CAMPAIGN ’88 : Jackson Sets Priorities

Contending that his presidential bid had captured a new mood in the Democratic Party, the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Sunday renewed his campaign for influence over the party platform, urging that the document incorporate the budgetary priorities he champions.

“I’ve not been able to get Dukakis to make a commitment to increase investment in Head Start or day care or prenatal care or affordable housing,” Jackson said, his voice rising to a strained pitch as he addressed a wildly supportive convention of Citizens Action, a liberal activist group, in a Washington hotel.

“That non-commitment is too conservative for the legitimate needs of our people. . . . We must get a mandate from the people.”

Jackson had said such a quest would be the focus of his pre-convention campaigning, but he has spent much of his time since inviting and answering questions about a possible vice presidential bid. While denying that he had abandoned that notion, Jackson suggested to reporters traveling with him that his focus had shifted.

“We’re not talking about the fight as in name-calling,” Jackson said, “as in walking out of the arena. The fight is a struggle for priorities.

“In Atlanta,” he pledged, “we’ll take our positions to the floor so that we might challenge and inspire our nation and gain a mandate for what we the people built. Unity in July; victory in November.

“But unity in conviction, and unity in courage, not in silence and surrender. The question at stake today is the direction of our party. The direction of our country.”

Asked by reporters on his plane whether he really believed Dukakis would accept his budget priorities--which include a tax hike on the wealthy, a freeze on military spending, and sharp increases in spending on a wide array of social programs--Jackson said:

“The question is not, ‘Is he of a mind with me on this?’ Is he of a mind with Democrats on this? That becomes the difference between inheriting voters from another guy and inspiring them with new dreams and new hopes.”