Volunteers’ Ardor Fuels Jackson Campaign

Yousef Elia Haddad, an accountant who immigrated from Jordan 15 years ago, did not even vote in an American election before this year. But in the last two months the Arleta resident has registered hundreds of new voters for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign and is the top-ranked delegate candidate for Jackson in the 26th Congressional District.

Jeamaica Bailey, a Mission Hills businesswoman, had not been politically active since she was a volunteer in Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign that ended with an assassin’s bullet. But today she is co-coordinator of Jackson’s June 7 primary effort in the East San Fernando Valley, which has been headquartered in her Panorama City real estate investment office since March.

Lawrence M. Kaufman voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 even though he is a longtime registered Democrat. But the Tarzana resident, who runs an audio-electronics business, is now a passionate Jackson supporter and has been raising money and recruiting volunteers for the Democratic candidate in the West Valley since January.

Haddad, Bailey and Kaufman are among scores of volunteers mobilized by Jackson’s insurgent candidacy throughout the Valley--a 1988 grass-roots effort unmatched by any other presidential campaign in this area.

The trio is typical in a significant respect: At least half of those signing up new voters, working phone banks and being host to $10-a-person fund-raisers in their homes had never before been involved in politics or had dropped out after becoming disillusioned years ago, campaign activists say.

“People are enthusiastic about Jesse Jackson,” said Ben Gafford, campaign co-coordinator in the San Fernando Valley portion of the 23rd Congressional District. “It’s not a case of saying, ‘He’s the best of what’s left.’ It’s an intellectual appeal, it’s a moral appeal and it’s an appeal that people feel in their hearts.”

The volunteers say they have been drawn by a sense of hope that Jackson inspires, by a feeling that he is making history as America’s first creditable black presidential candidate and by his populist message. They depict him as the only candidate in either party candidly addressing the plight of the poor, minorities, the working-class and the average American.

“Most politicians are somewhat two-faced,” said Ian Holland, 18, a senior at Agoura Hills High School and a Jackson volunteer for six months. “I saw Jesse Jackson as a man standing firm for what he believes in.”

Their ardor, however, has not blinded them to political reality. Most of the Jackson volunteers acknowledged in interviews they don’t expect him to wrest the Democratic nomination from front-runner Michael S. Dukakis or even to carry the Valley. The Massachusetts governor appears poised to win the region overwhelmingly next month, Democratic activists say.

“We expect to do well in the Valley,” said Dee Dee Myers, Dukakis’ California press secretary. “From Ventura Boulevard to Pacoima and the more suburban areas, I think Dukakis’ message of economic hope, of better education, of child care, issues that touch people where they live” will strike a responsive chord.

Nevertheless, leaders of Jackson’s volunteer army are optimistic that their candidate will gain at least the 15% of the vote he needs to win one or more delegates in the 26th, 23rd and 21st Districts that cover the Valley. This would represent a major advance since 1984, when Jackson’s Valley campaign was less visible and broad-based and his delegate candidates won 9.8% to 11.7% in these districts. He gained no delegates from the Valley.

“The way I read it, Jackson probably will get 25% to 30%,” said Bud Knutsen, chairman of the San Fernando Valley Democratic Party and a Dukakis supporter. “He’ll do best in the 26th,” where Pacoima and San Fernando have the Valley’s largest concentrations of blacks and Latinos.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), who represents those areas of the northeast Valley, said, “I think Dukakis will probably win but Jackson will make a respectable showing.”

The Democratic totals on June 7 will determine how four delegates in the 21st District, six in the 23rd and five in the 26th are divided among the candidates. The number of delegates in the 21st and 23rd districts increased by one apiece over 1984. That year, Gary Hart won all three delegates in the 21st and two in the 23rd; Walter F. Mondale won three in the 23rd and all five in the 26th.

The duration and breadth of Jackson activism in the Valley has been unique. By comparison, Dukakis’ campaign opened a Valley office in Reseda only this month and has attracted enough volunteers to keep 20 phones busy for the get-out-the-vote effort. There is no Valley headquarters for Republican George Bush, who clinched the GOP nomination last month.

