Politics 88 : Campaign Not Over Yet, Jackson Insists

The election may be over for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, but in his kaleidoscopic political world, the campaign nonetheless keeps churning.

His name will not be on another presidential ballot for at least four years, but he continues to stump at a dawn-to-midnight pace far more dizzying than the schedules of the two men who are still in the race.

With little to gain in conventional political terms, why does he press on?

To some degree, it is an investment in the future--in the long term for a potential campaign in 1992, in the short haul to maintain as much leverage as possible going into the Democratic convention next month in Atlanta.

In recent days, Jackson also has emphasized a broader goal, that of establishing what he calls “a new tradition.” It is into this context that he now fits his assertions that he has “earned consideration” to be his party’s vice presidential nominee.

Few believe that Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis will offer to share the ticket with him, yet Jackson maintained in an interview Sunday: “I inserted my name into the process because (the strength of) my constituency allows me to do so.”

The heavy campaign schedule has a purpose beyond keeping Jackson’s supporters hopeful and enthusiastic. Jackson said the effort is also aimed at maintaining pressure on “those (in the Democratic leadership) with whom we are negotiating” over party rules and platform planks.

“If the assumption (is permitted to prevail) that my supporters rose up as an aberration, and will fit back into the same slots, they will be taken for granted again,” he said. “That’s the tradition. It’s an old tradition. Many (in the party) are not leaders; They are creatures of habit.”

Jackson also appears to have a personal need that keeps him hacking away at the political thicket he encountered when he reached what is usually the end of the campaign trail.

This showed when a recent late-night discussion with reporters aboard the Jackson campaign bus turned to the subject of boxing. One journalist expressed bewilderment that so many fighters stay in the game long after they have peaked, when they are certain to be bloodied every time they enter the ring.

Jackson, without hesitation, offered an explanation--one that seemed to apply equally well in the political ring.

It is the limelight, he said. Once you have known it, it is hard to give up the intoxicating feeling that every camera in the world is trained on you.

“You can’t just go home and chop wood,” Jackson said.

The determination that drives Jackson and his supporters has never been more clearly evident than during the past three days of campaigning both here and in Puerto Rico--two U.S. territories whose citizens will not even have the right to vote in the November elections.

Puerto Rico Pact

He came to this area to protest the system under which he initially received none of Puerto Rico’s delegates, although he won the largest share of votes in its non-binding Democratic primary on March 20.

Jackson’s visit dominated the local news. Before he left, he and a visibly uncomfortable Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon announced an agreement that he would have the support of eight of the island’s 56 convention delegates--a symbolic victory but one that Jackson hailed as “an end to an old tradition of a handful of people denying democratic options.”

With his emphasis on “new tradition,” Jackson has now offered his supporters a chance to claim a victory even if he is not given a chance to be on the ticket.

“Before this campaign is over--and it’s not over,” he said, “there will be no more impossible dreams.”