CAMPAIGN ’88 : California Bucks Trend

Maybe they objected to having the choice decided beforehand by voters in other states. Or maybe political preferences are just different. In any event, California Democrats have rejected front-runners in three consecutive elections, siding with candidates who had little or no hope of winning the party nomination.

The state’s winners were then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1976, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1980 and former Sen. Gary Hart in 1984.

This time, Dukakis’ campaign manager contends, there is something different that will keep Californians from making a winner of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

“There is a less rebellious spirit than we saw in past elections,” campaign manager Susan Estrich told reporters in Los Angeles. “There is a sense in 1988 that Democrats want to win . . . . They can smell it. And we can win if we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”