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Jackson shrugs off their ire. "They are wishy-washy," he scoffs. "They can't stampede me. My domestic voting record is almost perfect. That's what bugs them." Jackson last week took to bugging them in another way: he now boasts to audiences that he is the only candidate in the race who is willing to call himself a liberal.
Ironically, the fanaticism toward Jackson plays right into the hands of Carter, whom the liberals are now eying with growing acceptance. If the choice gets down to Jackson and Carter, they will fly to Carter; quite a few activists around the country have already signed up with him. His large black vote in the primaries and his criticisms of the defense budget make him appealing to some liberals. Says a top Democratic strategist: "The liberals are an easy pickup for Carter. A few key words and he's got them."
Perfect Foil. The left is still unable to figure out exactly how conservative Carter really is, but that puzzlement shrinks next to the threat of Jackson. Even within big labor, which is still mostly opposed to Carter, there are several liberal unions that take a favorable view of him. Bill Welsh, political director for the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Union, believes that while Carter still has not passed the liberal test, he has found the perfect foil in Jackson.
For many liberals the preferred candidate is Hubert Humphrey. The marvelous irony of that is not lost on Humphrey. Last month he accepted an invitation to speak for New York Congressman Herman Badillo, who was one of his most vicious attackers a few years ago. In 1968, Joe Rauh, who now describes Humphrey as a first-teamer, was part of the crowd outside the Chicago convention hall screaming: "Dump the Hump." Liberals have forgiven Humphrey, mostly because they have to.
The final liberal dilemma, therefore, is how to get the nomination for non-candidate Humphrey. They have no convenient way to stop Jackson, or even the unknown Carter. "If you put the top 50 liberals inside a room to stop Jackson," says Richard Wade, "they'd have no troops for the job. Liberals have influence but no power." Then he stops for a moment and raises his hand. "But the liberal presence is out there. It can be neglected only so far. If it comes together, it can haunt you."