of Greek immigrant parents and propelled him past the 2,081-vote mark needed to win.

The more than 4,000 delegates, whose determination to present a united face to the nation had led them to shun the controversy and combat so characteristic of past Democratic conventions, erupted for the first time this week into a screaming, cheering, dancing-in-the-aisles mob.

Tight Race Seen

And the floor of the Omni, Atlanta’s jewel box-sized convention hall, disappeared beneath a forest of blue-and-white “Duke” banners.

Democratic strategists concede that Dukakis and his running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, who will be nominated today, face an extremely tight race against Vice President George Bush, who is to be nominated in New Orleans next month.

But for delegates here--buoyed by favorable polls, the absence of regional or ideological quarrels and Dukakis’ apparently successful effort to make peace with Jackson on politically acceptable terms--1988 still looks bright with promise for a party that has captured the White House only once in the last 20 years.

And the Democrats’ strategy for pursuing that opportunity was clear in the speech Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton delivered in nominating his friend Dukakis.

Stressing managerial experience and practical competence more than new programs or sweeping vision, Clinton praised Dukakis as a man of “steadfast and consistent” character, a leader with “a passionate sense that performance matters,” and a governor who “hasn’t just played with issues, he’s wrestled them to the ground.”

“He has made the hard decisions: to balance budgets, create jobs, fight crime and drug abuse, move people from welfare to work, expand day care and health care,” Clinton said, in a low-key, almost informal speech that stirred little response from the delegates.

Vow to Support Ticket

Hours before the roll call of states began, Jackson--who had finished a distant second to Dukakis in the dozens of caucuses and primaries that formed the grueling road to Atlanta--told reporters: “Obviously I’m going to support the ticket. But as to when we will make the very formal endorsement--and have a more formal discussion of the campaign relationship--we’ll determine that and let you know.”

His continuing mission, Jackson said, is to pave the way for a black eventually to win the White House. “I may or may not get to the White House, but in our lifetime black people, Spanish people, women, Jews and labor leaders have a chance to go to the White House without historical inhibitions or limitations,” he said.

Jackson was asked whether it was “bittersweet” to see his name submitted in a nomination he knew he could not win.

‘It’s Sweet, Sweet’

“It’s not bittersweet; it’s sweet, sweet,” he declared. “When we consider how close in contrast to how far we’ve come, it’s a sweet, sweet experience.”

The 47-year-old son of a maid and a janitor, Jackson had indeed come much closer to winning the nomination than most of his critics and many of his supporters had thought possible.

A century ago, Frederick Douglass was the first black ever to receive a vote in presidential convention balloting. It was at the 1888 Republican convention.

Dukakis, a man of exceedingly cool demeanor, spent the day leading up to his nomination politicking and preparing for the acceptance speech he will make as the 1988 Democratic convention comes to a close tonight.

He watched the balloting on television in the governor’s hotel suite here. And when victory came, he smiled and drank a toast with his wife, Kitty, and their family.

Looking to November

Looking ahead to November, Dukakis’ aides had carefully arranged for California to have the honor of clinching Dukakis’ nomination:

“California put him over the top in the primaries, so California should put him over the top in the convention, and we hope California will put him over the top in November,” an aide said.

As California voted, members of Dukakis’ home-state delegation--Massachusetts--jumped to their feet and began chanting: “Duke! Duke!”

As he stood on the floor with the California delegation during the voting, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), Jackson’s national co-chairman, was asked whether Jackson’s advisers--including himself--would play any significant role in Dukakis’ campaign. “There are no Jackson people or Dukakis people now,” Brown replied. “It is all Democrats. There is no longer any need to smooth anything over. It’s done.”

After the roll call was completed, Brown took the podium and moved Dukakis be nominated by acclamation.

Dukakis went into the convention with 2,763 delegates and Jackson with 1,161. Although headed for certain defeat, Jackson said he wanted his name placed in nomination “as a testament to the struggles of our fathers and mothers.”

In nominating Jackson, William W. Winpisinger, president of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, declared that he has “raised the moral conscience of the nation” and is “challenging the Democratic Party to reclaim its heritage and rainbow ideals. . . . He’s forced new issues and new ways of looking at old issues into public view and into the public dialogue.”

Jackson dominated pre-convention maneuvering and news coverage of the first two days while Dukakis worked quietly in the background to further party unity and strengthen his ties with Jackson.

Dukakis Lauds Jackson

But with his nomination imminent, Dukakis moved Wednesday to take firm control of the party. After telephoning Jackson and commending him for a “terrific” convention speech Tuesday night, Dukakis invited him to his 24th-floor hotel suite where they again discussed the agreement they worked out Monday for Jackson and his forces to participate in the Dukakis fall campaign and play an expanded role in the Democratic National Committee.

The 45-minute session, which also included top campaign aides of both men and Sen. Bentsen, was termed a “very happy meeting” by Jackson.

Kirk O’Donnell, a senior Dukakis adviser who attended the meeting, said its main purpose was to discuss how people from the Dukakis and Jackson camps will “relate to each other” in the campaign.

As evidence that Jackson will play a major role in the campaign as Dukakis has promised, O’Donnell said the campaign has recognized that “Jesse Jackson has developed a formidable electoral capacity and we have to involve his people. It is more than just Jesse Jackson. His campaign has become institutionalized, with direct-mail lists and national campaign experience.”

Concern Within Campaign

A Jackson campaign official said, however, that there was concern within the campaign about whether the expected influx of Jackson staffers would be channeled to legitimate positions within the Dukakis hierarchy or be given token “make-work jobs.”

In his nominating speech for Dukakis, Clinton said he “has the character, the record and the vision America needs at this moment in our journey.”

“As someone who’s worked with him on hard issues in the National Governors’ Assn., who’s hammered out compromises with him, disagreed with him and fought battles by his side,” said Clinton, “I can tell you one thing: When he needs to be, Michael Dukakis is tough as nails.”

In a bow to Jackson, Clinton said that as President, Dukakis would have “political partners like Jesse Jackson, who in 1977, long before it was popular, went with me into the Arkansas public schools to plead with the students to say ‘no’ to drugs, to ‘open their brains and not their veins.’ ”

“Like Jesse Jackson,” Clinton said, “Michael Dukakis knows it’s not enough to urge our children to ‘just say no’ (to drugs). They must be able to say ‘yes’ to life, too.”

Staff writers Douglas Jehl, Karen Tumulty, Henry Weinstein, Keith Love, and Patt Morrison also contributed to this story.