Ron Brown Says He Has Clinched Democratic Post

Former Jesse Jackson adviser Ron Brown moved closer to winning the competition for Democratic national chairman Wednesday with the withdrawal from the contest of his principal opponent, Richard Wiener, chairman of the Michigan state party.

Wiener endorsed Brown’s candidacy, and Brown promptly claimed that he had enough votes to be assured of victory when the Democratic National Committee meets to select its next leader Feb. 10. A Washington lawyer who was convention manager for Jackson in the 1988 presidential campaign, Brown would be the first black to lead a national party.

Sees First Ballot Victory

“By taking this action today, I believe that this race has effectively ended and that Ron Brown will achieve a first ballot victory,” Wiener, who has headed the Assn. of Democratic State Chairmen since 1985, declared. “Ron Brown’s experience and leadership make him pre-eminently qualified to serve as our party’s chair.”

In his own statement, Brown said: “I am very, very pleased and look forward to leading a united party for the next four years. My first priority is to reach out to all Democrats. Our strength as a party depends on our ability to appeal to Americans in every region with a message of strength and hope.”

Former Oklahoma Rep. James R. Jones, who claims to have been gaining support in recent days, said he was staying in the race.

“We’re calling all of our supporters and all of Wiener’s and all the uncommitted,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. “We’re assessing the situation.”

Ira Forman, campaign manager for former Ohio Rep. James Stanton, who has been running a distant fourth, declined to comment on Stanton’s plans.

Second Boost in Week

This was the second such boost that Brown has received this week. On Sunday, former Maryland Rep. Michael Barnes withdrew and endorsed Brown.

Brown has been considered the front-runner in the contest to replace outgoing chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. almost from the start. He has three important sources of support--blacks, because of his ties to the Jackson campaign, liberals, because he was involved in Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s abortive attempt to win the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination and labor, because the AFL-CIO Executive Council endorsed him earlier this month.