Clinton Arrives in N.Y. to Jackson’s Embrace : Campaign: It was a day of warm receptions to kick off the week of his expected nomination for President.

After a morning of celebratory stumping in the rural Tennessee back yard of his running mate and an afternoon of generous ovations from delegates to the NAACP convention in Nashville, a confident Bill Clinton arrived Saturday evening in New York to begin the weeklong process that will come to a climax with his acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination.

Less than two hours after his arrival, Clinton got another reason to celebrate: the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced that he intended to support him for President. Jackson and Clinton have been at odds during much of the primary season, but the civil rights activist said that Clinton and his vice presidential running mate, Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr., “at their best,” represent the best option for voters supporting economic and social justice.

Jackson made his announcement at the end of his nationally broadcast talk show on the CNN television network.

Earlier, New York Mayor David N. Dinkins greeted Clinton on board his charter plane when the soon-to-be nominee arrived at the private Marine Air Terminal at La Guardia Airport.

In introductory remarks delivered on the tarmac over the roar of aircraft engines, Dinkins praised the Democrats for bringing their convention to his city, noting that its economy would benefit from the week of conventioneers--and those covering them--as they spend money on food, entertainment and souvenirs.

“But the best business will be (the nomination of) a new President and new vice president,” Dinkins said.

Clinton and Gore--chosen Thursday as the vice presidential nominee--began the day in Carthage, Tenn., Gore’s hometown, at a rally marked by prayers and folksy witticisms. The event seemed partly designed to portray the running mates as two country boys who have made good but not forgotten their rural, Southern roots and values.

From there, the pair traveled to Nashville for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People convention. They promised the predominantly black audience that their Administration would, in Clinton’s words, “make economic opportunity the civil rights issue of the 1990s.”

In other convention developments Saturday:

* Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.--the last foe Clinton vanquished on his march to the nomination--arrived in New York by train via Washington and began writing a speech he plans to deliver to the convention Wednesday night when his name is placed in nomination. Using that occasion for his speech apparently will allow Brown to thwart any effort to keep him completely off the podium. The Clinton camp and Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown have indicated they would not schedule an appearance for Brown until he endorses the Democratic ticket. Jerry Brown gave no sign Saturday that he was prepared to meet that condition. Instead, he denounced the platform crafted by the Clinton forces as “full of gooey and imprecise language.”

* In a preview of protests to come, a dozen abortion protesters held a prayer vigil in front of the Eastern Women’s Center, which is five blocks from Madison Square Garden, where the convention convenes Monday. They were outnumbered by 300 abortion-rights demonstrators. Police kept both sides separated. During the convention, groups ranging from the Coalition to End Violence Against Women to the Justice for Cyprus Committee plan to make their views known in the streets near the convention hall.

* Many of the convention’s 4,928 delegates and alternates checked into their hotels throughout midtown Manhattan Saturday and for most, the first order of business seemed to be walking around town during the afternoon and partying at night. The conventioneers eagerly took in the city’s sights, from Times Square to Fifth Avenue. By evening, they swarmed into restaurants and attended the first of the dozens of parties scheduled for the next few days. Saturday’s biggest party was for the biggest delegation: the estimated 15,000 journalists sent to cover the convention; the ritziest event was a fund raiser at the newly renovated waiting room of Grand Central Station for 800 Democratic donors.

Clinton and Gore received at a rousing welcome at the NAACP convention, a reception that stood in stark contrast to the cool response to prospective independent candidate Ross Perot, whose speech earlier in the day sparked a flap when he made references to “you people” and “your people.”

Clinton, by contrast, began his speech: “I am glad to be here today to celebrate all of us together.” And he closed by exhorting the crowd to join him next year at the White House to sing the black anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

As he stepped down from the podium, the organist began playing the music, and Clinton joined the several thousand delegates in song.

President Bush was invited to the convention but declined to attend.

Clinton has been spending much of his time preparing for his Thursday night acceptance speech, and he traveled to New York with a briefcase full of the transcripts of past speeches and videotapes of a few recent ones, including President Bush’s 1988 speech, Ronald Reagan’s 1980 speech and John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech.

Seeming relaxed and good-humored, Clinton told reporters before leaving Little Rock Saturday morning that he expected to keep working on the speech until close to the last minute. “I’m not sure it will ever be done,” he joked.

But during the course of the day, he seemed to be trying out several new lines that could reappear Thursday.

In Carthage, Clinton displayed his Southern, folksy side. Standing in the 90-degree heat, he told Gore’s hometown crowd of several thousand that he “resented” the fact his running mate is “younger, better looking and thinner than I am.”

“But I’ll get over it,” he said. “Running for President makes you humble if nothing else does.”

As he continued, Clinton stressed a theme that his strategists hope to make central to the campaign--the idea that he and Gore exemplify American values of hard work and community, in contrast to what they charge is a Republican emphasis on individual greed.

“Al Gore is looking to tomorrow and like me he is sick at heart,” Clinton said. “When I look out at this crowd today, I see a bunch of winners who deserve a government that helps them win. You deserve better, and we’re going to give it to you.”

Later, at the NAACP convention, several hundred delegates, many waving Clinton’s campaign placards, stood and cheered as he and Gore entered the hall. Catching the crowd’s enthusiasm, NAACP Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks roused the audience in his introduction, describing Clinton as “my friend, your friend and very likely the next president of the United States of America.”

In his speech, Clinton invoked the names of black civil rights leaders and social causes dear to the politically active organization and linked their future struggles to his potential Administration.

“I want you to be for Bill Clinton and Al Gore,” he said. “But more than anything else I want you to be for you. Cut through all this cynicism. Cut through all this negativism. Ask the American people--all of us, black and brown and white and yellow and all of us together--to seize the cause of our country.”

Gore, who was scheduled to address the NAACP before he accepted Clinton’s invitation to join the ticket, drew cheers and applause when he told the NAACP that the Democrats’ hopes to recapture the White House depended on black voters. “We need your help,” he said. “We want you to be a part of the winning team. In order for us to win, it must be a victory for us.”

Gore briefly shocked the group as he became tongue tied while stressing the importance of economic planning. “The klans for economic progress . . .,” Gore said, stopping in mid-sentence as a murmur raced through the assembly. Recovering from the gaffe, an embarrassed Gore elicited gales of nervous laughter when he said: “I almost said the klan” and explained he meant “plan.”

But Gore quickly made up for errant word, closing his remarks by promising that the Clinton-Gore Administration would make a difference in the lives of black Americans after its first 100 days.

“For those who say we don’t have the right to hope for dramatic change and progress starting the first 100 days of a Clinton-Gore Administration, I say you just watch what we’re going to do,” he said. “We shall overcome.”