Race’s Final Day Stresses Future : Tired Dukakis Crosses Nation, Seeks ‘Miracle’

On the 604th and final day of his campaign for the White House, a weary Michael S. Dukakis raced 4,359 miles against the clock Monday seeking a miracle.

Midnight Sunday found him somewhere over the Rockies in a small fast jet, dashing east on a 4,100-mile detour that brought him to San Francisco from Spokane, Wash., via Cleveland and St. Louis.

Catching some sleep on a sofa in the plane, the Democratic presidential candidate arrived back in California shortly before noon, then raced for a rally under clear blue skies at Embarcadero Plaza.

“This election isn’t about the past, it’s not about the present, it’s about the future of this great country and the planet,” he told the crowd.

Satellite Talk

Then he was off again to talk to voters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York and Montana--this time by satellite--before flying once more to Los Angeles.

The crowd in San Francisco on Monday may have been the largest of his campaign, tens of thousands of supporters crowded into the plaza while others watched from the balconies of the Hyatt Hotel or the windows of nearby office buildings. But despite their cheers, Dukakis was clearly tired, his delivery slow, his voice flat and his message, at times, plaintive.

Vice President George Bush, he charged, has been traveling the country in the last few days claiming to be “on the side” of average Americans, Dukakis’ own most successful theme.

“Gimme a break,” Dukakis said, throwing his arms wide. “Gimme a break!”

“First, he tried to steal our heroes,” he said, recounting how Bush has tried to claim the mantle of former President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat. “Then he tried to steal our issues,” such as jobs, education and health care.

“Now he’s trying to steal our cause.”

“Before you know it,” Dukakis joked, “he’ll try to steal the Democratic donkey. But he better be careful, because that donkey is on our side, and it’s going to kick him right . . .” He paused with a broad grin as the crowd roared.

“Right out of the White House, right out of Washington and right out of our future,” he finally concluded.

Bush ‘Handlers’

Bush’s “handlers,” he said, had claimed to have California “locked up.” But “I think California is going to lock George Bush right out of the White House.”

But one aide expressed fear that Dukakis supporters in California could stay home if earlier returns from Eastern states show a strong Bush lead. “Our voters vote from 5 to 8, after they get off work,” the aide said.

Even after a final California rally at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion Monday evening, the Massachusetts governor’s day was not over. Continuing his frantic, almost desperate, dash to grab votes in key states, he planned to fly overnight back to vote in Boston, stopping for a 3:30 a.m. speech to supporters in Des Moines and a 7 a.m. rally in Detroit.

Talk of Success

As Dukakis repeats the by-now-familiar themes that have driven his campaign close--but most likely not close enough--to Bush in the last three weeks, his aides still talk about success.

“Miracles do happen,” one aide said.

But the candidate’s closest aides appeared glum-faced and exhausted Monday. When Dukakis spoke at the rally here, his friend and campaign chairman, Paul P. Brountas, sat alone in the cheering crowd, staring at the ground.

Only Dukakis’ longtime traveling adviser, Nick Mitropoulos, kept his enthusiasm, whistling and pounding the podium at Dukakis’ feet. And when someone in the crowd shouted, “Bush is a wimp!” Mitropoulos wheeled and shouted back: “Yeah!”

Even the candidate concedes that a Democratic victory would be a surprise.

‘November Surprise’

“A lot of people talk about an October surprise,” he told supporters in St. Louis, referring to rumors earlier in the fall that the Reagan Administration planned to announce some major breakthrough in foreign policy to boost Bush’s fortunes--”Tomorrow, we’re going to have a November surprise.”

To achieve the surprise, Dukakis is counting on two major themes that he stressed both in his speeches Monday and in a 30-minute advertisement that his campaign aired nationally Monday evening.

One is his populist we’re-on-your-side oratory, which has been boosted, the campaign believes, by a tactical error Bush made during a television interview last week.

During the interview, Bush said he could not commit himself to cutting off foreign aid to countries that do not cooperate in anti-drug efforts. Dukakis has hit Bush repeatedly on that issue, airing an advertisement that shows the governor, speaking in Chicago saying he would be “damned” if he would let other countries send drugs to the United States.

Concern Over Quayle

A second possible gaffe by Bush is fueling Dukakis’ other major theme--concern over the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana. Bush, in a second televised interview, said several days ago that he “might” put Quayle in charge of the White House crisis management group, and Dukakis has pounded away at that, saying the idea “kind of gives you the chills.”

To heighten the contrast with Quayle, Dukakis featured his own running mate, Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, in Monday night’s 30-minute campaign ad. In it, Bentsen talked about voters’ discomfort with Quayle as well as his own anger at Republican campaign “distortions.”

The ad also featured Dukakis, looking relaxed wearing a red sweater, answering questions from voters, playing “Happy Days Are Here Again” on the trumpet and posing with his family at a recent gathering.

Aided by Dellums

With Dukakis tiring, his campaign must rely on supporters to fire up his crowd. Here, the duty was carried by Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Oakland).

“Mr. Bush, if you can hear me, hear the fact that thousands of us are gathered here today who are not afraid of the L-word, liberal,” Dellums said.

“Try the A-word for apartheid . . . or the A-word for AIDS . . . or the C-word for covert action and Contra aid . . . or the D-word for drugs . . . the H-word for homelessness . . . the R-word for racism.”

“You want an alphabet, Mr. Bush, we’ll give you an alphabet.”

Starts With Dawn Rally

Dukakis launched the last day of his campaign with a rousing dawn rally at a United Auto Workers hall in Cleveland, trying to rev up a key Democratic constituency in a crucial industrial state. He timed his arrival so that the TV morning news shows could “go live” to the event.

“I don’t know what you all had for breakfast this morning,” he told a cheering, wisecracking crowd of about 300, “but I like your spirit, and I smell that victory in the air.”

“ ‘88 the same as ‘48!” shouted General Motors worker Steve Savanick, standing beneath a huge sign--”Give ‘em Hell, Duke”--an echo from Truman’s come-from-behind campaign in 1948.

Within 2 Points

Dukakis flew next to St. Louis and addressed a cheering crowd of more than 600 supporters on the airport tarmac. Campaign aides said the last-minute appearance was scheduled after weekend polls showed Dukakis pulling to within 2 points of Bush in Missouri.

“We think it’s getting a lot closer, too close to ignore for these last-minute shots,” said one adviser, who noted that the event would be “dynamite” on midday and evening television news shows in the St. Louis area.

At both morning stops, Dukakis’ voice was back at full strength after going hoarse over the weekend. He spoke without notes and delivered the now-familiar populist punch lines crisply.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Paul Houston in Cleveland and Josh Getlin in St. Louis.