Miami Blacks, Jews Lean Toward Clinton : Democrats: Among two groups traditionally targeted by the party, the lesser-known Tsongas lags far behind.

When Harry Patterson found himself walking down a street in an inner-city neighborhood beside Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton the other day, he took the opportunity to ask the Democratic presidential candidate about his views on a national health care system.

“He said he had a plan, and that plan included long-term care for older people,” Patterson, 52, said Friday. “He’s definitely for it, and I was basically satisfied with his answer.”

Patterson, who is black, works on voter education issues for the American Assn. of Retired Persons. A lifelong Democrat, he wants to back a candidate who not only can win Florida’s delegate jackpot in next week’s Super Tuesday primary, but can also beat George Bush in November. In considering Clinton and his chief rival, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, he chooses Clinton.

Several miles away, in one of the Miami area’s oceanfront condominiums, Muriel Cohen, 64, is on the verge of a decision. She has met Clinton and views him as “an extremely attractive candidate who addresses all the issues.” But Cohen also likes the more conservative economic proposals of Tsongas, as well as his emphasis on personal sacrifice to balance the budget.

She plans to make up her mind after listening to Tsongas at least one more time.

In Dade County, where about half the 2 million residents are Latino, and a vast majority of Latinos are Republican-voting Cubans, Democrats traditionally target the two distinct communities that Patterson and Cohen represent--blacks and Jews.

Among both groups, Clinton seems a clear favorite, partly because he is far better known.

Tsongas last week did pick up the endorsement of centenarian Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the grand dame of the Everglades, and a handful of other South Florida environmentalists. And many Democrats, like Muriel Cohen, seem willing to hear him out. But in an area where Clinton organizers have been operating for months and Tsongas’ campaign office opened less than two weeks ago, Tsongas lags far behind.

Clinton recently won a potentially key endorsement from the Northeast Dade Coalition, which represents up to 200,000 people--mainly Jewish and mostly over 55 years of age.

Although registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the greater Miami area by more than than 3 to 2, Bush won here in the 1988 general election with 55% of the vote. Along with picking up most Cuban-Americans’ votes, many Democrats crossed over, saying they could not support Democrat Michael S. Dukakis.

Concern that Tsongas--a Greek-American from Massachusetts like Dukakis--might not fare much better here this November is influencing many Democrats, causing them to discount allegations of adultery and questions about his Vietnam-era draft status that have swirled around Clinton.

“Clinton may not be perfect,” says Joseph Curtis, who heads the Dade United Democratic Club, “but ain’t none of us perfect. We’re not picking someone for sainthood here. I just don’t think Tsongas has what it takes to get us into the White House . . . .”

Among black voters, Clinton’s folksier, easy manner also counts. During his morning stroll Wednesday through the mostly black Liberty City section, Clinton hoisted sleepy-eyed children into his arms, ducked into small businesses to say hello and bantered good-naturedly with a coterie of community leaders who accompanied him.

Dorothy Jackson, 45, active in the county’s Democratic Black Caucus, says of Clinton: “I feel he has done a lot for blacks and other minorities in terms of jobs” in Arkansas. “And when I look at Tsongas, I just say, ‘I don’t want a repeat of Dukakis.’ ”