Dukakis Receives Cool Greeting From NAACP : Jackson Camp Halts Platform Negotiations

Publicly stoical but privately livid over the way the Democratic vice presidential nominee was named, the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s campaign broke off platform negotiations with Michael S. Dukakis’ forces Wednesday and demanded that the Massachusetts governor prove that he will honor the liberal goals embodied in Jackson’s campaign.

The break, five days before the start of the Democratic National Convention here, leaves unresolved several possible platform disputes and floor fights, and raises the specter of bitter demonstrations by Jackson supporters outside the convention hall. And in a larger political context, it threatens to disrupt the cool television picture of a precisely managed convention dreamed of by the Dukakis forces.

Jackson Teases Reporters

Jackson also teased reporters with the possibility that he would allow himself to be nominated for vice president. The move is strongly favored by some in Jackson’s organization, but key aides said there was no current plan to follow such a course.

“I’m not suggesting that I will compete for a place on the ticket,” Jackson said, “but the floor is wide open Thursday when the recommendation is made.”

Jackson also said he had received a telephone call from Dukakis’ chosen running mate, Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, describing it as a “courtesy call that I appreciated very much.”

Jackson’s campaign is indignant over Dukakis’ handling of the choice, which Jackson said he first heard about Tuesday morning from a reporter in a Washington airport.

“We were disappointed and flabbergasted at the process,” said Jackson convention manager Ron Brown. “It was not the proper way to proceed with a partnership.”

Early Wednesday, Jackson’s campaign decided in anger to break off any contact with Dukakis whatsoever, charging that it was now up to Dukakis to undo the damage by reaching out to Jackson.

“There is no contact between our campaigns, there are no negotiations,” said Frank Watkins, Jackson’s political director.

As the day went on, however, the Dukakis campaign was already moving to mend some fences with Jackson, and it appeared to be working.

2 Aides Talk

Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich called Jackson convention manager Brown, and she and Brown talked again several times later in the day.

“Susan called me to apologize and to assure me it was not a deliberate or intentional slight,” Brown said. “. . . She’s a person of integrity. And if she says it, I believe it.”

But Brown added: “At this point we have instructed our platform staff to put a hold on all platform discussions,” trying instead to win platform fights rather than work out compromises.

“There needs to be some direct contact between Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson” to get things back on a positive footing, Brown said.

Jackson, speaking late Wednesday at a rally in Chicago for delegates from nine states, said that with Bentsen on the ticket, the party’s conservative wing was amply represented, and added: “The Rainbow Coalition must also be in the equation.

“Our requests are reasonable,” he said. “I’m expected to deliver more votes than any congressman, any governor or any senator. I don’t mind bearing that burden . . . but I want for my constituents to have their crown.”

For their part, Democratic Party officials seemed less worried than wearied by this latest Jackson machination.

Have ‘to Reconnoiter’

“I assume this will last like a day or two and then we will have to reconnoiter,” said Democratic National Committee communications director Mike McCurry.

“But we’ve got four days and a lot can happen in that time.”

One possible avenue to soothe Jackson’s feelings--that party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. might act as an intermediary--seems closed for now. The Jackson camp has taken umbrage at Kirk’s behavior in the Bentsen nomination.

“It’s pretty difficult to act as a bridge when he was up in Boston introducing the Dukakis-Bentsen team as if he were the campaign chairman,” Watkins complained. “I thought he was supposed to be a neutral bridge to all the candidates. . . . Obviously he’s not a neutral force.”

The Jackson-Kirk relationship was rather stiff even before this week’s developments, party officials said privately. Kirk rarely calls Jackson directly, preferring to work instead through intermediary Brown.

Now, even some on Kirk’s staff indicated they were trying to figure out a way to get the party chairman to do more to extend himself to Jackson.

“Just pick up the phone,” one official said. “This is partly a matter of hurt feelings.”

Calls for Protest

Some Jackson supporters also feel hurt. Atlanta City Councilman and civil rights activist the Rev. Hosea Williams on Wednesday called for a “massive nonviolent protest” on the first night of the convention.

Speaking at the grave site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Williams charged that Dukakis had perpetrated “an un-American racial injustice” on the 7 million primary voters who supported Jackson “by not granting black and poor voters political equity throughout the Democratic Party’s total process” by not naming Jackson to the ticket.

The Jackson campaign has not endorsed Williams’ proposed demonstration march. And Jackson officials threatened obliquely that they would not try to stop outside demonstrations from occuring.

Jackson supporters “are supporters, not blind followers, and some of these supporters were insulted,” Brown said.

And “the quality and intensity of enthusiasm for Dukakis depends on his reaching out,” Brown said.

Jackson’s campaign staff itself is planning a series of events for non-delegate Jackson supporters outside the hall, including seminars on Jackson’s political platform and a jazz and gospel concert, all designed to attract press coverage and crowds to the second-place finisher’s cause.

Monitors Bus Rentals

Privately, the Democratic National Committee is sufficiently concerned that it is monitoring bus rentals to measure how many Jackson supporters might be arriving.

Yet the real question is how Jackson will resolve the competing impulses of furthering his own political future while satisfying his supporters generally and himself emotionally.

Did the party Establishment believe Jackson would find that task as difficult as he has, one high ranking party official was asked. He stared, then slowly shook his head and whispered: “No way.”

Staff writer Ron Harris in Chicago contributed to this story.

THE JACKSON CARAVAN Schedule and route of the Jesse Jackson ’88 Rainbow Voter Registration Caravan, which leaves Chicago today bound for the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Thursday 1. 3 p.m.: Depart Chicago for Indianapolis 2. 8 p.m.: Rally in Indianapolis Friday 3. Morning: Depart Indianapolis for Louisville 4. Noon: Rally in Louisville 5. 2 p.m.: Depart Louisville for Nashville 6. 7:30 p.m.: Rally in Nashville Saturday 7. Morning: Depart Nashville for Chattanooga 8. Noon: Arrive Chattanooga and meet with rest of motorcade 9. 2 p.m. (approx.): Motorcade leaves Chattanooga for Atlanta 10. 4 p.m.(approx.): Arrive in Atlanta