Dukakis made an appearance in the Valley for a fund-raiser last August, and his mother, Euterpe, visited a senior citizen center in Reseda last Wednesday and attended a debate party at the Reseda headquarters that evening. Jackson has been in the Valley a couple of times in the past year, including a recent appearance at a drug-treatment center in Tarzana.

Although grass-roots activism gives loyalists a sense of participation, it takes a back seat to fund raising and television advertisements in California presidential campaigns. Initially, candidates visit the Golden State to raise large sums from affluent contributors. Bush has amassed millions in wealthy GOP enclaves. Dukakis has raised more than $1 million in the state and Jackson more than $400,000.

TV Ads

In the final weeks before the state’s last-in-the-nation primary, the race moves to the television screen where slick 30- and 60-second ads bring the campaigns’ message home to the state’s 6.2 million registered Democrats and 4.7 million Republicans.

Still, Jackson has pointed out that he has drawn large numbers of voters despite having far less campaign money and high-profile advertising than his opponents. And his ability to lure new people into the political process could have repercussions that extend beyond the primary’s bottom line.

First, there is voter registration. The Jackson campaign has signed up 2,000 to 3,000 voters--most of whom are Democrats and a majority of whom are minority members--in the East Valley in recent months, said Richard Packard, the 26th District chairman. Volunteer leaders report that the campaign has registered hundreds of others in the 21st and 23rd districts. If they go to the polls, these new voters could influence future elections from city council to the presidency.

More immediately, there is the fall campaign, when Dukakis presumably will need to mobilize Jackson’s supporters on his behalf to be successful. A majority of Jackson backers interviewed for this story said they will vote for the Democratic nominee in November, even if Jackson is not on the ticket, because they want to avoid a continuation of Reagan’s policies.

No Problem

“I don’t see any problem supporting Mr. Dukakis should he be the nominee,” said Gafford, 40, a supervisor at Anheuser-Busch and a Canoga Park resident. “I’m sure Jesse’s going to work very hard for the ticket regardless of how it falls and I’m sure I’ll do the same.”

Others, however, expressed a wait-and-see attitude, saying they want to find out what Jackson does or how much of his liberal agenda is incorporated into the Democratic platform.

“I’m a Democrat, so whatever Jesse suggests for his supporters, I will back 100%,” said Bailey, 45, the 26th District co-chairwoman who had left politics amid despair over the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

And Haddad, who said his reasons for backing Jackson include the candidate’s support for a Palestinian homeland and his refusal to be intimidated by Jewish critics, maintained it was premature to discuss the November campaign.

Jackson supporters emphasize they represent hues of a multi-ethnic Valley rainbow coalition. A majority of those involved are black and Latino, but there are also Arab-Americans, Asian-Americans and whites. As he has done elsewhere, Jackson has made inroads among other elements of the traditional Democratic coalition: gays and lesbians, labor and left-wing peace groups.

“He’s gotten a lot of the peace activists involved,” said Lyn Shaw, 30, a veteran Sun Valley Democratic campaign worker who is coordinating the 21st District effort. “A lot of us that have been active in the Democratic Party believe he is upholding the standard we have believed in for a long time with his support for labor, women’s groups, child care and social programs.”

But he appears to be strongest in the black and Latino enclaves of the northeast Valley, where his candidacy has sparked the kind of pride and excitement that has not been evident since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

“There’s quite a bit of enthusiasm for Jesse,” said Tom Montgomery, 66, a veteran Democratic activist from Pacoima. “In this area, 90% of the black people” back Jackson.

Montgomery, however, is among the minority supporting Dukakis, who he says represents the Democrats’ best shot at victory in November. Though he backed Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. before Biden dropped out, Montgomery now seeks to become a Dukakis delegate.

This has not stopped Montgomery’s two daughters and two grandsons from doing volunteer work for Jackson. This is the first time that either of the younger generations in his family have knocked on doors or worked the phones in a political campaign.

“They espouse Jackson’s philosophy about say ‘no’ to drugs, stay in school and the family,” said Montgomery. “This is an inspiration, particularly for young black people when you have a guy like Jackson talking about those things. They believe he’s sincere.”