Centrists Seek to Alter Democrats’ Course : Politics: Group wants to cut party’s ties to traditional interest groups. It hopes winning back middle class will open door of White House.

The Democratic Leadership Council, a group of self-styled centrists, opened its first national convention here Monday, with members vowing to steer their party toward the political mainstream, which they claim to be the surest course back to the White House in 1992.

Inspired by the music of a kilted bagpipe band, banners, state placards and other trappings of a full-fledged national political convention, the 800 delegates shouted their approval of a “New American Choice” resolution. This is a sweeping manifesto designed to rupture Democratic ties to the interest groups and bureaucracies that have dominated it for half a century and establish new goals that the Democratic Leadership Council hopes will regain middle-class votes.

“It combines great national purpose with economic common sense,” Virginia Sen. Charles S. Robb, a former leadership council chairman, told the convention just before the vote. “The resolution before you will take power from Washington and give it to states, localities and individuals, where needs can be better understood and more efficiently met. It recognizes that economic growth succeeds in ways that redistribution simply can’t.”

Among the approaches outlined in the resolution are:

--Civil rights. Government should “guarantee equal opportunity, not mandate equal outcomes,” and develop “a broad opportunity agenda to give Americans all the tools to get ahead.”

--International affairs. Isolationism is rejected; the use of force, when necessary, is advocated. “Some things are worth fighting for--like liberty, justice and human decency.”

--The role of government. The emphasis is on flexibility and individual options. “We want to eliminate unneeded layers of bureaucracy and give citizens more choice in public services, from child care and care of the elderly to public schools.”

Council leaders conceded that they face a twofold challenge in reshaping the party’s message. For one, they must overcome the resistance of the long-entrenched interest groups that have their own ideas about what the Democratic agenda should be as the party enters the 1992 campaign.

Thus, some delegates, concerned about alienating black voters, waged a floor fight against a provision of the civil rights section of the resolution that specifically opposed the use of racial quotas as a way to improve opportunity for minority members. They were defeated by those who argued that a specific rejection of quotas was the best way to keep Republicans from using the issue against Democrats.

Another problem for the leadership council’s ideological navigators is to find a way to match the GOP’s appeal on economic issues without losing the party’s identity as Democratic with a capital D. The solution to that problem, “New Choice” Democrats say, is to point out that, unlike the Republicans, they are genuinely committed to the idea of using government to meet legitimate social needs.

The leadership council faced additional controversy when it refused to invite the Rev. Jesse Jackson to speak, although he has addressed other council meetings. He was not asked this time, said Al From, president of the leadership council, because he represents “the old politics.” Assuring that his absence would not be overlooked, Jackson came to Cleveland on his own for a series of public and private appearances.