Strong California Finish Buoys Brown Faithful

It was a symbolic prize, seemingly irrelevant to the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, one last, tumultuous moment in the campaign journey of 1992.

But Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s strong challenge to rival Bill Clinton in the California presidential primary was viewed as a great victory by the Brown faithful, a whooping, enthusiastic crowd that gathered at the former governor’s headquarters in Santa Monica Tuesday night. To Brown himself it seemed a redemption of sorts, coming off a battery of defeats--and a sign that his “insurgent” movement would carry on.

“We influence, we shape, and we’re going to affect the destiny of politics in this country for a long time to come,” an upbeat Brown told reporters late Tuesday as the California race hung in the balance.

Brown, who flew to Los Angeles from San Francisco to meet supporters, spoke of his long-term commitment to “change” and insisted that his anti-Establishment “We the People” movement was gaining ground, despite the failure of his presidential bid and decisive losses in five other states on Tuesday.

“This is a long-term, day-by-day slogging through the mud, moving up and taking the mountain,” he said, “but we’ll get there.”

The serene outlook was echoed by his close allies Tuesday, a day in which the Brown campaign was focused as much on influencing the party platform as on any primary.

“When I look back at everything we accomplished, it’s amazing,” said Jodie Evans, the campaign manager. His supporters are still committed, she said, and “Jerry’s still committed. This is almost like a new beginning today.”

True to its unconventional roots, Brown’s campaign bought no radio or television ads in California or any of Tuesday’s other contests. Evans herself passed out leaflets and tacked up posters Tuesday, as she walked her 7-year-old son to school in Santa Monica.

Brown now plans to focus on the Democratic National Convention, and his campaign volunteers are to hold platform hearings in a number of states.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in front of us,” said Jacques Barzaghi, Brown’s trusted aide. “. . . I find it very energizing.”

As he spoke, two dozen volunteers were working the telephones and doing other campaign chores in the Santa Monica headquarters, which was decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

Brown cast his vote Tuesday morning at a high school near his home, a converted 99-year-old firehouse in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. He spent the day with friends and relatives, then came to Los Angeles.

Despite criticisms of Brown--a former two-term governor and state Democratic Party chairman--as the ultimate political insider, his message was that of the outsider. He argued that an elite few in government and the private sector were exploiting the wealth of the nation, that prospects for the poor were getting worse, that a veritable “revolution” was needed to get America back on track.

To combat what he saw as the corrupting effect of big campaign contributions, Brown imposed a $100 cap on donations to his own effort. The federal limit is $1,000.

Brown stunned political observers, including some of his more conventional rivals, when his campaign vaulted from obscurity to victory in Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Nevada.

But the most immediate legacy of his effort may be technological. Brown pioneered use of a toll-free 800 telephone number as a way of raising money and enlisting supporters.

By this month, he had raised slightly over $5 million and another $3.86 million in federal matching funds. He had received donations from more than 90,000 individuals, according to his campaign. He stands to get as much in matching funds as he raises, because the government matches donations up to $250--and Brown’s self-imposed limit is less than half that.

As the clock ran out on the Democratic presidential contest, Brown and his supporters took heart from polls indicating a close race in California.

“It appears that people are getting my message. But how many? That’s the question,” Brown said in an interview this week.

The message was often received most enthusiastically among the young and on college campuses, despite his attempts to gain support from labor and urban minorities.

Still, Brown’s campaign couldn’t entirely escape the apathy and alienation that the candidate blames on stale politics.

“He said a lot of good stuff--about helping out the schools and how money is racing toward the bombs and stuff,” Vince Martinez, 21, said after a Brown rally near Santa Rosa’s courthouse square earlier this week. But Martinez, an unemployed cook, stopped short of pledging to vote for Brown. He said only: “If I get around to voting, I probably will.”