Dukakis to Meet Jackson Today : Seeks to Avoid Having Convention Showcase Differences With Rival

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, after working over the weekend to resolve a major budget problem in Massachusetts, arrived in Atlanta on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to face a potentially much more serious one: how to keep the convention from turning into a showcase of his differences with rival Jesse Jackson.

In a late-night telephone call between Dukakis and Jackson that aides said lasted 15 minutes, the two candidates agreed to meet in Dukakis’ hotel suite this morning.

Some Dukakis staff members said a tentative plan had been worked out to incorporate Jackson’s staff in the campaign and give Jackson a general election role. But other aides said many details remained to be worked out.

Throughout the discussions leading to today’s meeting, the Dukakis forces had pressed to settle on the staff level any differences between the rivals, while Jackson preferred to negotiate with Dukakis directly. But Dukakis senior adviser Kirk O’Donnell said: “I don’t think the meeting is contingent upon every ‘i’ being dotted and ‘t’ being crossed.”

Seeks ‘Partnership’

Earlier Sunday, talks broke off between Jackson and Dukakis intermediaries over how to settle differences in the party platform and how to deal with Jackson’s demand for a “partnership” in the Dukakis campaign.

Christopher Edley, Dukakis’ chief issues adviser, said Sunday’s discussions centered on three questions: what jobs Jackson staff members will receive in the Dukakis campaign structure, what representation Jackson will have on the Democratic National Committee and “how the candidates and surrogates will be scheduled” during the fall campaign.

According to sources, Jackson is also demanding:

--Specific high-ranking titles for himself and some of his advisers in the Dukakis campaign.

--The use of his own airplane for campaigning, much as he demanded and received when he campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Walter F. Mondale, in 1984.

--A $10-million campaign budget.

As Dukakis arrived in Atlanta Sunday, he declared: “We’re working hard to make sure we have a good convention, a strong and united party.”

But some Dukakis backers reacted testily to the continuing difficulties with Jackson. “He (Jackson) is changing the theme of the civil rights movement to, ‘we have overreached,’ ” remarked a House Democratic aide.

Some party leaders viewed Jackson’s demands as an attempt to resolve his personal disappointment at not being chosen as the vice presidential nominee, and recommended that Dukakis not yield to many of them.

“Jesse is experiencing a common phenomenon--the fading limelight,” said Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who also was considered by Dukakis as a vice presidential running mate. “Whether you have been Fernando Valenzuela and your curve ball doesn’t have the snap that it used to have, or the star of a television series that is being canceled, or a candidate who is coming to the end of his candidacy, it’s tough to let go.”

In a speech Sunday night after arriving in Atlanta, Dukakis repeatedly mentioned Jackson, attempting to link his own campaign to the themes Jackson has pushed. “I and Jesse and all of you can reach out, can bring people into the system,” he told the audience of Democratic Party leaders at a dinner sponsored by the Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System.

Resurrecting a line that he frequently had used in speeches earlier this spring, Dukakis talked of himself and Jackson as “the two leading candidates” for the nomination, a significant switch from his rhetoric as recently as Sunday morning when, in a press conference, he referred to himself as the “quarterback” of the Democrats and to Jackson as simply an “important member of the team.”

At that press conference, Dukakis played down his rift with Jackson, saying Jackson had phoned him early in the day for their third phone conversation in four days. He insisted he was not frustrated by the continued jockeying and negotiating by the two campaigns.

“This is the stuff of politics,” Dukakis said at a Statehouse news conference. “This is what I love to do. This is my life.”

Knowledgeable sources close to the Jackson campaign said Sunday that Jackson is more bitter than has been reported over his treatment by Dukakis, and believes he has never been given the “serious consideration” he had been promised. The sources said Jackson, in his many meetings with Dukakis, has never been given the chance to put forth the reasons he believes he should be on the ticket. As a result, the sources said, he wishes to be his own advocate before Dukakis.

