Economic Concepts Restated : Dukakis Outlines Views on Reviving U.S. Industry

Responding to criticism that his campaign message is short on substance and specifics, Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis on Friday offered what he called a “strategy for rebuilding industrial America.”

Although aides had touted the speech as his “economic road map for the future,” Dukakis, in an address to about 200 students at the University of Chicago, essentially restated the economic concepts he has already outlined in his campaign.

But as the Massachusetts governor went over this familiar ground, he placed much more emphasis on the populist themes he introduced earlier this week, when he arrived in the industrial Midwest, in an effort to appeal to blue-collar Democrats.

As President, he said, he would provide industries with limited trade protection, including new tariffs, as long as companies agree “to use that time to invest and modernize and become more efficient.”

Factory Closing Laws

He said he would push national legislation, such as he has signed in Massachusetts, to force companies to announce in advance when factories would close. “Workers are entitled to fair notice, and to training and benefits that will prepare them for a new job at a comparable wage,” he said.

Dukakis also called for federal support for regional development, and stronger “partnerships” between business, labor and government. His program would include a $500-million annual fund “for economy-building, job-creating partnerships, especially in those pa1920234272hurting badly.”

“It’s not some policy gimmick, or new idea fresh off the shelf, but a coherent strategy to deal with problems the industrial states face,” said John Deillars, who is on leave for several days from his job as the governor’s chief of operations.

Dukakis highlighted his economic message as he campaigned Friday. He clambered into the driver’s seat of the world’s largest tractor to praise the recently reinvigorated Caterpillar Inc. assembly complex in Peoria. And he donned a white lab coat to pour pellets into an experimental extruder that makes bio-degradable plastic at a high-tech firm in Champaign-Urbana.

“This is where it’s at,” Dukakis said about the innovative technology.

Although the campaign insists publicly that Dukakis can’t hope to beat Illinois Sen. Paul Simon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Chicago resident, on their home turf, Dukakis clearly hopes to do just that next Tuesday.

The Dukakis campaign’s internal polls show Simon, who did not compete in the Super Tuesday states this week but is campaigning actively in Illinois, still leading but losing support in the last 10 days. Dukakis has grown in strength and is now slightly behind Jackson in third place, the polls suggest. That could put Dukakis in striking distance for the top slot.

Dukakis began running a new TV ad Friday night specifically directed at Simon. The Illinois native has argued that he can win the Democratic nomination, despite having lost the 26 primaries and caucuses to date.