Harkin, Jackson Campaign in South Carolina : Democrats: Their appearance together stops short of an endorsement for the Iowa senator.

For a moment it was difficult to tell who was the candidate: Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin or Jesse Jackson.

Harkin, the one who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, appeared with Jackson on Monday in response to Jackson’s invitation to each of the Democratic aspirants. At each stop across Jackson’s home state, the drawing card clearly was the civil rights leader, who introduced the candidate to a succession of predominantly black audiences.

“I know many of you may not even know me,” Harkin told students at South Carolina State University here. He implored them to vote for him in the primary on Saturday, saying, “I’ll never embarrass you and I’ll make you proud. . . . You can read my record. . . . I’m on your side.”

Harkin’s day started with breakfast at a struggling family’s dairy farm outside Greenville. Later, he took a walking tour of a public housing project in Columbia. He visited a college voter-registration drive here and a labor rally at a black Baptist church in Charleston.

Harkin was the first of the Democratic hopefuls to fulfill a promise made at a Jan. 25 forum of Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition: to accompany Jackson in a campaign appearance at a “Point of Challenge” or, in Jackson’s words, “a place where Americans are struggling to attain or maintain their survival in the nation.”

Although Jackson continues to withhold his personal endorsement, the fact that he began his campaign appearances with Harkin was touted by some as a coup for Harkin--and a sign of Jackson’s true leanings. Jackson won this state’s 1988 Democratic primary, and many key Rainbow Coalition operatives have prominent roles in Harkin’s campaign here.

Kevin Gray, who was Jackson’s South Carolina campaign director in 1988, is Harkin’s Southern regional political director. “I look at where Harkin stands on the issue and where (Jackson) stands, and I think the two are basically the same,” he said in an interview.

“They both represent the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. If you are going to be politically consistent, then naturally, if you support Jackson, then you support Harkin,” he said.

That view was shared by the Rev. Edward Francis Sr., a Baptist preacher and state field director for Harkin. He was openly gleeful to see Jackson and Harkin crisscrossing South Carolina together so late in the primary campaign. “Any time you can campaign with Rev. Jackson is a good time,” said Francis.

Jackson praised Harkin’s records on civil rights and labor concerns. He told the students at South Carolina State that Harkin “deserves your attention,” but stopped short of endorsing him.

Jackson said he was campaigning with Harkin first because Harkin’s staff was the first to organize a trip.

Harkin’s and Jackson’s association sparked a mild controversy last week, when Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, under the impression that Jackson had endorsed Harkin, complained that Jackson had stabbed him in the back. Clinton made the comment not knowing his words were going out over an open microphone. Clinton later apologized to Jackson.

On Monday, Harkin told longshoremen gathered at Morris Street Baptist Church in Charleston: “What we want in a President is someone who won’t fly off the handle at a rumor.” People often say things in anger they don’t truly mean, Harkin said, “but it was the manner in which is was said.” He added: “That reveals something deep seated about (Clinton’s) feelings toward Rev. Jackson.”

As an appreciative Jackson looked on, Harkin brought cheers and shouts of “Amen!” when he said Jackson “doesn’t deserve those kinds of comments.”