POLITICS 88 : Dukakis Seeks to Punch Up His Message With Populist Themes

Faced with a stiff challenge from the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the upcoming Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis sought Thursday to punch up his message and express more compassion in a new speech stressing populist themes.

The speech could have come from Jackson or former presidential candidate Richard A. Gephardt as it blasted corporate greed, warned that “foreign investors” are buying up America at bargain prices and called for security for the “workingman.”

“This Administration has mortgaged our future to a bunch of defense contractors and merger maniacs and sharp operators on Wall Street,” Dukakis told a crowd of more than 500 at Serb Hall, a community meeting place on the city’s south side, Thursday night.

“They’ve turned Main Street America into a shopping mall for foreign investors. And now they want a new four-year contract from the American people. Who do they think they are and how dumb do they think we are?”

He Barely Connects

Among the Democratic contenders, Dukakis has raised the most money and put together the best field organization. He has also hired some of the brightest policy thinkers, who have helped him develop his campaign themes of competence and progressive management. But Jackson’s victory in Michigan and his strength in Wisconsin, which votes next Tuesday, are underlining a serious problem for Dukakis: compared to Jackson, he barely connects on a visceral level with voters.

One reason is that such a connection is not his goal, as Dukakis somewhat surprisingly acknowledged Wednesday night after a speech at Marquette University.

“My strength is as a doer,” Dukakis told reporters. “I have no particular interest in going down in history--if I am elected President--as being the great communicator. I want to be the great builder.”

He said he will continue to offer his 10-year record as governor as a example of what he wants to do as President, and said he will not begin attacking Jackson, who has not held elective office.

But the new speech, with its promise to protect average workers during industrial change, signals that Dukakis knows he has to sharpen his appeal.

“We’re going to pass a national plant closing law that will give our workers the notice, the benefits and the training they need to find new jobs at good wages,” Dukakis said Thursday night, striking a Jackson-like chord.

“We’re going to get control of the merger and acquisition binge that’s gobbling up capital . . . making millions for a few and leaving the average working men and women of America holding the bag,” Dukakis said.

It is not the first time Dukakis has touched on those themes, but suddenly the language is more colorful and the opportunities for strong crowd response more plentiful.

Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich denied that the new speech signals a major overhaul in approach after Jackson’s landslide victory in Michigan last week.

“There is no panic,” she said. “You just keep working, you just keep sharpening your message. I think we’re all pleased that this new speech accomplishes that.”

Washington media consultant Robert Squier said: “I think this new speech is the Dukakis campaign’s sincere answer to the Democratic Party’s prayer: ‘Give us a little more, Mike.’ ”

Squier believes the campaign will soon have to “put Mike right in front of the camera.” Squier, who is not affiliated with any of the presidential candidates, said Dukakis had a similar problem connecting with Massachusetts voters on the issue of crime when he was running for governor in 1982, after being out of the governor’s job for four years.

“Mike talked about how his father, a doctor, had had his office burglarized and how his brother had been killed by a hit and run driver who was never caught,” Squier said. “He said he wished that could be conveyed in a TV ad but didn’t see how.

“Well, all he had to do was what he eventually did. He just looked right in the camera and described those incidents and said: ‘These crimes touched my lives and I want to make sure they don’t touch yours.’ It was really effective because you felt like Mike Dukakis was not distant from you.”

A Matter of Strategy

Whether Dukakis will try something similar now is a matter of strategy that no campaign--especially his own--will discuss.

But Estrich acknowledged that the campaign is aware that things have changed dramatically since the Michigan results raised questions about Dukakis’ campaigning abilities.

“There is suddenly a lot of attention to this race now,” Estrich said. “The level of interest has increased greatly in recent weeks . . . . What we are doing now is laying out just what is at stake in this election now that people are waking up and taking a look at it.”