Boost From Bunnies and Political Background : Dukakis Softens Image, Defines Message

In the end, the lessons of Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis’ double-barreled victories boiled down to Easter bunnies, less time at home, and a sharper message for voters.

That, at least, was how Dukakis and his aides explained his strong victory in Tuesday’s hard-fought Wisconsin primary and his narrow win in Monday’s Colorado caucuses over rival Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson.

But asked at a news conference here late Tuesday if voters in those states may have backed away from Jackson in fear that the Chicago-based minister might actually win the nomination, Dukakis demurred.

Record ‘Very Important’

“I can’t make that judgment,” he said. He added, however: “I don’t think there’s any question that having a record, having done things, being somebody who has done something about jobs, and housing and drugs, I think that was very important.”

Aides said that message, a thinly veiled contrast with Jackson, who has never held elective office, helped Dukakis fight his way back after losing to Jackson in a stunning upset 10 days ago in Michigan.

Leslie Dach, a campaign spokesman, said the governor also benefitted by spending more time on the ground campaigning in Wisconsin, instead of working his usual three days a week in the Statehouse in Boston.

“We worked overtime to get rid of any impression of inevitability,” Dach said. Staff members earlier promoted that impression but it apparently worked to Dukakis’ disadvantage in recent weeks. “And we worked harder than in Michigan,” Dach said.

To counter Jackson’s fiery oratory and magnetic appeal, Dukakis tried to warm his technocratic image. He met an Easter bunny, watched a cow get milked and posed repeatedly with children. He also unveiled a strong new stump speech that presented him as a “doer,” an activist with a record of accomplishment.

“You could sense people were looking at him as a chief executive,” said Paul Brontas, campaign chairman.

Saying he was “delighted” with the two victories, Dukakis said he expects a “very, very good boost” for the April 19 New York primary, the next major contest. The campaign already has begun airing television ads Upstate. But Dukakis said another victory here would hardly end the nomination battle.

“This will be a 15-round bout and it will be a decision,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a knockout punch.”

Dukakis said he would “work my head off to make sure people in New York know who I am and what I stand for.”

Criticism From Gore

In an apparent reference to Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who has offered increasingly strident criticism of Dukakis in recent days, Dukakis said: “I’m not going to spend an awful lot of time criticizing other people.”

A month ago, after Dukakis’ Super Tuesday victories, his staff asserted that he was the inevitable nominee. Then came sharp losses in Illinois and Michigan. Now with two much-needed victories under his belt, Dukakis declined even to claim that political momentum was again moving his way.

“I’m not a great fan of the momentum theory of politics,” he said. “I’m a great fan of the marathon theory of politics, step by step, mile by mile, working hard, state by state.”