Back On Track

He will never be mistaken for John Rambo, but Michael Dukakis, clad in an Army helmet and clutching a machine gun, tried to look like the militarist he isn't at a General Dynamics plant outside Detroit last week. It was difficult to tell whether the queasy expression came from his bumpy ride in an M1 tank or his disdain for hokey photo ops. But he was ready to sacrifice dignity in the service of his theme. The message: Dukakis is tough on defense.

"Defense week" was part of a broader strategy to rescue the Democrat's floundering campaign. Since his rehabilitation on Labor Day weekend, John Sasso, Dukakis' closest adviser, has stolen a page from the Republicans' game plan. Campaign swings are now organized around a single coherent message and a compelling "visual" for the evening news.

During the three days last week designed to counter Dukakis' dovish image, the candidate talked about using economic pressure to force the Soviets' hand on human rights. In Chicago and Washington he professed support for the Stealth bomber and the Trident II missile. And he peppered his speeches with the sound bite-size generalities that TV news adores: "We're going to put our defense dollars where our defense needs are greatest."

At times the Dukakis campaign still seemed snakebitten. The candidate was jeered at a jet-engine factory outside Cincinnati. At fire-ravaged Yellowstone National Park, after commending the fire fighters, he had nothing of substance to say. He at first tried to ignore questions about Bush's attack of the day, which was that Dukakis was a spendthrift mismanager as a Governor. But he finally counterattacked, pointing to his ten balanced budgets.

Despite some missteps, the Dukakis campaign seemed to be awakening from its stupor. Some polls show him pulling even or slightly ahead once again. With the return of Sasso, a course of action for Dukakis' fall campaign is belatedly taking shape.