Dukakis Defeats Jackson in N.Y. : Governor Takes Big Step Toward Nomination; Gore May Drop Out

By ROBERT SHOGAN

April 20, 1988 12 AM PT

Times Political Writer

NEW YORK —

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis handily won the bitterly contested New York primary Tuesday, capturing most of the second-largest delegation to the Democratic National Convention and taking a giant step toward his party’s presidential nomination.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, though he carried the city of New York by a narrow margin and won about 90% of the black vote statewide, finished second. Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. was a distant third and was said to be on the verge of abandoning his active pursuit of the nomination, which would make the Democratic competition a contest between Dukakis and Jackson.

With returns from 97% of the precincts reporting, Dukakis had 51% of the vote compared to 37% for Jackson and 10% for Gore.

Vice President George Bush easily won the Republican primary, running basically unopposed. His New York victory brought him within a handful of delegates needed to officially secure the nomination.

Dominant Issue

Jackson’s candidacy appeared to be the dominant issue in the Democratic campaign, according to a Times survey of voters as they left their polling places.

The civil rights leader, whose success in New York came despite personal attacks on him by the city’s mayor, Edward I. Koch, was viewed favorably by 52% of the voters interviewed and unfavorably by 34%. But Jackson fell short of victory because he was able to get only about 15% of the white vote and because Gore, in a notably dismal performance, was unable to deny Dukakis a significant share of the white vote.

Dukakis claimed victory at a rally of supporters here by borrowing a line from the song “New York, New York,” declaring: “Friends, if we can make it here, we can make it anywhere.”

While the crowd chanted, “Duke, Beat Bush,” Dukakis pledged to carry on the drive for the nomination to all the remaining primary states. “And after that,” he said, “we will take our message--the Democratic message--to every part of this country.”

Even before the polls closed at 9 p.m., Dukakis’ campaign chairman and close friend, Paul Brountas, was already looking ahead to future contests.

“We want to wrap this (nomination) up,” he told a reporter. “We want to win.”

But Brountas cautioned against overconfidence in the remaining contests, which include the Pennsylvania primary next Tuesday, primaries in Ohio and Indiana on May 3 and California and New Jersey on June 7. “I think it would be a mistake to say after we win New York that it will be all downhill,” he said.

Boosts Delegate Lead

Dukakis’ victory here had important practical and symbolic implications for his candidacy. By winning most of the state’s 255-member convention delegation, second in size only to California’s, he extended his delegate lead over Jackson, giving him 1,033 delegates to 831 for his opponent, according to the Associated Press. The nominee must secure at least 2,081 delegates.

And his success here provides an important psychological boost to his chances of gaining the backing of Democratic “super delegates,” elected officials and party leaders free to back whichever candidate they choose.

Although the two-week campaign here stirred bitter feelings, largely because of Koch’s attacks on Jackson, Dukakis himself has refrained from such tactics. Brountas said Dukakis would not seek to confront Jackson directly in the future, either. “I don’t think he would do that now,” he said, explaining that such tactics would be “divisive” and “negative.”

‘Credible’ Campaign

Jackson, in conceding defeat, warmly congratulated Dukakis for conducting a campaign that he described as “credible, and decent, with dignity above the fray.” Jackson also congratulated Gore, who unlike Dukakis had criticized Jackson as being anti-Israel. Jackson was less effusive in his remarks about the senator.

“We will keep hope alive,” Jackson told his backers. “Keep on hoping, keep on winning, we the people will win.”

Later, in an interview on ABC’s “Nightline” show, Jackson attacked Koch. “Mayor Koch made hysteria, I made history,” he said. He added that he expected soon to meet with Gore.

As for Gore, one of the bitter ironies of his effort here was that he campaigned hard for Jewish support, incurring charges that he was pandering, but he got only about 15% of the Jewish vote. And his endorsement by Koch may have done him at least as much harm as good, because exit polls indicated that voters disapproved of Koch’s attacks on Jackson.

10% of Jewish Vote

Jackson got about 10% of the votes cast by Jews, whose resentment of his candidacy was one of the pivotal points of the campaign.

In conceding defeat in brief remarks to his supporters, Gore congratulated Dukakis on his victory and referred to one of Dukakis’ favorite metaphors. “New York is a real marathon and he beat us by a mile,” Gore said. He also congratulated Jackson on his showing, saying: “The Democratic Party is larger and the American people are bigger because of the Jackson campaign.”

Of his own effort, Gore said: “I never wanted to stop Mike Dukakis or stop Jesse Jackson. I just wanted to start Al Gore.”

The senator’s advisers said he had suspended planned television advertising in Pennsylvania, and will make an announcement on his plans in Washington on Thursday.

Koch Backs Dukakis

Meanwhile, Koch, without waiting for Gore’s decision, announced that he had endorsed Dukakis. “I offered to be a soldier in his army if he wanted me,” Koch said. Dukakis accepted, the mayor said, adding: “I’m enlisted.”

From its start two weeks ago in the wake of Dukakis’ big victory in Wisconsin, the primary campaign in New York confronted the three presidential contenders with problems in some ways more difficult than any they had faced since the long struggle for the nomination got under way.

The clamorous and rancorous political environment in New York, particularly here in the city where two-thirds of the state’s Democratic voters live, made it hard for them to establish their own identities and frame their individual messages to the electorate. And so did the style and personality of the state party’s two most prominent leaders, Koch and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.

The New York campaign brought the party face to face with its past, and served to remind the candidates of the need to chart a different course for the future.

More Conspicuous

The ethnic groups and organized special interests that have been the bulwarks of the party in its past triumphs seemed more conspicuous here than anywhere else because of their size and/or assertiveness.

Also conspicuous were the differences between them, which often seemed to overshadow the common bonds that in years gone by had made them a coherent and potent force.

Racial tensions had been running high here long before the presidential campaign got under way, in part as the result of the much-publicized violence perpetrated by a gang of whites against black victims in Howard Beach in 1986. These feelings presented an obstacle for Jackson, the first black in American political history to make a strong bid for the presidency, as he sought to win the white support he needed for success in this state.

Jewish Resentment

Jackson’s task was made more difficult by resentment in the Jewish community over his endorsement of a Palestinian state, his past embrace of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat and his 1984 private reference to New York as “Hymietown,” for which Jackson has repeatedly apologized.

Indeed, Jewish concern with U.S. policy toward the Arab states and Israel seemed a preoccupation for all the candidates. While Jackson sought to assuage Jewish concerns by professing even-handedness, Gore and Dukakis both were supportive of Israel in the face of criticism of its government’s handling of the rioting on the West Bank.

Meanwhile, the negative Jewish feelings toward Jackson, who aroused fervent support among most blacks in New York, served to intensify hard feelings between these two groups.

Other forces added to the din, including Latinos, the elderly, gays and feminists.

The candidates, who had not engaged in a full-dress debate since before the March 8 Super Tuesday primaries, had no less than four such confrontations here, all of them televised.

These events produced some disagreements: Jackson advocated shipping arms to the “front-line” African states bordering on South Africa, while Gore and Dukakis were in opposition. Gore charged that Dukakis’ reluctance to promise increased spending for the federal war on drugs was shortsighted.

Few Basic Differences

But there seemed to be few fundamental differences on policy grounds for the candidates to argue about. Staff writer Thomas B. Rosenstiel contributed to this story.

DELEGATES’ PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCES

Republicans

1,139 delegates needed to secure nomination

Bush: 1,099

Uncommitted: 228

Robertson: 17

Democrats

2,081 delegates needed to secure nomination

Dukakis: 1,033.15

Jackson: 831.1

Uncommitted: 624.75

Gore: 435.55