ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020172
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RUSSELL BEN-ALI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
THE RAINBOW COALITION wants the House to lose 65 Republicans.
Eight million unregistered black voters and a House full of Republicans.
Reversing those trends were two of the greatest goals of the Million Man March, Jesse Jackson told the masses gathered on the Washington Mall.
Since then, Jackson's campaign to shake up the political representation in Washington has received a big personal boost. His son, Jesse Jackson Jr., 30, won a special congressional election in Illinois earlier this month.
But accomplishing the shake-ups Jesse Jackson urged at the Million Man March in October would require more than one election win.
So the Rainbow Coalition will embark on an aggressive campaign to sweep scores of Republican congressional seats, Jackson said.
``We're targeting 65 congressional districts where the population is 20 percent black and brown or more,'' Jackson said Friday from Operation PUSH headquarters in Chicago. ``We intend to defeat the [House Speaker Newt] Gingrich forces in 1996 and to regain some key state legislatures.''
During a four-day conference planned for Feb. 28 in Chicago, the Rainbow Coalition will attempt to expand its base of support among multiracial labor, youth, political and women's groups, Jackson said.
Many of the districts to be targeted have high numbers of eligible minority voters who were either not registered or registered but not voting - minorities largely ignored by the media and by Washington, he said.
``The media focuses on the stock market going out of the roof, but there's no focus on the growing hole in the safety net or at the bottom of the ship,'' Jackson said. ``And I would remind you when the great Titanic sank, the water did not come in from the sun deck or from the captain's barracks - the water came in, bottom up.''
In June, Jackson said his Rainbow Coalition was already exploring getting on ballots across the nation to push candidates for state and local offices. He even warned of a third-party presidential challenge if President Clinton retreated too far on such issues as affirmative action.
Then, during the Million Man March, Jackson urged participants to help sign up millions of unregistered black voters across the country.
But could any of this result in a sweep of 65 congressional districts?
``The Gingrich forces won 39 seats by a margin of 19,000 votes - that's enough for them to take the Congress,'' Jackson responded.
``So really, we have the votes, the coalition has the votes to regain the Congress, to maintain the White House and to regain state legislatures if in fact the coalition joins together and works together.''
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB