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Jackson is in a better position than in 1984, when he received nearly 20% of the Democratic primary vote but only 10% of the delegates. Under today's revised rules, the same vote will earn him far more delegates. They will be a disciplined bloc. In a tight convention, Jackson could be in a strong position to broker the outcome.
Even though pollsters claim that three-fourths of the nation's blacks want Jackson to run again, most black political leaders remain opposed. With Ronald Reagan out of the way, black politicians visualize a Democrat in the White House. They insist that Jackson's candidacy will deter other candidates from pursuing the black vote. Jackson counters that blacks will have more clout with the eventual winner if they unite behind one man. But black leaders dislike the idea of a single broker, especially the unaccountable Jackson. His dominating presence over the years and his presidential bids have helped squelch the emergence of other black figures. Still, black politicians are reluctant to oppose Jackson publicly. "Jesse's getting a private spanking," says Tyrone Brooks, a Georgia legislator who ran Jackson's state campaign in 1984. He openly urges Jackson not to run: "It's a terrible mistake."
Now the peripatetic candidate sat in an airliner headed for Baton Rouge, La. He wore a red-striped shirt with white collar, and kept popping tiny Tootsie Rolls into his mouth. Jackson was due to deliver a Sunday sermon at the local Mount Zion First Baptist Church. In 20 years, he recalled proudly, he had not once failed to fill a church to overflowing. Jackson believes his 1984 campaign lifted blacks and other minorities toward more power. "There are more blacks trying for office today, sheriffs, legislators, tax assessors," he pointed out.
These days he pounds away at American business. Corporate behavior must change, declares Jackson. "They're getting slave labor abroad," he says, "at the expense of jobs here." He urges federal penalties and incentives to force corporations to stop. Audiences like the argument. So effective is Jackson with America's workers that organized labor, long hostile to Jackson, is beside itself. His bravado raises a tough question: How much does Jackson really know? He has no ready information supply, but rather sucks up ideas and facts as he goes along. Jackson's grasp of voters' emotions is uncanny and exceeds that of any of the other candidates. Highly intelligent, bold and innovative, he understands issues that cut. In the end Jackson relies on his own long and remarkable experience.
Looking at him, one has to wonder why Jackson is thinking of running at all. His presidential quest seems doomed, he has never been elected to any office, and most of his party wishes he would go away. Any Democratic nominee is sure to keep him at a safe distance, and will not want him as a running mate. Even Jackson's new success with white voters is probably transitory. Many of them have said they applaud his words, though they could never vote for him.
But Jackson seems to feel that he has no choice except to run. Being the nation's preeminent black activist is not enough. Nor would it be enough merely to focus his energies on the causes he cares most deeply about and fight for them as a powerful leader. No matter how much respect he would get from that, it would not equal the respect he craves.