Dukakis Casts Doubts on Quayle’s Ability

Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis said Wednesday that voters will have to judge whether Dan Quayle is qualified to be “quite literally a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

Dukakis carefully couched his comments to encourage doubts about the relatively little-known 41-year-old Indiana senator whom Vice President Bush chose as his running mate on the Republican ticket Tuesday.

“Frankly, I don’t know the man,” Dukakis told reporters while campaigning for blue-collar votes in economically depressed northern Minnesota. “I don’t know what he’s done and what he hasn’t done.”

Points to Bentsen Reaction

“I will say this,” Dukakis said several times, “Nobody asked any questions about whether Lloyd Bentsen was qualified to be President.”

He called Bentsen, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and a 67-year-old, three-term senator from Texas, “mature, with a proven capacity for leadership.”

The Dukakis campaign is trying to paint the new GOP vice presidential nominee as too inexperienced, too young, too rich, too conservative and too out of touch with working Americans.

A Dukakis spokesman, Dayton Duncan, said with a grin: “There’s no question this will significantly improve Bush’s chances in Indiana,” a state considered solidly Republican in any event. “They’ll make a great tennis team,” said Mark Gearan, another campaign spokesman.

Aides took pains to rebut arguments that Quayle’s youthful good looks and age would give the GOP ticket special appeal to young voters and women.

“Why should it?” Duncan said. “It’s a good argument (to elect) Tom Selleck.” If age made a difference, he said, “Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have won in 1980 and 1984.” Bush, he argued, “caved in to the right wing” in choosing Quayle.

Fears About Other Choices

Dukakis aides earlier in the week had privately voiced fears that Bush would choose Kansas Sen. Bob Dole or Atty. Gen. Richard L. Thornburgh, the former governor of Pennsylvania, as a running mate. The aides claimed to be delighted with Quayle, pointing to criticism even by some Republicans at the surprise choice.

Dukakis spoke at a press conference after addressing about 2,000 cheering, flag-waving supporters in this solidly Democratic district some 50 miles west of Duluth. The rally was the first stop on a four-day campaign swing through the South and Midwest intended to steal some of the spotlight during the GOP convention.

Dukakis blasted the Reagan Administration for higher interest rates, the growing trade deficit, the Pentagon procurement scandal and other problems. “Not a word from the Republicans in New Orleans,” Dukakis said repeatedly, as the crowd happily chanted along.

In the ore-producing region called the Iron Range, which is now suffering 12% to 15% unemployment, Dukakis emphasized his support for the proposed National Economic Development Act.

Provides Matching Grants

Rep. James L. Oberstar, who sponsored the plan and represents the Iron Range, said it would provide $250 million annually in matching grants to communities with a year or more of above-average unemployment, or with 80% of average per capita income. The money would go for infrastructure or a revolving loan fund, he said.

The plan, which would replace an existing grants program, has passed the House four times but is opposed by the Reagan Administration, Oberstar said.

Dukakis was met here by former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, the unsuccessful presidential nominee in 1984. Dukakis greeted him warmly on the stage, but sat on the other side of the podium, frustrating photographers seeking to picture them together.

Mondale said he would offer advice to Dukakis during a flight to Minneapolis, then go fishing. What advice? “Use worms on the walleyes,” he said.

Moments later, Dukakis told reporters that he hopes to “build on the foundation” that Mondale created in his 1984 race against Ronald Reagan.

“That should be easy,” whispered the man who lost 49 out of 50 states.