ELECTIONS ’92 : Win or Lose in Primary, Brown Vows He Won’t Just Fade Away : Campaign: The presidential contender plans to attend the Earth Summit before gearing up for July’s Democratic convention.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. —  Win or lose, today’s Democratic primaries won’t finish Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. He plans to influence the political process and the party, he says, whether it takes him a year or “four more years.”

Later this week he’ll head for Rio de Janeiro to attend the Earth Summit, a gathering of more than 100 heads of state to discuss the environment. Then he will return to the political fray to map out his strategy for the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in New York next month.

“People are getting a sense that we can make a difference,” Brown said in an interview assessing the benefits and disappointments of his presidential run. “We are going to keep on going. We are not going to be silenced. We will not go away.”

Because of his “We the People” campaign, he said, thousands of Americans who otherwise would have ignored the election have involved themselves in the political process. That is necessary if the Democrats are to avoid self-destruction, he said during his two-day whistle-stop tour of California Sunday and Monday.

“The Democratic Party is on a suicide mission unless it goes back to New York and really rethinks the track it’s on and finds the best possible candidate,” Brown said Monday as he wound up his bus tour with an environmental rally in Marin County and a lively gathering at the Santa Rosa courthouse that attracted about 1,000 people.

He urged the party to dump rival Bill Clinton, who is only 86 delegates away from a first-ballot victory, and nominate Brown instead.

But, mindful that his triumph is unlikely, he vowed to visit “suffering and pain” on the Democratic Establishment at the convention.

The Democrats’ only hope in November, he said later, is to pull in millions of voters who have been turned off by the political process and to show that the party is more responsive to the needs of regular citizens than to a privileged elite.

“That’s going to require a platform and a candidacy that will touch people’s hearts and convince them that voting for a Democrat will make a change in their lives.”

Earlier, in the interview, Brown said his plans for the convention included assaulting what he called “entrenched dead thinking and dead ideas” at the top of his party. Since his failure to win the New York primary in April virtually guaranteed that he would not win the nomination, Brown’s stump speeches have tilted more toward asking voters to give him enough clout to be heard seriously at the convention, not necessarily to win the nomination.

His priorities include stopping the “fast track” free-trade agreement with Mexico, aiding cities, and reforming the political fund-raising process.

“We may not have all the delegates, but we can have enough to go back to the New York convention and speak for you,” he said at a rally at Venice Beach Sunday.

And, as he did Monday, he warned the party that Clinton is doomed. “I believe that if Clinton is the nominee and is running third (behind President Bush and presumed independent candidate Ross Perot) and dragging the Democratic Party down, then they ought to look at opening up that convention,” Brown told a town hall-like meeting in San Francisco last week.

Brown would not say exactly what he is planning to do in New York. “I’m keeping my powder dry and options open on that issue,” he said in the interview. He also refused to say if he would endorse Clinton.

Given that Democratic Party officials have been wary of Brown all campaign season, it’s doubtful that he will have much of a role at the convention--delegates or no. Currently, he has 388 to Clinton’s 2,059. A total of 2,144 is needed for nomination.

Nevertheless, Brown has hinted that he will mount a fight on the floor or lead a counter-convention demonstration outside the hall if key tenets of his campaign are left out of the platform.

At the top of his list is stopping the fast-track North American trade agreement, which Brown says would make it easier for U.S. firms to export high-paying jobs in this country to low-wage workers south of the border. The fast-track provision prevents Congress from making changes to any agreement.

“I want to hear Clinton speak out against the free-trade agreement with Mexico,” he told reporters after a San Jose campaign stop. “I want to get the Democrats to block that treaty because I believe it’s going to be steamrolled right on through after the election.”

Another issue Brown delegates are sure to push is a $35-billion aid program for urban areas. That proposal, backed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has received lukewarm support from Clinton but is a tub-thumping staple of Brown’s campaign.

Brown often cites Ronald Reagan’s push during his 1980 White House campaign for increased military spending as proof that the country can afford to help the cities. “He found a trillion dollars to protect the nation against a crumbling Soviet empire,” Brown says. “And, if you want to build up the cities, the schools, have child care, protect the environment, it’s at that level of spending that you have to address the issue.”

Campaign finance reform is likely to be another key issue at the convention. Brown’s most enduring legacy could be his use of an 800-number to solicit contributions of no more than $100 each.

Drawing on his experience as California Democratic Party chairman, Brown said he no longer has patience for Democratic and Republican candidates alike who “beg, schmooze, cajole, tap dance for the few, by the few, of the few.” The endless cycle of fund-raisers that makes up political life has corrupted public service, he said. “We are going to fight until we turn that around.”

Though his populist and anti-Washington message of change has been upstaged by Perot, Brown believes time and circumstance favor his romantic fight “to redeem the soul of the Democratic Party . . . from the entrenched political Establishment” that he says is represented by Clinton.

Perot, he says, is a serious presidential contender. But Brown questions whether the billionaire businessman has the fortitude to grapple with contemporary political life, especially the media scrutiny. Further, Brown warns against mixing political power with personal wealth.

“I don’t believe financial and political power should be joined together,” he said. “They should be separate. That’s the whole idea of America.”

Brown reiterated that Monday: “I don’t think America can be saved by a billionaire.”

Also Monday, Brown called Bush a “disaster” for the environment but warned that Clinton would not be much better.

As sea gulls swooped over the misty Bird Rock area in Marin County, Brown blasted what he sees as the soft rhetoric of his rivals. “In a way, Bush on the environment is like Clinton on the cities. They both give you soothing rhetoric, but there is no real recognition of what is needed.”

The President will also be at the Earth Summit, where treaties on global warming and wildlife conservation will be available for signing. But Bush has already refused to sign one treaty and has forced the other to be weakened to gain his signature.

Brown, who has long urged investment in clean renewable energy sources, described the President’s reliance on oil, coal and other traditional fuels as “completely off the mark.”

After the Democrats leave New York, Brown’s new mission begins. He intends to forge a political organization from hundreds of thousands of “ordinary people” who called his 800-number to donate money or services. Whether he can continue to advance his message is unclear, particularly after the television lights and reporters’ pads are no longer chasing him as he pursues his presidential dreams.

Similar efforts have been attempted, most notably by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition. But more often than not, grass-roots activism feeds on the excitement of its leader and his or her ability to remain on the cutting edge of social issues.

“That’s not so easy to do,” said Jackson, whose Rainbow Coalition has been mute as a political entity for most of the ongoing presidential campaign. “It takes a lot of work and a lot of energy to keep people excited and involved.”

For Brown, who attracts nearly as many supporters as he repels detractors, riding the wave of public attention has never been easy. After November’s election, it’s likely to get tougher.

Many voters like Brown’s message but are dubious of his national appeal. Gary Silberbach, a 76-year-old retired salesman who attended a recent City Club of Cleveland luncheon where Brown was the featured speaker, was one of them.

“I can’t see myself throwing my vote away like that,” Silberbach said, rejecting Brown’s entreaty for support in today’s Ohio primary. “I wish he had a chance, but I don’t believe the political system will allow a man like Mr. Brown to succeed.”

Others are less charitable. “All that he said was pie in the sky,” said Alan Loveman, a retired insurance agent, who also attended the Cleveland speech.

But Brown is undeterred.

“I believe we’re on the right track,” he told an audience in San Jose in one of his final campaign speeches. “If it takes me another year or it takes me four more years, I know we’re on the right track.”