POLITICS ’88 : Jackson Vows to ‘Keep Going’ for Nomination : Renews His Drive for Support at Convention in Address to Mayors

Showing no sign of abating his presidential bid, the Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered an unabashed campaign speech Tuesday to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He appealed to the Democratic delegates among them to support him and his “program of action” at the party’s national convention next month.

“In Atlanta, a vote for me is a vote for you,” Jackson told the mayors. “Vote conscience, courage, conviction. Vote Jesse Jackson.”

The address, a first step in Jackson’s post-primary effort to attract delegate support, differed little from his familiar stump speech and offered not a hint of acknowledgment that Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis wrapped up the Democratic nomination in the primaries.

Jackson has refused to concede the nomination until the convention makes the choice of Dukakis official, a position often taken by defeated candidates. His speech Tuesday, prefaced with a rousing Sousa march, began an unusually rigorous pre-convention campaign schedule and made it clear that he has no intention of moderating his stands on the issues on which he and Dukakis differ strongly.

Tax, Defense Issues

The civil rights leader argued at length for increasing taxes on the wealthy and freezing military spending, positions vigorously opposed by Dukakis delegates in Democratic platform hearings in Mackinac Island, Mich., last weekend.

And, once again, Jackson tweaked Dukakis for his failure to come up with a plan for reducing the federal budget deficit.

“I’m the only candidate with a plan to pay for our dreams,” he said. “My friends, we are at the crossroads. What direction shall we take? Bush says sustain Reaganomics. Dukakis says manage Reaganomics. I say stop Reaganomics. Change the course.”

At a news conference later, asked whether he still believed he could win the nomination, Jackson said only: “I will keep going for every delegate in every region of the country to get our convention to send forth a progressive direction.”

Jackson said he would have “no interest” in a Cabinet post in a Dukakis Administration, but repeatedly called attention to his claim to the second spot on the Democratic ticket.

‘Let the People Speak’

“My point at this point is to seek the nomination of my party until there is no nomination,” he said. “My second point is that I have earned, and my constituency has earned, serious consideration to be on the ticket. From that point on, let the people speak.”

Saying it was “too early to speculate,” Jackson would not rule out accepting the nomination for vice president from the convention floor if Dukakis does not ask him to join the ticket. He did say that he believes Dukakis should choose a nominee and not leave it entirely to the convention delegates.

Jackson had canceled his plan to attend the conference, but changed his mind late Monday, after Washington Mayor Marion Barry, Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode and Newark Mayor Sharp James--all Jackson supporters--made a last-minute appeal to him.

His audience, which officials said was larger than the one Dukakis drew on Sunday, responded tentatively at first to Jackson’s undiminished politicking.

But they cheered in delight when Jackson turned the urban policy address into a medley of campaign refrains, reminding them that he was an “odds breaker” and “born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me.”

“We will keep crisscrossing our nation with our mission intact,” Jackson promised, “to keep America strong, and to make America better.”