Jackson Camp: Color It Hopeful : Some Orange in the Rainbow?

Fortunately for those who take immaculate care of their pets, Patrick Barnhart is a well-mannered young man.

For the past two weeks, through a quirk in the telephone system, people dialing the number of a pet grooming establishment have been getting the Orange County headquarters for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign.

Barnhart, a 22-year-old political novice who has interrupted his studies at UC Santa Cruz to work for Jackson, is the only full-time volunteer in the local organization. From a small office on West 17th Street in Santa Ana, he coordinates as many activities as possible.

“No, this is the Jackson ’88 campaign,” Barnhart said last week to yet another caller. “Yes, ma’am, it’s a problem with the phone company. Just call the operator, and they’ll connect you.”

Barnhart shrugged and returned to the business at hand, laying out the strategy for local volunteers to garner as much support as possible for Jackson on primary day, June 7.

‘Have to Be Nice’

“It’s frustrating, but you have to be nice to them, although those people are not exactly Jackson constituents,” Barnhart said. “But I tell you, the grooming place seems to be doing good business, judging from the calls.”

It is unlikely that Jackson, who is generally given little chance of depriving Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis of the Democratic presidential nomination, will score a primary landslide on June 7 in Orange County. But his supporters refuse to surrender the belief that he could carry a third of the Democratic vote here.

Beginning this weekend, about 200 to 300 volunteers will converge on targeted precincts to encourage voters to side with Jackson. Late-night meetings were held all this week to determine where best to find potential Jackson supporters.

“We have to shoot for a pure rainbow coalition,” said Richard L. Spix, an attorney for immigrants’ rights and staunch Jackson supporter.

Currently, the campaign has about $1,500 on hand and about $2,000 in debts. Volunteerism is everything in Orange County, although one paid Jackson staffer was to arrive from Oregon this weekend to help the local non-paid campaign staff.

“Money! What money?” bellowed Spix. “There is no money.”

Said Barnhart: “I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. I was willing to work 80 hours a week and not take any pay for it,” Barnhart said. “I’m doing this for the experience.”

Jackson’s chances of winning delegates in Orange County may not be as bad as some think, his volunteers say.

1984 Results Cited

“In 1984, we got 10% for Jesse in Orange County with no organization. We could get a third of the vote this time,” said Meir J. Westreich, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer and longtime Jackson supporter.

Westreich worked for Jackson in the Iowa and Texas primaries and sees that experience as helping him turn out voters for his candidate in Orange County.

“We got 30% of the vote in west Texas, and we got two delegates,” Westreich said.

Although now in the throes of economic troubles, west Texas is in some ways similar to Orange County in its political outlook--mostly white and definitely conservative.

“People asked me, ‘Why the hell are you going to west Texas?’ I replied, ‘Hey, I’m from Orange County,’ ” Westreich said. “Now when people ask, ‘Why the hell are you working for Jackson in Orange County?’ I say, ‘Hey, I’ve (campaigned) in west Texas.’ ”

He added: “Winning three delegates is very possible in Orange County. And if we win one or two more than that--hey, they might want to canonize us in Atlanta,” the site of the National Democratic Convention.