POLITICS 88 : Gephardt Courts Unionists but Poll Is Gloomy

If ever there was a city ready to hear the tough trade talk of Democratic presidential candidate Richard A. Gephardt it should be this one, where 10,000 steel and auto industry jobs have been lost in the last few years.

“They call me a protectionist,” the Missouri congressman said at a United Auto Workers union hall on Friday. “But I don’t think there is anything wrong with protecting the jobs of American workers.”

He drew cheers when he promised that as President he would slap fees on imported cars if their manufacturing countries did not open up their markets to U.S. products.

But the sagging fortunes of Gephardt’s once formidable candidacy were evident here as a disappointing crowd of about 200 people turned out to hear him in a union hall that seemed depressingly downbeat.

9% of Democratic Support

Most in the crowd had heard about a Detroit newspaper poll published Friday that showed Gephardt with only 9% of the Democratic support in the caucuses next Saturday.

Far ahead in the latest Detroit Free Press survey were the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis with 32% each.

“It’s a big gap--there is no disputing the fact that this is an uphill fight for Dick,” said Richard Moe, Gephardt’s senior campaign adviser.

Gephardt has said he has to win here to revive a candidacy that took off briefly with his victory in the Iowa caucuses last month, then foundered on Super Tuesday.

Expresses Confidence

“Stay tuned,” Gephardt told reporters who brought up the latest poll results at a Detroit event. “We are going to make political history in Michigan just as we did in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Dakota.”

But the bad news of the latest poll could be read in Gephardt’s usually impassive face.

One of the most disheartening findings in the new survey was that union support, which helped propel Gephardt to victory in Iowa, seems to be deserting him here. Both Jackson and Dukakis got the support of one-third of the union households in the Free Press poll while Gephardt got only 7%.

“Our members are all over the place in this thing,” said Charlie Blaine, a UAW official in Saginaw who supports Gephardt.

‘A Leader on Trade’

“Most of us who work in the plants thought Dick Gephardt had taken off but then something happened,” Blaine added.

Mark Provencher, another UAW member, said: “I feel bad for Dick Gephardt. He has been a leader on trade, much more than Dukakis, but lately I think many members believe he looks like a loser. I’m going to support him but I’m afraid he’s not going to make it.”

Gephardt is facing in Michigan what he ran into in such states as Florida and Texas on Super Tuesday, said Kay Beard, a Wayne County (Detroit) commissioner who is backing the congressman. Dukakis is better financed and better organized, allowing him to buy more TV ads.

Gephardt’s Last Push

Gephardt has some effective TV ads, and he has been spending most of his time in recent days on the telephone raising money for one last push on the airwaves.

But Beard, Blaine and Provencher all expressed a sentiment that shows what Gephardt is up against: Although many Democrats here admire his tough talk on trade, they say they do not find Dukakis objectionable and would gladly support him if he is the Democratic nominee.

Beard noted that she still thought Gephardt would be the most electable Democrat in November because “his message is the most focused. That is something Dukakis still does not have.”

The union members who showed up for the rally in Saginaw on Friday apparently agreed with her as they listened to Gephardt’s crisp, no-nonsense message about the bold leadership needed to turn around the decline in America’s manufacturing sector.

But as Blaine noted, many of the same people would be traveling to nearby Flint to hear Dukakis--and to get a glimpse of the man whose endorsement of Dukakis carries a lot of weight with union members. That man is Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who flew into Flint for a Dukakis rally.

“Kennedy will do it for Dukakis,” Blaine said. “We don’t know where Dukakis stands on trade because he hasn’t got a record in Washington. But we know that Ted Kennedy stands up for working people.”