4 Democratic Rivals Woo National Gathering of State Party Leaders : Politics: Harkin, Brown, Kerrey, Tsongas address Chicago conclave. They talk of health care, nation’s economic distress.

Heartened by growing signs of Republican weakness, four Democratic presidential contenders bid for the support of the nation’s key state party leaders Friday by claiming that they could do a much better job than President Bush of leading the nation out of its prolonged economic distress.

The candidates appeared at a two-day conclave of the Assn. of State Democratic Chairs, the first national gathering of party leaders since a September session in Los Angeles.

The two months since the Los Angeles meeting have been marked by Democrat Harris Wofford’s upset victory in a special U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania, dashed hopes for improvement in the economy and, in the past few days, striking evidence of confusion and uncertainty in the White House on issues ranging from credit card interest rates to the federal affirmative action hiring policy.

All of this has added up to an apparent reversal of fortune for the Democrats that was hailed by the party leaders meeting here and the White House aspirants who addressed them--Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. The party’s two remaining announced candidates--Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder--are to address the meeting today.

Another sign of the changed attitude was a growing impatience with New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s continued delay in deciding whether to enter the presidential fray. Cuomo once was regarded by many as the party’s potential savior. But now, some party leaders worry that his unwillingness to decide his presidential plans is an unnecessary distraction.

Asked whether he still wanted Cuomo to run, party national Chairman Ron Brown, regarded as one of his most enthusiastic supporters, said: “I want him to make up his mind, either way. Two months ago, I absolutely wanted him to run.”

Brown added: “My feelings for him haven’t lessened. But the situation has changed. Two months ago we were the fools. Now (the Republicans) are the fools.”

But there was no indication that a decision would be forthcoming from Cuomo, who has blamed his indecision on New York’s severe fiscal difficulties. Indeed, New York state party chairman John Marino, a Cuomo adviser, said he believed the governor could afford to hold off an announcement until mid-December without hurting his chances.

Most of the leaders here preferred to focus on the changed political environment. “The mood is definitely upbeat,” Iowa State Chairman John Roehrick said.

But even while he exulted, Roehrick conceded the Democrats still need to convince voters of their ability to produce a candidate who can do better than President Bush.

“What we have to do is come up with specific proposals on how (economic recovery) is going to happen,” he said.

Each of the four candidates who spoke Friday sought to meet that challenge in his own way.

Harkin, the most aggressively liberal of the contenders, called for the most drastic change. “What this economy needs is a not a jump start, it needs a new battery,” he declared.

Harkin proceeded to outline a blueprint for what he labeled “resource-based economics,” focusing on developing both physical resources--through increased funding of infrastructure improvements--and human resources, by spending more on the nation’s education system.

He said he would finance his plan through defense budget cuts. He also argued that promoting economic growth should be a higher priority than reducing the federal budget deficit.

On trade, Harkin boasted that he was the only presidential candidate who had opposed giving Bush “fast track” authority to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Mexico, saying he was worried that such an agreement could cost American jobs.

Acknowledging that he had been accused of advocating protectionism, Harkin said: “What a terrible accusation to make against someone who wants to be President of the United States, that he wants to protect American business and American jobs. And I’m not ashamed of it, I’m proud of it.”

Kerrey focused on his proposal for a national health care system, which he called “the litmus test of leadership--the one issue that will separate those who mean business from those who simply mean business as usual.” He derided Bush as “the witch doctor of American health care.”

Kerrey contended that his plan, called Health USA, would not only provide universal health coverage but also, by imposing stringent cost controls, would reduce spending on health care by more than $700 billion in the next decade.

Tsongas, who has cast himself as a business-oriented liberal, cautioned his rivals against touting proposals that were politically convenient but economically flawed.

For example, he said a tax cut for middle-class citizens, advocated by many Democrats, was “fool’s gold.” And he warned that protectionism is “economic poison.”

“Our mandate is not to elect a Democrat. It is not to do polls and focus groups and figure out what sells,” he said. “Our mandate is to rescue the country from economic decline.”

He added, “If you’re going to be pro-jobs, you better be pro-business because that’s where the jobs are.”

Brown, also cutting against the grain, said the country’s economic problems were not so much an opportunity for Democrats as an indictment of a stagnant political system.

“You’re hearing a lot of great speeches about health care and tax cuts and all the rest of it, but so much of it (already) has been in our platform,” he said. “Nothing is going to happen, and that’s the dirty little secret.”

Repeating what has been his major campaign theme, Brown contended that politicians betray their promises because of their concern with protecting the interests of those who have helped finance their campaigns.

“What we see is a lot of economic pain. We see people that are suffering, that have lost their jobs. . . . This is a symptom, a sign that something in society is not working,” he said.