Dukakis Picks Clinton to Make His Nomination

In a departure from past Democratic conventions, the nomination of Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis will be made in one 15-minute address by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Dukakis presidential campaign announced Saturday.

Ordinarily, several persons put a candidate’s name in nomination, each stressing a different strength.

But Dukakis spokesman Steven Akey said that the governor decided he wanted Clinton, a good speaker, to do it “in one shot.”

Clinton is the second Southerner to be chosen for a highly visible role at the convention, showing the importance of the region, which has 138 electoral votes and has rejected Democratic presidential candidates in four of the last five elections.

Convention Starts July 18

Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards will make the Democratic keynote speech opening the convention on Monday, July 18, in Atlanta. The nominations will be made the following night.

In a statement released by his campaign office, Dukakis said: “Bill Clinton is a leader among national governors who shares my commitment to building a strong economic future . . . . “

Clinton said in a statement that he would stress Dukakis’ “accomplishments as governor and leadership abilities.”

“I hope to convey,” Clinton said, “why I feel so strongly that he is the right person now.”

In an interview earlier this year, Clinton, 42, who was first elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, said he and Dukakis had become close friends over the years as members of the National Governors’ Assn. and the Democratic Governors’ Assn.

Clinton remained neutral in the crowded Democratic presidential race, but he said it was hard because “Michael Dukakis is one of my best friends.”

‘Cares About People’

At a news conference in Little Rock, the Associated Press reported, Clinton said that Dukakis “cares about people who aren’t as well off as he thinks they ought to be, who don’t have the opportunities that they ought to have. That counts for a lot with me.”

He said that Dukakis is sincere about wanting to aid the economic development of the South, and “was very forthright in discussing with me how profoundly concerned he was that our part of the country was so economically depressed and had been so neglected by the national Administration, and he said he just didn’t understand how you could have a national government that didn’t try to help distressed areas of the country. I think the American people ought to know that.”