Jackson Seeks Big Victory in Native S. Carolina Today

Jesse Jackson stumped through his native South Carolina Friday in a final day of campaigning before today’s Democratic caucuses, hoping to profit from a favorite-son trend that he says will make him the leader in total popular votes among Democrats by early next week.

After noting that Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. and Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt had already won primaries in their home states, Jackson, who was born and educated here, declared: “I am going to win South Carolina.”

“Friends, you can have somebody in the White House who you taught,” Jackson told a convention of educators. “Select me!”

Undisputed Leader

Jackson, whose victory in South Carolina was his first during the 1984 campaign, is the undisputed front-runner here again this year, the beneficiary of committed support from black voters, who make up about half of the Democratic electorate.

Campaign officials said Jackson has also benefited from the fact that about 5% of South Carolina Democratic voters crossed over to vote in last Saturday’s Republican caucuses, diluting the conservative base that might have backed Gore, who is Jackson’s closest rival here.

The South Carolina vote is not expected to have a major impact on the Democratic race, because the state’s 44 delegates are dwarfed by the 1,307 delegates that were at stake on Super Tuesday and the 173 delegates in next week’s primary in Illinois.

Still, Jackson, Gore and Gephardt all have goals here.

Wants to Dominate

Jackson wants to dominate the caucuses, demonstrating his growing strength and appeal.

Gore, seeking to benefit from his surprisingly strong performance in the Super Tuesday primaries, has filled the South Carolina airwaves with television commercials and appeared Friday afternoon at a major rally at the Statehouse here.

Tim Kelly, his deputy campaign manager in the state, conceded: “Jesse’s probably going to be able to run strong all over the state. We just want to be able to stay close to him.”

But, perhaps more important, Gore wants to keep a lid on Gephardt, who finished fourth on Tuesday. Gephardt is “trying to sneak in a moral victory over Al in his own back yard,” said Bill Webster, a Gore campaign coordinator in Greenville. “We want to make sure that we don’t let him come up for air.”

‘Hell of an Upset’

Dwight Drake, Gore’s state campaign manager, said that “the two questions are the relative distance between Jackson and Gore and between Gore and Gephardt. If Gore runs close to Jackson, it will be a hell of an upset. If Gephardt finishes over Gore, that will be a major win for them.”

Jackson’s state campaign coordinator, Kevin Gray, predicted that Jackson would win between 25 and 30 of South Carolina’s 44 delegates and said he hoped later to win over what is expected to be a significant bloc of uncommitted delegates.

Between a quarter and a half of South Carolina Democrats traditionally remain uncommitted at the caucus meetings to give themselves more maneuvering room through the nominating process. They usually choose a candidate at the county or state convention.

Gephardt campaigned here Thursday and was represented at the teachers’ convention Friday by his wife, Jane, while Dukakis’ son John filled in for his father.

Gephardt Campaigns Hard

Gephardt has been campaigning hard in the state since Wednesday. His campaign manager, William Carrick, is from South Carolina and he has the endorsement of two extremely popular former governors, Richard W. Riley and Robert E. McNair, and three of the four Democratic House members.

Gore jetted to three cities in the state Friday, starting in Greenville, where he visited a textile mill and stressed his populist pledge to “put the White House back on the side of the working people.”

Gore told workers gathered outside the large plant that he supports legislation to limit textile imports but said he was against protectionism.

“This is not protectionist,” he said. “These are trade agreements that are already in effect, that these countries have agreed to but are being violated badly. What we are asking for is no more than fairness. If we have these agreements, they should be enforced.”

Cites Low Spending

Meanwhile, Jackson reminded voters in Charleston and Florence as well as in Columbia that he won the most popular votes on Super Tuesday while spending only $100,000 on television commercials--less than 5% of the amounts spent by Dukakis and Gore.

“If they had my money, they couldn’t win. If I had their money, they’d have to stop right now,” Jackson said.