ELECTIONS ’92 : Jackson Hoping for Pay Back From Low-Profile Campaign

WASHINGTON â€”  Bill Clinton’s campaign, after months of treating the Rev. Jesse Jackson as though he were radioactive, is now counting on the civil rights leader to spur a big turnout of young and minority voters that could be crucial for the Democratic ticket in a tightening presidential race.

And Jackson, who for months carried on a semi-public quarrel with Clinton over the extent of his commitment to helping minorities, is now laboring quietly to pile up what he hopes will become valuable IOUs owed to him by a Clinton White House if the Arkansas governor wins Tuesday.

Democratic officials acknowledge that any requests or proposals Jackson makes after the election will get careful consideration.

Jackson’s present low-profile efforts mark a sharp change from 1984 and 1988, when he insisted on obtaining highly visible commitments from the Democratic nominees after his own bids for the party’s presidential nomination fell short. Those commitments were seen by many strategists as harmful to former Vice President Walter F. Mondale and then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis in their quests for the White House.

Clinton made clear from the outset that he intended to avoid what he saw as their mistakes. Jackson decided this fall to halt his public sparring with the Democratic nominee, lick his wounds in private and try to put a future Clinton Administration in his debt.

George Stephanopoulos, Clinton’s communications director, this week called Jackson’s activities “critically important� to the campaign and said they should help spur a big voter turnout. Jackson, he said, is “pragmatic, a real pro� who understands the importance of a Democratic victory after 12 years of Republican rule.

“Jesse’s doing a great, untold job for the campaign and drawing crowds of 5,000 and 10,000 wherever he goes,� said David Wilhelm, Clinton’s campaign manager.

Jackson has followed a hectic pace in campaigning in more than 30 states since mid-September when he and his private organization, the Rainbow Coalition, reached an agreement with the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to undertake a nationwide voter registration drive under their auspices. His campaigning has been publicized in states where he has traveled, but has gotten scant notice elsewhere.

Although still bitter about being shunted aside by Clinton, Jackson said in an interview that he will discuss differences over campaign tactics and policy priorities with the Arkansas governor after the November election.

The campaign “is not about Gov. Clinton’s tactics, we can address that after the election,� he said. “It is about beating George Bush and electing Bill Clinton.�

Jackson, 51, had expected to play a more prominent role in the Clinton campaign. But Clinton’s tactics have been to deal with the civil rights leader at arm’s length for fear that associating with him too closely would be controversial and perhaps counterproductive, especially in the South where white voters in recent presidential elections have voted overwhelmingly for the Republican nominee.

Clinton’s decision has resulted in several awkward joint appearances with Jackson, including one at the annual Black Family Reunion held on the Washington Monument grounds in mid-September. At that event, Clinton started to leave the stage after addressing the crowd when Jackson handed him a Rainbow Coalition T-shirt and directed him back to the podium to announce the registration drive Jackson was about to begin.

The governor, although apparently taken aback by Jackson’s maneuver, told the crowd that Jackson would “go around the country and try to galvanize every person in this country who isn’t registered and tell them their vote counts just as much as the rest of us.�

While their relations have remained cool, Clinton aides say the governor and Jackson have been conferring periodically on the telephone.

Chairman Ronald H. Brown of the Democratic National Committee, who managed Jackson’s 1988 campaign and now serves as a frequent go-between for the two men, said he believes Clinton and Jackson will resolve whatever policy differences they have after the election. Except for Jackson wanting to put higher priority on spending for social programs, Brown said, he sees no serious policy differences between them.

“I know that nobody has worked harder to register voters, to motivate and inspire voters to come and vote for the Democratic ticket and for Clinton than Jesse Jackson,� Brown declared. “He’s cut all kinds of radio ads, traveled throughout the country, and is a very positive force.�

Jackson, who is campaigning in a plane provided by the Democratic National Committee, is believed to have been especially effective in areas of the South and Southwest where there are large minority populations and many minorities are running for congressional seats. But he also has campaigned heavily in other regions of the country and has attracted large audiences on college campuses, where Democrats say he has stimulated increases in voter registration.

After campaigning Sunday and Monday in Texas, where he addressed large audiences and led throngs of voters to the polls to vote in pre-Election Day balloting, Jackson said he believes the new Congress will include “about 40 African-Americans, 20 Hispanics and two Native Americans.�

The relatively large number of minority candidates running in such states as North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Texas, he said, should bring out a large minority vote for Clinton. “Those candidates are pulling their own weight and pushing the vote for the Democratic ticket,� he said.

Although expressing confidence that Clinton will win, Jackson worries that political analysts will attribute a Democratic victory, at least in part, to the tactic of keeping him at an arm’s length.

“The reason that Clinton will win,� Jackson asserted, “is not his tactics. It is the economy and the fact that urban, suburban and rural America have a common economic goal. There is a tidal wave of hope and Clinton’s riding that wave.