Kirk Says Hart Bid Will Be ‘Short Term’

WASHINGTON —  Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. on Thursday accused Gary Hart of putting personal needs ahead of the party’s interests but predicted that Hart’s revived presidential candidacy--and the harm it may have caused Democrats--will both be “short term.”

As Democratic primary voters begin to focus on the campaign, he said, they “will look seriously at electability. . . . Gary Hart has an uphill battle on that issue.”

Kirk’s statement, made at a breakfast meeting with reporters, is the strongest criticism that any senior Democratic leader has leveled so far at Hart, a former senator from Colorado. Moreover, the remarks are particularly significant because Kirk, as party chairman, has urged others to refrain from expressing early endorsements or criticism of candidates.

Rivals Attack Hart

Presidential hopefuls Bruce Babbitt and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) have already begun to attack Hart. Babbitt, the former governor of Arizona, became the first candidate to criticize Hart on Wednesday and toughened his line Thursday, denouncing Hart for saying the other Democratic candidates are not seriously discussing the issues.

“If this weren’t so serious it would be funny. If it weren’t so funny it would be serious. . . . If he thinks the American people or the other candidates are waiting to be educated by him, he’s kidding himself,” Babbitt said at a Chicago press conference.

Gephardt, in remarks prepared for a press conference in San Jose, said: “I don’t question Sen. Hart’s right to be a candidate, but I doubt his ability to be an effective President.” Hart’s “ideas for meeting the economic challenges of the future simply aren’t good enough,” he added.

Hart, meanwhile, campaigning in South Dakota in the third day of his reborn campaign, seemed to suggest he was running as much against the Democratic Party Establishment as against individual contenders for the nomination.

Won’t Answer Questions

As he had in Maine and New Hampshire the day before, Hart turned aside questions from reporters and addressed himself instead to a sympathetic school audience and the television cameras beyond them, lecturing on the economy, foreign policy and educational reform.

He offered no response to the criticism from Kirk and his fellow Democratic contenders. Later in the evening in Denver, when asked specifically about Kirk’s criticism, he replied: “I don’t think Paul meant that.”

Pounding home what appears to be the central theme of his renewed campaign, Hart stressed during his campaign appearance in Sioux Falls, S.D., that it is a “people’s campaign,” by implication distinct from the others, and one that is meant to ensure that “a handful of power brokers are not going to pick the next President of the United States.”

Without directly mentioning his fellow Democratic contenders, Hart suggested again that their campaigns, in contrast to his, lack policy substance.

‘Slogans Won’t Work’

“I think contenders running for national leadership are going to have to put forward a blueprint to guide the nation forward,” Hart said.

“Generalities won’t work, slogans won’t work, rhetoric won’t work.”

Party Chairman Kirk defended Hart’s right to get back into the race, saying: “Many may question the wisdom of his decision, but no one’s going to question his statement that the people decide.” He also denied published reports that he had been “privately furious” over Hart’s decision.

However, Kirk left no doubt that he believes Hart had made the wrong move.

Democrats have taken “a hit” because of Hart’s decision, he said. When asked whether Hart is putting his own needs above the party’s, Kirk took a long pause and said: “Yeah. There are certain things he felt--perhaps, about himself and so forth--that he had to say that put some elements (of) the party at risk.”

Hart Denies Contention

Hart, in an interview with reporters Wednesday night, denied he is hurting the Democrats. “I’ve never hurt this party in 25 years,” he said. “I’ve done as much for this party as anybody, and I am as entitled to run for office in the Democratic Party as anybody.”

But Kirk’s evident displeasure with Hart’s return appears to be widely shared among Democratic professionals. At a private meeting of leading Democratic fund-raisers and former officials in New York Thursday morning, “there was great hostility to his getting back in the race,” said former Rep. John Brademas (D-Ind.), one of those attending.

Hart has refused to talk more about his relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, which led to his withdrawal from the race in May. The remaining questions, Kirk said, “are going to be germane to the people who are going to be making a selection--no doubt about it. . . . Donna Rice is going to be relevant.”

His actions “invited the burden or challenge on himself,” Kirk said.

‘Derisive Laughter’

Besides dealing with the skepticism of the party Establishment, Hart also must find a way of handling what Kirk called “derisive laughter . . . one of the cruelest indictments of anyone.”

But on the campaign trail Thursday, Hart appeared undaunted. At the school in Sioux Falls, he held up a thick pamphlet of his own policy ideas--”The thoughts of Chairman Gary,” he jokingly called it--and challenged his audience to ask other candidates whether they can claim as weighty a tome of their own.

“Are these the best ideas? I don’t know. That’s for you to decide. But I do know they are different ideas, either than we are pursuing today or that my own party, in some cases, has yet to propose.”

David Lauter reported from Washington and Robert Gillette from Sioux Falls, S.D. Staff writer Tamara Jones in Denver also contributed to this report.