The sources said Jackson was most bitter about the lack of substance in his conversation with Dukakis when he and his wife joined the Dukakises for a Fourth of July dinner in Brookline. The private, after-dinner meeting between the two candidates lasted only 15 minutes, the sources said, and was interrupted before Jackson could make his case by the Dukakis children who insisted that the candidates join the others for ice cream.

The families went on to a Fourth of July concert on the Boston Common, and Jackson expected that their discussion would resume later in the evening, the sources said. But when the fireworks were over, Dukakis said good night; and by the following Monday, when Jackson met for two hours with Dukakis adviser Paul P. Brountas, he believes the decision to select Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas had already had been made.

Belated Phone Call

The sources said that other slights--including the belated phone call informing Jackson that Bentsen would be on the ticket--were of far less importance than his belief that his case had never been heard.

“More than anything,” one of the sources said, “he still wants his day in court.”

Jackson’s refusal to let go has greatly complicated things for Dukakis, who met with top advisers here to plot last-minute strategy in hopes of persuading Jackson not to challenge Dukakis’ choice for his vice presidential running mate--Bentsen.

Although Dukakis has more than enough votes for the presidential nomination and undoubtedly could control the outcome of any convention skirmish, he said he hopes Jackson will not file for the vice presidential nomination.

“I hope we could move forward with the nomination of Sen. Bentsen and begin the campaign itself,” the governor said. “We want to get going. We want to have the Rev. Jackson involved from the beginning.”

‘Rigorous Process’

Jackson said he has not decided whether to mount a challenge, but added: “I made it clear at the outset that I wanted to be part of the ticket. That’s why I submitted myself to the rigorous process.”

California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who is Jackson’s national campaign chairman, on Sunday described Dukakis as having a “sensitivity problem” with blacks that could cost him the presidential election.

Brown, one of Jackson’s negotiators on the issue of a “partnership” in the campaign, also turned up the pressure on Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. to step down, saying he believes the chairman has followed a deliberate strategy of excluding Jackson and his constituency from important party decisions.

Labeling Kirk “a jerk,” Brown said the Jackson campaign has, in its negotiations with the Dukakis campaign, “made clear that there’s a problem with Paul Kirk.”

Stranded in Boston

With Dukakis stranded in Boston working on the budget issue, Jackson had dominated pre-convention maneuvering and news coverage here. And his differences with Dukakis could continue to overshadow the convention agenda unless the two candidates can find common ground.

A face-to-face meeting between the two men, which Jackson has demanded, had appeared to be imminent Sunday. But Sunday evening Jackson said there would definitely be no meeting Sunday night because of “a lack of progress” in negotiations with the Dukakis camp.

Before leaving Boston, Dukakis had said: “I’m sure we will meet in Atlanta, and I hope we can do so throughout the campaign.”

Former Democratic Chairman John C. White and several other prominent Democrats said it is imperative for the Dukakis-Jackson meeting to take place before Jackson delivers his speech Tuesday night. It is not likely to be the unifying speech Dukakis forces hope for if Jackson continues to feel that Dukakis is not treating him with the recognition he believes he deserves as the runner-up in the presidential race, they said.

A Potential Problem

The address by the civil rights leader will be preceded by the presentation of the party platform, another potential problem for Dukakis if Jackson forces decide to wage a divisive battle for controversial positions that Dukakis opposes and that polls indicate would provide political ammunition for Republicans in the general election.

The Dukakis forces, seeking to head off any bruising fights over 13 minority planks, have made progress in reaching a compromise with Jackson supporters on nine of the planks, a Dukakis source said Sunday.

But Dukakis, the source said, remains firmly opposed to compromising on four of the most controversial planks, which call for a tax increase on upper-income taxpayers; a freeze on military spending; a Palestinian homeland; and a commitment not to launch a first-strike nuclear attack.

Despite Jackson’s unhappiness and the continuing speculation about a Jackson-Dukakis feud touching off a damaging intraparty explosion, most party leaders here seemed confident that Dukakis’ political imperatives and Jackson’s own interest in a political future would rule the situation.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Sara Fritz, Bob Drogin, Robert Shogan, Karen Tumulty, Douglas Jehl, Frank Clifford, Robert Scheer and David Lauter.