Politics 88 : Carries On in Humphrey Tradition : Simon in Last Stand for Old-Time Liberalism

Here in the homeland of Hubert H. Humphrey, Democratic presidential candidate Paul Simon is beginning a last stand for old-fashioned liberalism.

It is, in the words of his spokesman, “a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.”

Simon’s decision Friday--reversing an earlier statement--to fight on for his party’s nomination even if he does not win here or in South Dakota on Tuesday, is more than a case of one man’s ego getting the best of his judgment.

It is part of a battle that has been going on in the Democratic Party since Minnesota’s Walter F. Mondale--like Simon, a Humphrey protege--was trounced by President Reagan in 1984.

Humphrey’s Cause

That loss, in which the Democrats carried only Minnesota, was supposed to signal the end of the party’s traditional liberalism, a cause that Humphrey fought for as senator and presidential candidate before he died of cancer 10 years ago.

Right after the 1984 election, a group of younger Democrats, including 1988 candidates Richard A. Gephardt and Albert Gore Jr., started the Democratic Leadership Council.

It became a policy-making and publicity-generating vehicle to move the party away from its traditional embrace of dovishness and social programs in hopes that it could start winning presidential elections after losing four of the last five.

Three other Democrats then seeking the presidency, Gary Hart, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, did not join the DLC but fashioned their own paths away from program-heavy liberalism by appealing to the more pragmatic and technology-oriented interests of younger voters.

Only the Rev. Jesse Jackson continued in the Humphrey tradition.

“So, what the old-fashioned liberals saw as they looked at the Democratic presidential race was Jesse Jackson and a bunch of Yuppies,” said Times political analyst William Schneider.

“What they wanted was Mario Cuomo to get in,” Schneider said. “When he didn’t, their man became Paul Simon. Now he is their last hope.”

That is what drives Simon on in the race despite second- and third-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire that many professionals expected to end his candidacy.

Simon Like a New Man

In St. Cloud, Minn., on Thursday, Simon was like a new man just one day after stating that he had to win something the next week or quit.

Suddenly he was talking about settling in for a long war for delegates around the country and about the possibility that he could be a broker at the Democratic convention this summer in Atlanta.

“People who are fund-raisers and others are suddenly calling me and saying: ‘You have got to stay in this race.’

“I think there is really a recognition by a lot of people that what we are really talking about is what direction the Democratic Party is going to go,” Simon said.

“This is a marathon,” he said Friday in Minneapolis, “and I’m in this all the way to Atlanta.”

Simon’s national chairman, Charles T. Manatt, said Thursday: “This has been a very good week in fund-raising. The traditional Democrats are coming through. . . . The money will be there for Paul for at least a while if he watches the expenditures carefully.”

Simon spokesman Terry Michael said the campaign will scale back and concentrate on flying Simon to airport news conferences and selected events so that he can make his pitch for the party’s old-time values.

Simon’s candidacy is thus rapidly becoming a mission.

But it is a mission that even some of his own advisers question in private and one that raises some obvious questions.

Jackson’s Potential

Why can’t the cause for old-fashioned liberalism be taken forward now by Jackson, who is expected to have many more delegates than Simon after the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses on March 8?

Also, what about Dukakis? He scored very well with liberals in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He has more delegates than Simon, more money to wage a national campaign and is even favored to whip Simon in Minnesota.

And then there is Gephardt. Although the Missouri congressman was a founder of the Democratic Leadership Council and cast some conservative votes in the House, he has become a major contender for his party’s nomination by moving to the left and proclaiming himself a fighter for working men and women.

The reason none of these men are good enough for some party liberals--and why Simon is fighting on--is a matter of commitment and style, according to Stanley Sheinbaum, a Los Angeles economist and philanthropist and long a major supporter of the party’s liberal wing.

“Simon is the legitimate warrior in this fight,” Sheinbaum said. “He’s been there right along. He may not be as good on the stump as Gephardt or Jackson, but the point is the wind now is blowing toward the left, where Paul Simon has always been.

“I don’t think Dukakis thinks in visionary terms or looks at the grand picture. He’s a technocrat. That is why people are worried about him.

“And here is Gephardt, the DLC guy who tried to move the Democratic Party to the center, suddenly realizing in Iowa that the only candidates picking up steam were Simon and Jackson. . . .”

Sheinbaum did not discuss Jackson’s liabilities as the standard-bearer for liberalism.

But other political observers say Jackson is too controversial and inexperienced to be elected and that he continues to be mistrusted by some Jews--and Jews are among the most consistent financial contributors to the party.

Carrying Tradition

So, at least in the eyes of some liberal Democrats, it is left to Simon to carry on in the Humphrey tradition, and he is going at it straight on.

His speeches talk about the underclass, not the middle class, and he pleads for “a government that cares once again, that fights for working men and women and stands up for the less fortunate.”

A WPA jobs program is a major item on his agenda, and he talks less about being tough with the Soviets and more about cultural exchanges and brotherly conferences of U.S. and Soviet leaders.

Simon ends almost every speech with a reference to Humphrey, and his new TV commercials in South Dakota begin with Humphrey’s admonition to judge a society on how it treats its people in the dawn of their lives and in the dusk of their lives.

A Loneliness in Battle

There is a loneliness these days to Simon’s battle for old-fashioned Democratic liberalism.

As he campaigns across frigid Minnesota, the other Democratic candidates are spending most of their time far to the south preparing for the Super Tuesday wars.

They make the nightly TV news every day, while Simon--once one of the front-of-the-pack candidates--is rarely mentioned now.

But as he prepared to go out into the cold after an event the other day, Simon pulled on his topcoat and defined his mission:

“I am unabashed about having a party that does not move away from its traditions. And a good place to start is right here in Minnesota, which produced Hubert Humphrey, who had dreams and enriched the nation because of those dreams.”