CAMPAIGN ’88 : GOP Praise for Jackson

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson has stirred up a middling ruckus in his state, which holds its presidential primary next Tuesday, by praising the Rev. Jesse Jackson as “exciting. If I was a Democrat I’d vote for him.”

Democratic state party Chairman Suellen Allbrecht called Thompson’s statement a “deliberate attempt to involve people in the Democratic primary that shouldn’t be there,” implying that mischief-making Republicans would cross over to vote in the Democratic primary, seeking to encumber Democrats with what Republicans see as the most controversial, and therefore perhaps least electable, candidate for November.

Thompson denied that his remark was a hint of any sort that Republicans ought to vote Democratic. The crossover tradition is a hallowed one in Wisconsin, and voting experts here are expecting that since the disappearance of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole offers no choice on the GOP side, anywhere from 7% to 12% of the state’s Republicans may vote Democratic next Tuesday.