N.Y. to Choose Between Plans for Change, Clinton Says : Democrats: Turning his sights on Brown, the governor says the flat-tax portion of his rival’s program ‘declares war’ on the state.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s stunning loss in Connecticut’s Democratic presidential primary Tuesday appeared to settle a debate that had raged within his campaign: The man to run against is Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., not President Bush--at least for the moment.

At a late-night appearance before a cheering crowd at Gallagher’s steakhouse in Manhattan, Clinton congratulated Brown on his upset victory. But he immediately cast the April 7 New York primary, where 244 delegates are at stake, as a contest between competing plans for change--his or Brown’s.

“We both represent change,” he said. “. . . Now we get a chance to debate the real issue, which is what kind of change we’re going to have.”

He said the former California governor’s proposal for a flat tax “declares war on New York.”

At a press conference shortly thereafter, he said: “Do they want my program to invest in America or Jerry’s tax? I think this election is going to be about Jerry’s tax.”

Brown proposes to replace the entire federal tax system--including Social Security, income and corporate taxes--with a 13% flat income tax and a 13% national sales tax. Clinton called the plan “another one of those simple-sounding ideas that sucker-punched America in the 1980s.”

Asked about Clinton’s comments, Brown said: “His ads run incessantly in Connecticut. The people heard it and they don’t believe it. I don’t think negative ads are going to work anymore.”

Clinton was upbeat and philosophical about his loss. “We had a small setback in Connecticut tonight and it was a good education,” he declared with a smile. “What it tells us is the people in this country do not want this process to be over, and I don’t want it to be over, either.

“I want us to come into New York with our guns blazing, ready to roll. This is the best kickoff we could get. No one will take this election for granted.”

In his speech, and in earlier interviews in New Jersey, Clinton blamed his loss to Brown on a combination of Clinton’s own inattention to Connecticut and Brown’s attacks on him.

“I realize now that I just haven’t been there (in Connecticut) enough to have any kind of message impact,” Clinton told reporters at a fund-raiser in West Orange, N.J. “All the negative stuff had been there, and I just didn’t have the time that I needed.”

During the campaign, Brown attempted to paint Clinton as the “scandal a week” candidate. He pointed to questions about Clinton’s character that surfaced earlier this year, including an unsubstantiated allegation of marital infidelity and controversy about Clinton’s Vietnam-era draft status. Brown also blasted Clinton for playing a round of golf last week at a whites-only country club in Little Rock, Ark.

In a probable preview of the attack that Clinton forces plan to mount on Brown in New York, Clinton on Tuesday night accused the former California governor of political hypocrisy and characterized Brown as a chameleon who has few deeply held principles.

“He’s always been an adroit politician,” Clinton said of Brown. “Remember what he’s best at--coming in, focusing resentment and reinventing himself for whatever issue works at the moment.”

Ironically, that charge was leveled at Clinton during the Connecticut campaign, largely because of his support for the multibillion-dollar Seawolf submarine construction program.

The huge nuclear-powered submarines are built at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp. in Groton, Conn., which is heavily dependent on the submarine plant and its 18,000 jobs. Bush and Brown say the program should be terminated.

Clinton and his aides said that they had no plans to campaign hard in Connecticut until shortly before Clinton’s big victories in the March 17 Illinois and Michigan primaries, and that the delay may have cost them the election.

It was only after those Clinton victories, aides said, that they began to suspect that in Connecticut they could defeat former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who complicated matters further by suspending his campaign Thursday. But Tsongas’ name remained on the ballot and he won 20% of the vote.

“Tsongas pulled out five days ago (and) I think the voters are still a little raw about that,” said Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s press secretary. “They’re angry. They believe Bill Clinton drove Tsongas out of the race and they’re unwilling to come on board (the Clinton campaign). And I think that’s understandable.”