Subject: Oct. 19 Crash Issue Used Sparingly by Democrats
Date: Published: 2/4/88 50 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Campaign '88:  
    Oct. 19 Crash, Once Forecast as Explosive Issue,
    Is Used Sparingly and Reluctantly by Democrats
    ---
    By Alan Murray
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

   WASHINGTON -- When the stock market collapsed last
October, many political pundits viewed it as a watershed
event, raising serious questions about President Reagan's
economic leadership and boosting Democratic prospects for the
presidency.
   Instead, the Crash of '87 has turned out to be a political
dud.

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   Gov. Dukakis of Massachusetts provides a striking example.
 Although he campaigns on his competence in handling economic
policy matters, he has done surprisingly little to take
advantage of the issues raised by the crash.  "He doesn't want
to run an anti-Wall Street campaign," explains his issues
adviser, Christopher Edley.  "This is a guy who, if you name
almost any social problem, from job training to homelessness
 to AIDs, one of the first things he thinks about is:  'How do
I get the private sector engaged?  '"
   Feeding that sentiment is the fact that Democratic
candidates rely heavily on Wall Street for fund raising.
"Investment bankers are incredibly important to the
Democrats," says Thomas Ferguson, a political-science
professor at the University of Massachussetts at Boston.
Prof.  Ferguson has tracked the contributions of top Wall
Street executives to congressional and presidential
contenders, and found that for decades they have provided a
surprisingly large base of support for Democratic candidates.
   "It's hard for me to believe the Democratic Party, which
is, one is tempted to say, mortgaged to investment bankers,
is going to use the crash as a popular issue," he argues.

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