Short on Time, Tsongas Campaign Must Find Way to Broaden Appeal : Politics: Poor showings in Illinois, Michigan would put his candidacy’s survival in question. Advisers urge him to return to the theme of economic growth.

For former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, it’s put up or shut up time.

In the wake of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s big victories in the Southern Democratic presidential primaries Tuesday, Tsongas must find a way to broaden his appeal in next week’s Illinois and Michigan primaries. Otherwise, his candidacy will lose credibility and its survival will be in question.

Mindful of the crisis confronting the campaign, his advisers spent Monday pressing him to adopt a new strategy. It is designed to get him to return to--and expand on--the themes of economic growth and renewal that last month brought him victory in New Hampshire. Tsongas all but abandoned that approach in the South as he sought to deflect attacks from Clinton.

By Wednesday, the first full day of campaigning in Illinois and Michigan--where the recession has hit just about as hard as in New Hampshire--Tsongas’ team was convinced they were making progress.

“He left it last week but he’s back on the message today,” said senior adviser Gerald Austin after Tsongas’ visit to a Chicago high school, where he linked his plans for reviving the nation’s manufacturing base with the hopes of the younger generation.

But Tsongas also devoted a good portion of his day to questioning Clinton’s record, beliefs and electability, saying that the GOP almost certainly has “armies” of operatives researching Clinton’s background.

With a big delegate lead, front-runner Clinton faces far less pressure. He has 707.25 out of the 2,145 delegates needed for nomination, to Tsongas’ 349.25 and 81.25 for former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

Some Democrats venture that the race for the nomination is as good as over. “I think the nominee is Bill Clinton,” said Don Sweitzer, erstwhile top adviser to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who dropped out of the race Monday. “And I think in Michigan and Illinois, Clinton will get a lot of support that would have gone to Tom.”

Sweitzer mentioned as likely Clinton backers about a dozen unions that had supported Harkin and whose leaders are expected to meet today, possibly to chart their new course.

But others doubted that the unions would act so soon, particularly since most of them had limited enthusiasm for Clinton because of his mixed record on labor issues in Arkansas. A number of United Auto Workers locals in Michigan already have thrown their support behind Brown, drawn by his opposition to the fast-track negotiation of a trade pact with Mexico, which Clinton supports.

The two economically troubled states, particularly Michigan, offer Brown a chance to demonstrate that his campaign is a heavyweight. His efforts could complicate his rivals’ prospects by taking some blue-collar and black voters away from Clinton and by taking some suburbanites and college graduates, attracted by his environmental and tax proposals, away from Tsongas. Brown plans to concentrate on Michigan, spending about five days there and two in Illinois before Tuesday’s vote.

Brown’s plan, according to adviser Michael Ford, is to stress his opposition to the Mexico trade agreement in a state where feelings are running high against General Motors’ decision to close its Willow Run plant instead of a factory in Arlington, Tex., that relies on less expensive Mexican-made parts.

“Of all the states we’ve been in, the anger is greater here than anywhere,” said Ford, a 20-year veteran of Democratic presidential campaigns.

Clinton’s managers are taking nothing for granted. “There have been enough ups and downs in this campaign, so we’re not going to get carried away yet,” David Wilhelm, Clinton’s campaign manager, said.

“We still do not know what twists and turns this campaign is going to take,” James Carville, consultant to the campaign, told a breakfast meeting of about 50 contributors, cautioning against complacency and stressing the need for more funds to combat the threat from Tsongas.

Clinton’s advisers were only too well aware that their candidate has yet to win a primary outside the South--and that the Democratic political world will be watching next week’s Midwest contests for proof that Clinton’s message can generate support outside his home region.

His advisers said they welcome the test.

“These two states have been serious victims of (the economy),” Wilhelm said, “and the campaign here will offer a clear choice of philosophies” between Tsongas and Clinton. He contrasted Tsongas’ pro-business doctrines--with their stress on tax incentives to promote investment--with what Clinton’s admirers like to call his “people-oriented” approach, which includes plans for increasing college aid and establishing apprenticeship programs.

“We want to give people the tools so they can improve their lives,” said Wilhelm.

In addition to the battle with Tsongas over economic ideas, Clinton faces a continuing problem stemming from charges of marital infidelity and the controversy over his Vietnam-era draft status.

Many Democratic professionals say privately that even if Clinton wins the nomination, he will be greatly handicapped against the GOP in the fall unless he can lift the apparent cloud surrounding his character.

Clinton’s strategists said that their candidate will overcome the negative public perception. “Time is on our side,” said Wilhelm. “People have received an enormous amount of information about Clinton in a very brief period, and some of that has been negative. But over time they will get to know him and understand what his message is, and that feeling will be dissipated.”

As for Tsongas, his advisers fear he may not have enough time left to win voters’ support unless he can avoid distractions and find a more effective way of getting his message across. Their strategy includes:

--Accentuating the positive side of Tsongas’ economic policy. Advisers worry that he puts too much stress on the pain and sacrifice required for his doctrines to work--such as a gasoline tax hike and forgoing a middle-class tax cut--and not enough emphasis on the rewards, such as a better environment and better jobs. “He has to show people he cares about them,” said one strategist.

--Instead of stressing accusations of pandering against Clinton, Tsongas should try to paint the Arkansas governor as taking two sides on the same issue. That, in turn, might get voters to think about the questions about Clinton’s character.

--Stealing part of Brown’s anti-Establishment argument, thus tapping into voters’ anger at the political system. Tsongas should avoid, his strategists said, what one called the “burn, baby, burn” aspect of Brown’s rhetoric that condemns the entire political system. He should focus instead on the interest groups and opinion makers who dominate the Democratic Party’s Washington Establishment--most of whom prefer Clinton to Tsongas.