Brown Labels Clinton as Union-Busting Environmental Disaster for Arkansas : Democrats: He also meets with Cuomo, who says the former California governor has a chance to win New York’s primary.

Suddenly emerging from “the deep hole of media obscurity” with his upset win in Connecticut, Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. on Wednesday used some of his toughest language yet in denouncing Bill Clinton’s record as governor of Arkansas.

The former California governor asked a Philadelphia labor convention to “compare the record of a right-to-work, union-busting, scab-inviting, wage-depressing, environmental-disaster governor versus a labor governor.”

“That’s not personal, is it?” Brown later inquired of reporters. “That’s sticking to the issues.”

During a grueling 17-hour campaign day that covered nine stops, Brown also flew to Albany, N.Y., and met with Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who sent a limousine for him and backed away from an earlier prediction that Clinton had “a lock” on the Democratic presidential nomination.

At a joint press conference after their 20-minute meeting, Cuomo said that Brown could win the April 7 New York primary, where 244 delegates are at stake. “These are two very formidable candidates and I think it’s going to be close,” Cuomo said, although he noted that Clinton still “is in the lead” for the nomination.

Cuomo told reporters that he hoped that each candidate could focus on telling voters what he would do as President instead of trying to destroy his opponent. “Any jackass can kick down a barn, Sam Rayburn said; only a good man or woman can build one.”

The New York governor has not endorsed either candidate and does not expect to. Cuomo, who has been considered prime Democratic presidential material for years, publicly agonized over whether to enter the race but bowed out last December, saying he had to deal with his state’s budget crisis--which has yet to be resolved.

But his supporters refuse to give up. And on Wednesday, he got a familiar question: Would he get into the race after all, or would he be willing to be drafted if the convention deadlocks? His body language said no, but his words were ambiguous: “It’s a human aspiration to want something better,” he replied.

Brown’s narrow victory in Connecticut brought out hordes of news media on Wednesday as the anti-Establishment candidate realized a campaign-long dream. All four major television networks, plus reporters from several large newspapers, packed into an Amtrak rail car that carried Brown from Manhattan to Philadelphia.

The candidate has been complaining about “this media college of cardinals” who had “anointed” Clinton as the nominee and were ignoring Brown. But he was not ignored Wednesday. He made the trip to Philadelphia with microphones stuck in front of his face and with reporters hanging on his every word.

“I have no complaints about the lack of media coverage, just lack of sleep,” said Brown, who reported getting just three hours Tuesday night after a three-mile run along Central Park.

He was up before dawn to appear on all four TV networks’ morning shows. Then he set out on a grueling campaign day that did not end until midnight.

The populist candidate even found himself with a police escort--a rarity for him--through Philadelphia and Upstate New York. And in Albany, he rode around in the stretch limousine that Cuomo supplied.

Despite his harsh comments about Clinton’s gubernatorial record at the labor convention, Brown seemed to be trying to soften his attacks.

“I’m trying to keep to the message,” he said during the morning train ride to Philadelphia. “I don’t want my personality to get in the way of what essentially is a campaign to empower people--the message being that regular people can retake power over an out-of-control government elite.”

But Clinton was too inviting a target for Brown at the labor convention, which he regarded as the kickoff for the April 28 Pennsylvania primary, when 169 delegates are at stake.

Arkansas is a right-to-work state--meaning that union membership cannot be required as a condition of employment--and Clinton’s labor record has been coming under attack from Brown and his union supporters.

“When Bill Clinton was filling the Arkansas River with chicken you-know-what, we were fighting for farm labor laws,” Brown said, comparing their environmental and labor records. “We have a pretty simple choice here: Arkansas is the worst state for worker safety; California is No. 1.

“I don’t say read my lips; I say read my record.”

Brown received several standing ovations from the 1,700 delegates, including when he noted that right-to-work was the major issue when his father, Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, was elected governor in 1958. His father strongly opposed a right-to-work ballot measure that failed, the candidate noted, “and labor and the Brown family began a lifelong partnership that is still growing strong.”

A reporter on the train asked Brown what many people are wondering--whether he believes that he has a chance to win the nomination, despite his relatively few delegates and his frequent assaults on the Democratic Establishment.

“Yeah, of course I believe I have a real chance,” Brown said. “Connecticut is just the beginning.” But he said that “we’ve got a long way to go.”