POLITICS 88 : Democrats Seek to Draft Simple Platform Suitable for Mailing

Plans for a simple Democratic Party platform this year are on track, but meeting that goal depends on further negotiations with the party’s leading interest groups, the man in charge of producing the document said Monday.

“I want to come up with something that is readable, hard-hitting and substantive, and not a laundry list of demands by this or that trade association or group,” Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard, the Democratic Platform Committee chairman, told reporters in Los Angeles.

Unlike recent platforms, which ran on for dozens of pages, the 1988 version may be succinct enough to be mailed to voters if he and the party chairman, Paul G. Kirk Jr., have their way, Blanchard said.

“Illinois Sen. Paul Simon said that it would be nice to have a short, open letter to the American people that we could mail out,” Blanchard said.

Promises to Causes

Such a platform would contrast sharply with the 1984 document, which Blanchard said became a long list of promises to activists because the party’s presidential candidate, Walter F. Mondale, told the platform committee he wanted to avoid unnecessary squabbles.

That helped to create an impression that the Democratic Party had become a captive of various interest groups and had lost sight of national perspective, Blanchard said.

“We’ve talked with the AFL-CIO, with teachers’ unions, with women’s groups and civil rights groups,” Blanchard said, “and they all say, ‘Your idea of a statement of principles is great but if you get specific, then we’re going to have to have our lists. We’re not going to let somebody else come in there and get theirs and we don’t get ours.’ ”

If Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis wins the Democratic nomination, one question Blanchard and the committee will face will be the potential demands of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Jackson Role Seen

“I think Jesse Jackson will play a constructive role in this election,” Blanchard said. “I don’t think Dukakis or Jackson wants a platform that divides people or sounds like a loser.”

As to what the 1988 Democratic platform might address specifically, Blanchard said:

“One common theme is that however the economy has improved--and it has--a lot of people have been left behind. . . . Our historic role has been to reach out and provide opportunity. . . . It is the idea that the government should not stand idly by while people suffer.

“There is also a feeling that we have to have a strong internationalist role and not be isolationist. There is a strong feeling by members of Congress that we will have to think through foreign policy very carefully.”

The Democratic Platform Committee will hold forums around the country. One in Los Angeles is tentatively scheduled for June 2.