POLITICS 88 : Rumored ‘Stop Jackson’ Effort Assailed : Candidate’s Supporter Takes Preemptive Step, Calls Movement Racist

In a preemptive step against a rumored “stop Jesse Jackson” movement, one of the presidential candidate’s top congressional supporters on Thursday blasted potential participants as part of a “racist, bigoted breed of people in the Democratic Party.”

“We want to do as much as we can at the outset . . . to embarrass those who would be involved,” said Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Tex.).

Leland warned that unfair treatment of Jackson could cost Democrats the support of black voters in November, but his comments seem part of a more urgent effort to win the support of 645 “super delegates”--the elected officials and party leaders who will play a crucial role in choosing the Democratic nominee.

The Jackson campaign denied knowledge of any “stop Jackson” movement, and Leland himself declined to provide evidence that any such effort is under way.

Some Suspect Ploy

That absence of detail led some political observers to suggest that the hurry to portray as “racist” those who organize to oppose Jackson may be part of a sophisticated ploy on the part of Jackson supporters to make people think twice before backing a Jackson rival.

One leading state Democratic official, who has so far remained neutral in the race but had been planning to endorse Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, said Thursday she had put her decision on hold after being accused by a prominent black leader in her state of spearheading a “stop Jackson” movement.

Gerald F. Austin, Jackson’s campaign manager, denied that the Jackson campaign was using such tactics. “There’s no policy like that coming out of this office,” Austin said.

Leland’s strongly worded criticism of those who would treat Jackson unfairly, voiced at a news conference, came a day after Jackson won praise and promises of fairness in a closed-door meeting with a large group of Democratic Party leaders.

May Be No Majority

The concerns about fairness have been prompted by the increasing possibility that no Democratic candidate will win a majority of delegates by the time the primary process is completed, leaving the nomination to be decided by the party officials who will cast their own votes as super delegates and will play a role in the closed-door bargaining between those controlling other blocs of delegates.

Jackson has said that he should win a large share of the super delegates’ support to redress the disparity created by party rules, under which he has received a smaller share of delegates than of popular votes.

But his campaign fears that the super delegates, concerned about Jackson’s electability, might unite en masse behind one of his rivals even if Jackson were to win the most delegates in the primaries or finish a close second. Leland said Thursday he believed the “stop Jackson” campaign would be targeted at the super delegates.

Leland said he believed that the “stop Jackson” forces were composed of the same Democrats who forced through the rules change creating the Super Tuesday primaries, which were expected to give prominence to more conservative candidates.

Sees Organized Effort

After Jackson’s second-place finish on Super Tuesday, Leland said, some Democrats were “trying to redraw the road map that Jesse Jackson redrew for himself,” by imposing a hurdle, an organized “stop Jackson” effort.

Although Alabama Democratic Party Chairman John Baker wrote a letter to other Democrats last week warning that Jackson could not win in November, there is no evidence that a formal “stop Jackson” movement has crystallized.

Leland told reporters Thursday that three top Democrats had been approached by representatives of “stop Jackson” efforts, but aides to two of them, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland and House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), said that no such overtures had been made. The third, Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Fear Misinterpretation

But the aides to Kirkland and Wright were careful to make clear their belief that organized opposition to Jackson would be inappropriate, reflecting what seems to be an increasing concern that statements relating to Jackson not be misinterpreted.