‘There’s More to Come,’ Brown Tells Jubilant Backers at N.Y. Union Hall : Democrats: The former governor says his upset in Connecticut represents a ‘sea change’ in politics and tells Clinton it’s ‘no fluke.’

As hundreds of supporters screamed their jubilation in a union hall, Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. declared Tuesday night that his “shocking upset” in Connecticut represents “a sea change” in American politics.

“It’s not the end of the story,” the former California governor said. “It’s just the second or third chapter. There’s more to come.”

Later, sitting side by side with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton on ABC-TV’s “Nightline,” Brown admonished: “Don’t think this is a fluke.”

He said the “sea change” involves a new grass-roots participation in politics by volunteers and common people who contribute their time and no more than $100, the maximum he will accept in his “We the People” populist campaign. The legal limit is $1,000.

“I was really (just) a vessel,” Brown told campaign volunteers and CNN earlier. “It was grass roots all the way.”

Asked if he was going to take the nomination away from Clinton--who had been considered the front-runner after his victories in Illinois and Michigan last week and after Paul E. Tsongas suspended his campaign--Brown disputed the premise of the question. “I don’t think Bill Clinton owns it and I don’t think you people (in the media) can give it to him,” he said. “The people own it. . . . It’s the people of this nation taking back what’s theirs.”

Several hours before the Connecticut polls closed, Brown almost seemed to predict his victory in what at the time sounded like a throw-away line. “Tonight in Connecticut we’re going to shock the Establishment and we’re going to keep this campaign moving all the way to the (Democratic) convention,” he told about 2,000 supporters and curious citizens at an afternoon rally on the Manhattan City Hall steps.

Brown is already campaigning hard for the April 7 New York primary, where 244 delegates are at stake. On Monday he predicted that he would win there and in Wisconsin, which also votes that day.

Tuesday night, Brown savored his victory at the Communication Workers of America hall in mid-Manhattan.

Jan Pierce, national vice president of the union, said Brown’s victory in Connecticut “establishes a certain credibility that now makes it easier for a fence-sitter to jump on the bandwagon.”

Pierce, whose 65,000-member union in New York has endorsed Brown, said that “something’s happening out there. Jerry’s hitting a responsive cord. America’s tired of being ripped off.”

In the morning, he met with representatives of 40 unions at Teamsters headquarters on the Lower East Side. Teamsters local President Barry Feinstein, who has endorsed Brown, said afterward that “most people thought this primary was going to be a walk-through for Bill Clinton, but nobody thinks that now. This is a race.”

Also Tuesday, on a television talk show, Brown said he would love to have Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot in his Cabinet if he were elected President.

Brown was asked about his impression of Perot, the 61-year-old founder of a $2.5-billion computer services company who has said he will run for President as an independent if “ordinary people” place his name on the ballot in all 50 states. There now is a “draft Perot” movement.

Brown immediately characterized Perot as a “two-fisted Texan who knows how to make money” and “was very impressive” in 1979 when he organized a commando unit that rescued two of his employees from a Tehran prison during the opening stages of the Iranian Revolution.

Asked by the show’s host if he would want Perot in a Brown Cabinet, the candidate who is running against “corrupt” Washington answered unhesitatingly: “With pleasure.”

Brown continued: “Here’s a guy who’s made billions of dollars. He doesn’t like executives taking those big salaries. He knows how to do things . . . tells it like it is. He was against the Gulf War, but he’s no pushover. He’s a very interesting guy.

“And if he’s on (ballots) as an independent, watch out Democratic and Republican nominees--it’s going to be a problem for you.”

Brown was asked whether Perot might steal some of his thunder as a populist. “Look,” he replied, “there’s no patent on ideas in politics. Two major parties are merging into one. Everybody knows that. It’s failed. So you have my campaign inside the Democratic Party. You’ve got Ross Perot. You have the Green Party. You have a lot of labor people talking about looking for an independent candidate. I mean, the thing is falling apart . . . hour by hour and day by day. And Ross Perot’s potential candidacy is another sign of the big changes that are coming.”

Brown also was asked, as he is constantly, whether he isn’t being too tough on Clinton. “Anything I’ve said is like patty cake compared to what George Bush (would do),” Brown replied.

Brown also reiterated that he would offer the vice presidency to the Rev. Jesse Jackson if he is the Democratic standard-bearer against President Bush. Jackson has neither accepted nor rejected the offer.

The Delegate Tally

The delegate count according to the Associated Press, all contests to date.

DEMOCRATS: 2,145 needed to win nomination Delegates Bill Clinton: 987 Paul Tsongas: 439 Jerry Brown: 150 Uncommitted: 411

REPUBLICANS: 1,105 needed to win nomination Delegates George Bush: 750 Patrick J. Buchanan: 46 Uncommitted: 6