Politics 88 : Pep Rallies, TV Pictures Mark Primary Eve Campaigning : Homilies, Praise End Dukakis Run

Barnstorming across California Monday, a buoyant Michael S. Dukakis wrapped up 15 long months of campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination with homilies about families and praise for his rival in today’s final primaries.

It was largely a day for sunny pep rallies and TV pictures, with Dukakis even relaxing on schedule--and on camera--by tossing a baseball with his 19-year-old daughter, Kara, on the Tarmac at the San Diego airport.

Campaign aides expect that voters in California, New Jersey, Montana and New Mexico will give the Massachusetts governor enough convention delegates at the polls today for Dukakis to claim the Democratic nomination at tonight’s victory party at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

“I’m looking forward to a decisive victory . . . so we can lock up this nomination and lock it up early,” the normally cautious Dukakis told cheering students at the William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills.

Buttons Proclaim ‘2081’

Dukakis is within 192 delegates of securing the nomination, and aides are sporting lapel buttons emblazoned “2081,” the magic number needed for nomination at the party convention in Atlanta. Dukakis gathered 75 more pledged delegates Monday, according to a tabulation by the Associated Press. Many of the new delegates are from Kentucky, where Gov. Wallace Wilkinson endorsed the Massachusetts governor Monday.

Aides said Dukakis will reveal on Wednesday how he plans to begin his formal search for a running mate. He told reporters on his plane that campaign chairman Paul Brountas and “key staff” will head the search. He added, however, “I will be very involved, and I will be making phone calls.”

One ranking aide denied there was any significance to the slogan on the pen he used: “America Needs John Glenn.” The aide, who pleaded for anonymity, said the pen was left over from Glenn’s abortive presidential bid in 1984, and not a signal that the popular Ohio senator was an inside favorite for Dukakis’ running mate.

With the nomination contest almost complete, Dukakis had only kind words for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, his only rival in today’s primaries.

“Nobody . . . nobody could have possibly predicted that Jesse and I would do what we’ve done,” said Dukakis, who was flanked by a red-robed choir and pompon-waving cheerleaders at the high school. “It says everything there is to say about this country, and our future.”

Dukakis told reporters later that he had telephoned Jackson on Sunday. Dukakis added that he is “confident” Jackson would actively support the Democratic ticket this fall.

“If the tables were reversed and he was on his way to the nomination and I was the runner-up, I would expect to be deeply involved,” Dukakis said. “I would try to bring my people into this. I’d be actively involved in trying to help shape the platform, and be of as much help and service to the ticket as I possibly could. I’m confident he will be that kind of person.”

Despite the grueling pace of recent months, with primaries and caucuses in 46 states, Dukakis denied that he was “relieved” to mark the end of the 1988 campaign’s long beginning.

“I’m not tired,” he said with a grin. “I love campaigning.”

He said he was “overwhelmed” by the “good feeling, the spirit, the confidence” of Democrats across the country as they face the fall race against the presumptive Republican nominee, Vice President George Bush.

“The sense of victory is in the air,” he said. “We’ve got much to do to achieve that victory, but I don’t remember a time in this party when we’ve been more united.”

San Diego Rally

Noting that his wife, Kitty, is recovering from surgery on her neck in Boston, Dukakis lauded “values of love and family and togetherness” at a sun-dappled noon rally at the Savings Tower Plaza in downtown San Diego.

“There is no institution more important than the family in our society,” he told the crowd of more than 1,000.

“And the most important family policy we have in this country is full employment,” he said.

Dukakis repeated his campaign calls for more federal assistance to schools, national health insurance, job-training programs, stricter enforcement of child-support laws, and a stronger anti-drug effort.

“I’m not running for the presidency to overthrow governments in Central America,” he said. “I want to save the lives of young people in Middle America. That’s what this election is all about.”