Rainbow Coalition Skips Endorsement : Politics: Democratic candidates fail to get backing after appearing before the group. Jackson says he may back someone on his own later on.

Members of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition chose not to endorse any of the Democratic presidential candidates who appeared before the group Saturday, deciding instead to solicit a promise from each contender to campaign in urban and depressed areas with Jackson and other coalition leaders.

The request to campaign with Jackson came as a surprise to candidates at the close of their individual appearances before the coalition, placing them in the awkward position of having to answer on the spot. Each agreed.

The Rainbow Coalition’s decision not to endorse a candidate stemmed largely from the organization’s failure to pull its various and often disparate interests--including organized labor, civil rights activists and black political leadership--behind a single candidate.

Nevertheless, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. emerged among the favorites in a daylong series of speeches by six Democratic candidates before a crowd of about 700.

Jackson said he may personally endorse a candidate in the months ahead, perhaps after the field has been tested in upcoming primary elections. The coalition, a nonprofit organization that supported Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 runs for the nomination, has never formally endorsed a Democratic candidate other than Jackson.

“Based on the reaction of the crowd, I’d have to say Jerry Brown was the winner of the day,” one Democratic Party official said. “But I’m not sure many of the Rainbow’s people are going to rush out to join his campaign because they don’t think he’s a winner.”

Harkin brought the crowd to its feet in his strongly worded attacks against Bush and his Democratic rivals. “Someone said Republicans might be listening and we should be careful what we say,” he said. “Well, I hope they are listening because I intend to hold them and those other so-called Democrats to their record.”

Brown, casually attired in a white turtleneck and blue blazer, sounded liberal and populist themes in his presentation, eliciting cheers from the audience. At one point, he drew sustained applause by pointing out his opposition to the death penalty.

Other candidates appearing at the forum were Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas and former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy.

The failure of the coalition to rally around a single candidate likely will trigger a scramble among black activists to cut their best deals with the various campaigns, said Ron Walters, a political science professor at Howard University and an adviser to Jackson. He said many already have done so, making it difficult for the coalition to unite for a common endorsement.

While Clinton has been the most aggressive of the candidates to seek support from black leaders and voters, many at the forum said they could not accept some of his views, such as his support of the death penalty.

The opposition to Clinton was not unanimous, however. Hazel Obey, vice chairwoman of the Texas Democratic Party and an influential leader within the Rainbow Coalition, said she likes Clinton more than any of the other candidates. “I have more in common with him than any of the others,” she said.