Democrat Michael Dukakis said today he was gaining ground on George Bush whom he called a failure as vice president. Republican Bush proposed a $100 million umbrella organization to encourage volunteerism, saying, ``I want our affluent to help our poor.'' While the two White House contenders campaigned in critical states _ Dukakis in Illinois and Bush in California _ the vice presidential candidates devoted their time to preparing for Wednesday night's debate. Republican Dan Quayle, who has studied at an undisclosed location in Washington, D.C., was leaving today for Omaha, Neb., for the debate, as was Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, who did his final preparations in Austin, Texas. Dukakis, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said Bush had failed in five missions: as part of an administration effort to increase U.S. sales in Japan, as head of task forces on regulatory reform, drug interdiction and international terrorism, and in an effort to recommend banking reforms. ``Mr. Bush was given five important missions by this administration and he failed every one. And that was before they asked him to pick a running mate in this election,'' Dukakis said. The Massachusetts governor, slightly behind Bush in recent polls, said he was ``beginning to turn this race around.'' He said the final weeks would be ``tough and competitive.'' Bush, in Sacramento, Calif., proposed creation of ``Youth Engaged in Service to America,'' an organization chaired by the president that ``will work with existing youth programs and will put an emphasis on programs that are started in our schools.'' The organization might develop some new volunteer programs but mostly would work in partnership with programs already under way, such as Peace Corps, the California Conservation Corps and others, said Bush campaign adviser Loret Ruppe, director of the Peace Corps. Bush said, ``I want our affluent to help our poor. I want our young to help our elderly. ... I want the young men and women of our tree-lined suburbs to get on a bus, or the subway, or the metro, and go into the cities where the want is.'' On Monday, Dukakis promised a presidency that would enforce civil rights laws while Bush pledged support for development of a space station in his administration. With the election five weeks away, the Democratic presidential nominee told black supporters on Chicago's South Side Monday night that the nation will be deciding between ``two different futures, two different roads to travel.'' And the choice of the GOP nominee will lead to an ``America of privilege _ an America where the very rich get even richer and the rest of us just get by. This is George Bush's America,'' Dukakis said. The vice president, who earlier Monday welcomed the return of the space shuttle Discovery and its five-man crew, told a rally in Redding, Calif., that he is committed to the creation of an operational space station by 1996. ``This goal is achievable, sensible ... and we will meet that goal,'' Bush said. The two candidates vowed to hold their second presidential debate either Oct. 13 or 14, despite the League of Women Voters' withdrawal of its sponsorship. The date will be determined by the length of the American League baseball playoffs. In announcing the decision, League President Nancy M. Neuman cited the campaigns' control of debate format and other details that would squelch any spontaneity. ``We have no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public,'' she said. The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, sponsors of the first presidential debate and the vice presidential encounter, quickly stepped in and agreed to take over sponsorship. Janet Brown, executive director of the commission, said the group hopes to keep the debate in Los Angeles and was seeking help from local groups to finance preparations, which the League had estimated at $500,000. Dukakis, in a rare appearance in the predominantly black Chicago neighborhood, paid tribute to late Mayor Harold Washington and the Democrat nominee's former rival for the nomination, Jesse Jackson. Jackson is a ``great son of Chicago'' whose ``sun still shines brightly over all of America,'' Dukakis told the audience. The candidate pledged that his administration would enforce civil rights laws, provide same-day voter registration and select judges committed to equality. ``We're going to aim high and enforce the civil rights laws of this country, not veto them; we're going to have a Justice Department that will inspire us, not embarrass us; and we're going to have an attorney general who understands what the word justice means,'' Dukakis said. Earlier in the day, the Massachusetts governor stopped in Dearborn Heights, Mich., where he spoke to students about drug use and helped destroy about $100,000 worth of marijuana, cocaine and heroin by throwing it into a county incinerator. At a rally in Hartford, Conn., Dukakis responded to Bush's charge that the Democratic nominee is a big-spending liberal. ``The solutions we're proposing are not big-money solutions or big-government solutions,'' Dukakis said. ``And unlike Mr. Bush's tired old ideas, they won't leave America running in place. They'll make America the most powerful and productive country on earth.'' Meanwhile, the Democrat's campaign introduced two new ads following the recent theme of ``The Packaging of George Bush.'' The ads, which show campaign advisers sitting around a table, deal with the Reagan administration's environmental record and Bush's dealings with Panamanian ruler Manuel Antonio Noriega.
