Dukakis Praises Jackson Plan for Post-Primary Campaigning

Appealing for party unity as he approaches victory in his year-long quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis said Sunday he welcomes the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s plan to continue campaigning even after the nomination has been decided.

But while Dukakis praised Jackson, his words were couched in terms that gave no encouragement to those among Jackson’s advisers who want their candidate to press for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket.

“I expect he’ll be out there campaigning hard for the Democratic ticket in the fall,” said Dukakis, but he added that so, too, will “other important party leaders, people all across the country.”

Saturday, Jackson told reporters that he plans to continue a full campaign schedule after Tuesday, when California, New Jersey, Montana and New Mexico hold the final primaries of the year. Jackson, seeking support for his political goals, will retain his chartered campaign plane and will continue to schedule speeches and rallies at least until the Democratic convention in Atlanta in mid-July, he said.

Dukakis, for his part, has been telling campaign audiences that he hopes to have the party’s nomination locked up after Tuesday’s primaries. Most professional politicians expect that prediction to be borne out, and increasingly, Dukakis’ audiences appear to do so, as well.

For the first time in his campaign, the normally bland Dukakis has begun to pick up star quality. As he campaigned across New Jersey during the weekend, elderly voters pushed through crowds to catch a glimpse of him, and parents placed children on their shoulders, telling them to take a look at “the next president.”

Even his wife’s recent surgery for ruptured spinal discs has unexpectedly turned into a benefit for Dukakis, providing an emotional bond to audiences which, in the past, he seldom has been able to achieve. At each of his campaign appearances, voters have asked after Kitty Dukakis’ health, and he has received warm applause by praising her as a “strong woman.”

Speaking near a spectacular waterfall on the site of one of the nation’s earliest industrial mills, Dukakis touted once again his efforts to revitalize aging cities in Massachusetts, saying that as president he could help do the same for cities elsewhere.

Aides to Vice President George Bush have challenged Dukakis’ account of his economic revitalization efforts, pointing out that while unemployment in the state is well below the national average, the increase in jobs has come in the service sector. The state has steadily continued to lose manufacturing jobs.

Dukakis, however, has emphasized the overall numbers. In Lowell, Mass., once a depressed mill town, “today we have a labor shortage, literally a labor shortage,” he said. “That did not happen by accident, we invested in that community.”

Dukakis later flew to Los Angeles.