European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday october 30,19bb columns Tom Wicker Dukakis missed ouf on Liberal Label s advantages Dayton Ohio Many failings have contributed to Michael Dukakis lagging Campaign for president but one seems to be at the heart of the problem the candidate s Long lame and basically unbelievable Effort to deny that he and his party represent the great Liberal tradition of the last half Century. Many distortions and punches below the Bell have contributed to George Bush s apparently growing Lead but on one important Point Bush has been forthright he and Nis parly stand for and Are proud of the new conservative approach bom of Barry go Idealer and Ronald Reagan the advantage this has Given the Bush Campaign is to a considerable extent ideological. New right conservatism is a Strong confident and vigorous Force in american politics while liberalism has been rocked by conservatives base charge that it is somehow in amen can and lacking m traditional  the greater damage May have been done however be cause Dukakis failed for Loo Long to standup for what he i a Liberal not a co Over Liberal or a big spending Liberal or any other variation but a Liberal without suffix or prefix in his record his attitude and his approach to govern ment. In denying that he put himself in a false position the Basic insincerity of which the republicans have capitalized upon and the american people recognized As disingenuous i not hypocritical. Belatedly the democratic nominee seems to be coming around to his natural position declaring repeatedly in California and elsewhere he s on their Side. I m on your  that s simplistic but it makes the Point sharply. Democrats As liberals have consistently sought not always successfully to improve the lot of the generality of the people the poor the aged the infirm the minorities As Well As the Middle class most of whom live m houses made possible by Federal policies and look Forward to the sup port of social Security. That s the record Dukakis could have stood upon not defensively bul proudly. That s the Promise he could have made not by indirection but pointedly. Instead he proclaimed competence his goal fled from the Liberal Label George Bush was All top willing to pin on him and went so far As to complain  republicans had tried to Call Franklin Roosevelt a Liberal too bul that s exactly what for was and Michael Duka Kis should have been proud to Wear the same Label. The Dukakis strategists seem to have been persuaded by polls and focus groups not to mention the last two elections that Liberal was synonymous with loser. By trying to picture Dukakis As a non ideological centrist interested Only in competence they reinforced Republic George f. Will  like Toalei rotol can claims that liberalism is not respectable they missed their Best Chance u profit from the substantial discontent of Many voters with the Reagan administration they underlined the Lack of passion that Marks their candidates personal style and most important they condemned Dukakis to the insecure and untenable position of deny ing his political heritage. Maybe they d have tool in any Case. But they could not have done much worse than the current polls suggest Down 40 to 50 in the Gallup poll and 38 to St in the Newyork time tabs news poll behind 10 Points in califor Nia according to the los Angeles times and even losing by 9 Points in a Washington Post poll of supposedly democratic Maryland. Even the competence theme has been undermined by the incompetence of the Dukakis Campaign which has been out Gunc Ralpd at every turn by the seasoned professionals headed by Jim Baker who Are pulling Bush strings. They be been appealing stridently to conserva Tives their Basic support since the Campaign began. Dukakis in contrast waited until the last two weeks before he turned in desperation to the Modem democratic party s most Basic believable and appealing theme that it s the party of the people while its opponents Are the party of wealth and privilege. George Bush complains that this is a divisive Appeal to class conflict of course it is class like race is a powerful Force in american politics. The republicans have been blinding too Many voters to their economic self ii Lerest with dramatic appeals to their patriotism and traditional values dukakis1 counterattack though probably Loo late to succeed Calls on legitimate class interest to reassert itself against this Republican Bamboo Ling. Besides to be called divisive by George Bush u like being called ugly by a Frog. What could More nearly set americans against americans than hot insistence a Al liberals arc soft subversive and so obscene that they can Only be designated by an initial a Taw Vorac Sliwi Gildin the lib has Hurt Dawkins in new Jersey a ,., Nili in a. Ii s in to 17. Solit the difference. L Berlin no. Members of local 1360, United food and commercial work ers have tucked with feeling into lunch and now arc ready to hear the candidates. He coat less As candidates often ate to show Soli Darity with the sons and daughters of toil tells them in the fractured syntax of a Campaign s final phase you Are the people about which this country  they agree. What freshman sen. Frank Paulc nacre lacks in fluency he makes up for with some thing far More formidable Luck. Last Spring. Republicans were Licking their chops re Garding him As the most vulnerable of the 15 democratic senators seeking re election. Then his opponent took the Field. At first glance Pete Dawkins 50s foot Ball hero Rhodes scholar retired general. Wall Street seemed perfect. But campaigns involve Many glances and soon Paw Kins seemed in Lautenberg s do Sivc phrase sent from Central caning an exercise in make believe. Dawkins quickly diminished his greatest asset and m the pro Cess magnified us Tenborg s asset. Lautenberg s asset is his utter identification with new Jersey. He is a self made millionaire a son of immigrant parents who had to scrimp to buy him a bus ticket to the Shore in the summer. Dawkins asset was Lus new Jersey s senior senator Bill Brad is 19 cars younger than the Junior Dawkins advisers May be Lamable for a mailing that said he served two Tours in Viet Nam and was wounded. He served one and was not wounded but he said inaccurately that he had been a combat  he called himself one of the formative people in transforming investment Bank ing. He said he knew of no one As important As he in one of the definitive reformulations of the Industry thai assessment of his Brief stint in investment banking was called laughable by the Man who hired him. Dawkins did not move to new Jersey until Las year. It May not be demonstrable that he shopped around for a state Michi Gan new York to run in bul his late arrival left him vulnerable to la Ulenberg s taunt that he is treating new Jersey As a political  because dawk1ns lived in Man Hattan while working on Wall Street Lau Lenburg wonders if Dawkins has heard of the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the George Washington Bridge. Is a reprise of his 1982 new Jersey first. Campaign which laps the Puckly chauvinism of a stale weary of being considered jus a Jumble of toxic waste dumps an bedrooms for new York and Philadelphia. U was More Lautenberg Luck that this Pul upon feeling was inflamed last summer when new Jersey beaches were closed be cause of gunk floating ashore. Some of it came compliments or new York which dumps sewage sludge 100 Miles offshore. In a year of nationwide Nail incas new Jersey s race May be the most . Lauton Borg has tried to blame Daw Kins for environmental damage the army did to California while Dawkins was stationed there. Dawkins who says he is going to stomp Lauren Borg like swamp dog has been even worse. He recently had to withdraw an especially smar my and that was a tissue of innuendo Abou Lautenberg s integrity regarding financial matters. Dawkins people say Lautenberg is just five Points ahead Lautenberg s people say it p. Split the difference. Lauten Bere has a double digit Lead so Dawkins needs to surf on the Bush wave. The Duka Kis Campaign has disintegrated Here and Bush is up 20 Points. But new Jersey voters Are accomplished ticket splitters. On nov. 8 they wih vote for a Republican president for the sixth straight Lime. But they have nol elected a Republican senator for 16 years. In 1984, while Reagan was winning new Jersey by More than 670,000 votes Bradley s win Ning margin topped 900,000. Dawkins aides Hope say and May even believe that 1988 is More like 1980 than 1984. According to this theory Reagan �1984 Campaign was themeles and hence without coat ail. But the 1980 Campaign which pulled in a Republican Senate majority had a highly specific ideological con incr tax cuts and Strong defense. However the 1984 Campaign message was More of the same and that about exhausts Bush s 1988 message. On election night new be Senate race May reveal the length of Bush a coattails. Bul he May be coat less As Candi dates often Are As a sign of Solidarity with the sons and daughters of toil