NATION : Define Issues, Democrats Urged

Ronald H. Brown, preparing to take over as Democratic Party chairman, told party officials today that they face “tough adversaries” and must work to define party positions more forcefully on issues such as defense, crime and drugs.

Brown, who on Friday will become the first black to chair a major political party, told the Assn. of State Democratic Chairs, “I am going to be a common-sense, pragmatic chairman.” He told the state party leaders, “We’ve got a difficult job ahead, we’ve got tough adversaries. . . .They don’t care much about truth or about decency.”

Taking over amid concern about the erosion of the party’s Southern base, Brown said, “I don’t want to be chairman of a party that writes off any region of the country.”