Jesse Jackson's campaign said today common ground had been reached with Michael Dukakis' forces on most of Jackson's minority platform planks but the Jackson camp will press floor debate on three issues. Today's Democratic Convention session was moved up to allow more time for debate. Jackson officials, in a written notice, said today there would be debate on three planks for which he had filed minority versions _ higher taxes on the wealthy, no first use of nuclear weapons and Palestinian self-determination in the Middle East. However, they said they would not press the Middle East issue to a vote. The Dukakis delegates were expected to easily defeat Jackson on the higher-taxes and nuclear-weapons issues, but today's convention starting time was moved up from 4:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT to allow time to air the issues. The Jackson campaign's major concession was to drop a call for a five-year freeze on Pentagon spending. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jackson's chief platform negotiator, told a news conference, ``Jackson has had a grater impact on this platform than any candidate other than a nominee in memory.'' She said of the Palestinian homeland issue on CBS-TV today, ``Our supporters were anxious to have the issue debated, not necesssarily voted. ... What was sought was an agreement that would keep our party together and avoid the dissonance.'' But she said in regard to the Jackson plank that would pledge no first use of nuclear weapons, ``We are going to the floor on that. The Soviet Union has said it. It's much more in the American tradition to say that.'' Current U.S. and NATO policy would allow first use in the event of a Soviet invasion of Europe. The Jackson campaign, in its written update, said, ``We have reached common ground on nine of the minority planks advocated by our campaign,'' including acceptance of Jackson's minority plank on the budget. That plank says, ``Investing in America and reducing the deficit requires that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share and that we restrain Pentagon spending.'' Other Jackson proposals will be included in the platform compromise language, including expanded support for prenatal care, Head Start and education. The platform negotiators resumed their talks Monday after a six-day hiatus caused by tension between Jackson and Dukakis. The Jackson campaign said that ``our major impact on the platform has been in the document itself (which) already reflects the guiding principles of our campaign: declaring South Africa a terrorist state, our five-point program to fight drugs, political empowerment and many more.'' Campaign lieutenants negotiated late into the night over the details of resolving the minority positions Jackson wanted in the streamlined, 4,500-word platform. ``I expect we won't have a marathon session,'' Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard, chairman of the platform committee, said Monday. Blanchard says the platform, shorn of the usual special-interest rhetoric, is compact enough to fit on a poster. The agreement not to wage a drawn-out platform fight followed a Monday morning meeting in which Jackson pledged party unity and Michael Dukakis promised to increase Jackson's role in the party. The platform talks had been suspended last Tuesday when Dukakis failed to give Jackson early notice of his selection of Lloyd Bentsen as a running mate. Both Dukakis and Jackson said they anticipated some issues would be left to the 4,162 delegates to decide. Jackson said Monday night on the Cable News Network: ``There will be key planks to be debated tomorrow night. ... We are committed to having new budget priorities.'' Rep. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a co-chair of the Platform Committee, said early today he thought there would be just ``a slight floor fight.'' Richardson said defense was where the Jackson forces had ``the chance to make the most inroads'' on Dukakis' majority. In a Platform Committee session in Denver June 25, the Dukakis forces rejected several cornerstone Jackson campaign positions, including his call for higher taxes on the wealthy, a Pentagon budget freeze, Palestinian self-determination and a U.S. policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. Actor Ed Begley of television's ``St. Elsewhere,'' a Dukakis delegate from California, was among many delegates sporting ``No First Use'' stickers at Monday night's opening session. Other Jackson minority planks called for full funding of Head Start and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, and doubling the education budget. AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland told the 751 labor delegates they were free ``to dance with the candidates you came with'' on platform fights. The National Education Association, which has 291 delegates, voted Sunday to take Jackson's side on the education plank. The 4,500-word proposed platform is the Democrats' shortest in five decades. Borrowing a phrase from Republican nominee-to-be George Bush, it promises to reverse the ``voodoo economics'' of the Reagan administration, bolster programs for the needy and maintain ``more stable defense budgets.'' Tailored largely to Dukakis' specifications, it includes many of Jackson's positions as well, including a condemnation of South Africa as ``a terrorist state.'' The platform is the main order of convention business today before a prime-time speech by Jackson.
