Watch Jesse Run

Jesse Jackson is getting into position for a second run for the Presidency. “Jackson is smarter than in ’84,” says a seasoned Democratic consultant here. “He’s no longer a one-campaign phenomenon. He’s got a better fundraising machine and knows what works with whites.”

Among blacks, both rank-and-file and establishment, Jackson seems headed for broader acceptance. “As long as black establishment pols continue to play racial politics,” says a GOP insider, “they’ll have no choice but to support Jackson.” Included in this group are Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) and Mickey Leland (D., Tex.), along with Mayors Richard Arrington of Birmingham and Wilson Goode of Philadelphia. Although all four opposed Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid, they were all present at his Rainbow Coalition parley in Washington this April, and all lauded him before a one-thousand-plus mixed audience. “Jesse Jackson is a pioneer,” says John Conyers (D., Mich.), an ardent Jackson supporter from the start. “He is to blacks what JFK was to Catholics.”

JM

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John McLaughlin

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Jesse Jackson is getting into position for a second run for the Presidency. “Jackson is smarter than in ’84,” says a seasoned Democratic consultant here. “He’s no longer a one-campaign phenomenon. He’s got a better fundraising machine and knows what works with whites.”

Among blacks, both rank-and-file and establishment, Jackson seems headed for broader acceptance. “As long as black establishment pols continue to play racial politics,” says a GOP insider, “they’ll have no choice but to support Jackson.” Included in this group are Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) and Mickey Leland (D., Tex.), along with Mayors Richard Arrington of Birmingham and Wilson Goode of Philadelphia. Although all four opposed Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid, they were all present at his Rainbow Coalition parley in Washington this April, and all lauded him before a one-thousand-plus mixed audience. “Jesse Jackson is a pioneer,” says John Conyers (D., Mich.), an ardent Jackson supporter from the start. “He is to blacks what JFK was to Catholics.”