Simon Rethinking Decision, May Campaign Until After Illinois Vote

In a turnabout that shows just how muddled the Democratic presidential race still is, Illinois Sen. Paul Simon said Thursday he was reconsidering his decision to quit the race if he does not finish first in one of next Tuesday’s contests.

“I made an announcement yesterday that we would have to win in either Minnesota or South Dakota next week,” Simon said Thursday after addressing students at St. Cloud State University.

“But in the meantime we’ve been getting telegrams, phone calls and the response has been terrific,” said Simon, who got word of that response at a series of fund raisers Wednesday night in Chicago.

“People are calling in from all over saying that I have to stay in this race, so we are making a reappraisal and I’ll make a statment tomorrow.”

Until March 15

He is expected to announce that he is in the Democratic race until at least the Illinois primary on March 15.

Political sources in Illinois said that many of the state’s top Democratic activists and contributors are Simon delegates in Illinois and they are pressuring him to run there because they think he can win--and give them a ticket to the national convention--no matter what happens next week or on Super Tuesday, March 8.

The mood of Simon and his press secretary, Terry Michael, was strikingly different Thursday from what it was after Simon finished third in New Hampshire Tuesday.

Returning to Minnesota from the Chicago trip, both candidate and spokesman bounded into the St. Cloud event talking of the probability of a long campaign for the Democratic nomination.

“This is not the past,” Michael said. “Iowa and New Hampshire did not narrow the Democratic field decisively. We can stay in this race.”

‘Brokered Convention’

Simon said one factor forcing his reconsideration of quitting was “whether we are going to have a brokered convention.”

Simon has thought all along that if he could survive until Illinois chooses its 187 delegates, his candidacy would be in good shape. His calls for a jobs program and a more compassionate government would likely play well in such liberal Democratic strongholds as Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania, which vote later in the spring.