Scoop Goes Public

He agrees in substance with Richard Nixon on national security, and his rhetoric is laced heavily with law-and-order. Yet he stands foursquare with Hubert Humphrey on civil rights. He is for the ABM and the SST, and is considered by some the candidate of the military-industrial community. Yet the vain suit to stop the Amchitka blast was filed under his Environmental Policy Act. Henry ("Scoop") Jackson, the junior Senator from the state of Washington, is, in sum, a bundle of divergent views, who at the same time conveys a solid image, a thoughtful integrity. This week he will become the second surviving declared candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Only those who do not know Scoop Jackson would equate his many facets with opportunism. For nearly all his views represent long-held, frequently asserted convictions. No matter to him that they clash in the ordinary classification of politicians. Says he: "I'm a liberal, but I try not to be a damn fool." Jackson's problem is, however, that there are a great many people who do not know him, and in a crowded field of declared and undeclared Democratic candidates that could be fatal.

Presidential Poaching. Despite 31 years in national office and a stint as Democratic National Chairman under John F. Kennedy, the latest Harris poll pegs Jackson's recognition factor at only 41%. Thus his decision to follow his formal declaration with a $60,000 half-hour of prime-time national television to convey his message directly to the electorate. It is a steep price for a frugal man whose campaign is going to be pay as you go.

Politicians, on the other hand, know exactly where he stands, and another of the contradictions of Jackson's candidacy is that it disturbs a number of Democratic and Republican power brokers alike. He has a great deal of the right wing of the Democratic Party to himself, so much so that Democrats fear that his nomination would lead to a fourth-party revolt by the left, thus throwing the election to the Republicans. Warns Eugene McCarthy of a potential Jackson nomination: "I might have to leave the beach [Miami] and go across the causeway to the mainland." By the same token, his views on busing and Vietnamization, among others, are close enough to Nixon's that the G.O.P. worries that he would poach on the President's constituency. Jackson agrees: "For every vote we would lose on the left we would effectively pick up two on the other side, because they would not only count for us but be taken away from Nixon."

Jackson must first corner his party's nomination, and the movement starts with the early primaries. He is committed to building an organization in New Hampshire. Early soundings convinced him his support there was enough "to make a significant showing," which is all he really need do.

Uphill Fight. Florida votes one week later, and the Jackson organization argues that a win is possible there. Aided by many of Governor Reubin Askew's key field workers, Jackson is strong and deeply grounded. He also has natural allies in the state's aerospace industry and a Jewish community grateful for his shrill arguments for more military aid to Israel. After Florida, the script becomes less precise. Most professionals give him very little chance of taking the nomination, and he is aware of that judgment. "It's hard to know how the building blocks are going to stack," he says. "I've got a long, hard, uphill fight."

To the struggle Jackson brings an engaging manner of easy, open affability, although he delivers his speeches woodenly. At age 59, he keeps fit by swimming daily in the Senate pool and avoiding late night conviviality. In other days he drank a Scotch or two a week, but not now. "I'm in training," he smiles. So, traveling first class on each campaign flight, he stows the two allotted shot bottles of liquor in his flight bag. Already this year he has logged 160,000 miles to visit 31 states, and the collection of unopened bottles is up to well over 100. "Norwegian frugality," he explains. "That's the way we'd run the country."

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