Makes Token Efforts Elsewhere : Simon Places Much Hope on Wisconsin Liberalism

Still flush with his big victory in the Illinois primary, Sen. Paul Simon is now concentrating his quest for the presidency in Wisconsin, a state with a progressive tradition that Simon thinks will be receptive to his old-fashioned liberalism.

“Old Bob LaFollette, as my father used to call him, stood up against individual and corporate greed,” Simon said here Tuesday, referring to Wisconsin’s most famous progressive, who served as governor and U.S. senator early in the century. “I have stood up against the same greed for my entire public career.”

Next Battleground

The Wisconsin primary is April 5, and Simon is optimistic about his prospects here. He is making only a token effort in Michigan and Connecticut, which vote sooner, and making Wisconsin his next battleground.

But a new Milwaukee Journal poll shows Simon fighting for third place, far behind the leaders. Leading in Wisconsin in the survey were Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis with 38%, followed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson with 30%. Simon and Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt had 11% and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. had 10%.

On Tuesday, Simon showed up at a new shopping center in west Milwaukee, but he did not come to praise the snappy shops and burger stands.

Instead, he pointed to the huge and ghostly buildings that rose behind the shopping center and noted that the site was once the thriving manufacturing headquarters of Allis-Chalmers Corp., which made farm and heavy construction equipment until it went bankrupt several years ago.

The company has scaled back its work force from 12,000 to about 500 and continues to make some gardening implements.

Boarded-Up Factory

“Twenty years ago more than 10,000 people worked here for $11.60 an hour,” Simon said, pointing to the boarded-up factory buildings. “Now people work in this shopping mall for $5.23 an hour.”

Noting that these were the kinds of jobs being created by the Reagan Administration, Simon decried the country’s transition to a service economy and said: “We have to restore the manufacturing base of this country.”

To do this, he said that as President he would greatly increase research and development related to heavy manufacturing and would penalize corporations that send these kinds of jobs abroad for cheaper labor.

Simon is expected to pick up some labor support in Wisconsin. But, as is the case in Michigan, which votes Saturday, labor is split among the Democratic candidates.

A Simon adviser said the senator plans to spend as much as $200,000 on television and radio ads for the Wisconsin primary and would campaign virtually full time here in the last 10 days before the primary.

Asked Tuesday where he thought his best chances were after Wisconsin, Simon singled out New York, which votes April 19.

‘A Lot of Paul Simon’

But, he added, “doing well in Wisconsin is essential to doing well in New York. That’s why you’re going to see a lot of Paul Simon here in the coming weeks.”

Simon’s victory last week in Illinois, his home state, brought him back into the race after he had essentially been on the sidelines for a month. According to the Associated Press’ tally, Simon is now in fourth place in the national Democratic delegate standings. Dukakis leads with 528.5, followed by Jackson with 510.5, Gore with 360.8, Simon with 171.5 and Gephardt with 154. An additional 341.65 are listed as uncommitted. To win the nomination, a candidate needs 2,082 delegates.