In It to Win, Jackson Says in Chiding Aides

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Thursday publicly rebuked his campaign chairman, California Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown Jr., and his campaign manager, Gerald F. Austin, for suggesting to reporters that Jackson is no longer in the presidential race to win.

“Those statements were utterly untrue and do not represent the spirit and thrust of this campaign or my work,” Jackson told reporters in a question-and-answer session staged before thousands of cheering supporters at a rally here.

“We will win,” Jackson vowed over and over as he campaigned Thursday, flouting his own strategists’ assessments.

The contradiction of Brown and Austin underscores the Jackson campaign’s disarray after stunning defeats in New York and Pennsylvania--losses that have made the Democratic front-runner, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, seem invincible in the race for the nomination.

Rapid Mood Swings

With few opportunities for victory ahead, the mood around the campaign has swung day by day, sometimes even hour by hour.

On Wednesday, Brown and Austin had suggested in separate interviews that they no longer believe Jackson can win. They talked of a new--and less ambitious--goal of influencing the Democratic agenda.

Even Jackson himself spoke wistfully--and in the past tense--of what his campaign had accomplished, framing his achievements in terms of shaping the nation’s priorities, rather than winning convention delegates.

While such views may reflect cold political reality, expressing them could accelerate the campaign’s demise. Premature eulogies are not the rhetoric that stirs the hopes of voters, who are the key to Jackson’s influence over his party.

On Thursday, a different tone took hold. Jackson’s activities--crossing Ohio for a grueling 17-hour schedule of rallies--were those of a candidate deadly serious in his pursuit of the nomination.

Jackson told a cheering crowd in Steubenville: “Don’t let them tell you it’s all over. You, the people, must stand up. If it’s all over, you don’t count . . . . The fight has just begun.”

He also grew increasingly harsh toward Dukakis, mentioning him by name frequently and portraying his rival as someone who would simply carry on the Reagan Administration’s economic priorities. More directly and forcefully than he has before, Jackson suggested at every stop that a Dukakis presidency would be little different from that of Vice President George Bush.

Makes Barbed References

Jackson repeatedly made barbed references to the management skills that Dukakis has touted as his chief asset. “I don’t want to manage Reaganomics, as Dukakis does. I don’t want to keep Reaganomics, as Bush does. I want to reverse Reaganomics,” he said.

Jackson chided Dukakis for not producing a federal budget proposal, as he has.

“You put forth a budget to reflect your priorities, to reflect your values. When you put forth a budget, you have to take the heat,” he said.

As for a Dukakis proposal for spending an additional $250 million on education, Jackson said: “You cannot educate America’s youth and offset the Reagan budget with $250 million. You can’t just promise and talk.”

Appearing before large and enthusiastic crowds, he also suggested that he is not going to settle for minor concessions from his party. Jackson compared his struggle to that of Rosa Parks, whose refusal to take a seat at the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955 was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.

“You’re always told that you can’t win. Someone always offers you a way out. Officials said, ‘Rosa Parks, we’ll apologize to you, even give you a little bonus if you’ll stop protesting.’ She would not surrender,” Jackson told a rally here.

“Ohio can change the whole race around,” Jackson insisted. “You can change the nation.”

Although Dukakis is heavily favored in next Tuesday’s primary here, where 159 delegates are at stake, the front-runner is doing relatively little campaigning in the state. Jackson campaign manager Austin has a history of running successful campaigns here, including Gov. Richard F. Celeste’s two victories.

‘He’s Already Won’

However, in recent remarks, Austin has indicated that Jackson may have already accomplished most of what he can expect in 1988. “If he doesn’t win another delegate or another vote, he’s already won,” Austin said. “We’re satisfied with what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Brown, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, talked of how the party must embrace “the Jackson concept.” Although he and Austin both insisted that Jackson remains in contention for the nomination, the thrust of their arguments centered on the role he would play as a second-place finisher who holds sway over a large bloc of potential votes.

Jackson dismissed his differences with his closest advisers Thursday, saying: “I speak for the campaign without fear of contradiction . . . . There is no source more credible about the state of my campaign than Jesse Jackson.”

He dictated to reporters as they scribbled furiously in their notebooks: “We are running right through the final primaries on June 7. Write that down.”