House Seen Picking Clinton as President : Politics: Democratic Chairman Ron Brown predicts a three-way race. He says an election decided in Congress would go to the majority party.

Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown predicted Wednesday that the presidential campaign will turn into a “close, toughly fought” three-way race that may throw the election into the Democratic-controlled House.

If no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes and the decision is left up to the House, Brown said, Bill Clinton will be elected because Democratic members will vote for their party’s nominee regardless of how their districts or states voted in the general election. Another prominent Democrat disagreed with that evaluation, however.

Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination with victories in all six Democratic primaries Tuesday.

Brown made his predictions during a breakfast session with reporters, in which he alternately touted Clinton’s electability and challenged the strength of his opponents.

He said that, even if billionaire businessman Ross Perot were to win the popular vote--with 45% to President Bush’s 35% and Clinton’s 20%--in a House vote, Democratic members would still support Clinton.

Tat contention was disputed by former Democratic Party Chairman John C. White, who said in an interview that in a House vote, most Democrats would support the candidate who had carried their districts. “Ron is saying what a party chairman has to say,” White said, “but that’s not real life. The party has little to do with the election of members of Congress.”

Brown also lashed out at media coverage he said has unfairly attacked Clinton’s character and minimized his achievements. He pointed out that the Arkansas governor has won primaries in every region of the country, has carried every populous state except Massachusetts (won by former Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, a native son), has won in every demographic area, and--by beating former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. on Tuesday--became the first candidate to defeat a member of the politically powerful family of former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr. in a California primary.

He called Jerry Brown’s statements that Clinton is not electable “unfortunate and untrue” and said he expects Brown to support the Democratic nominee in the fall.

In a three-way race, the party chairman said, Clinton would stand an even better chance of being elected, because Bush supporters are more likely than Clinton’s to be attracted to a Perot candidacy.

Although Perot has led both Bush and Clinton in nationwide polls, Brown said he expects “some significant change” in the level of Perot’s popular support once he has been subjected to the kind of press scrutiny that presidential candidates usually receive.

“I believe the Perot candidacy will eventually fade,” Brown said, “and the more it does, the more it hurts Bush.”

Florida and Texas are states Clinton would not be able to win in a head-to-head contest with Bush, Brown said, but with Perot splitting the vote, Clinton would have a chance.

Clinton’s strategy, Brown said, will of necessity be built around the 10 states carried by former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic nominee in 1988: Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Scoffing at Perot’s pledge not to campaign surrounded by political “handlers,” Brown said the Texan had been “trying to buy” all the political consultants he could find.

Shortly after Brown made the comment, Perot’s campaign headquarters in Dallas announced that Perot had hired Hamilton Jordan, chief architect of President Jimmy Carter’s 1976 election, and Edward J. Rollins, who managed President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign.