Jesse Jackson, declaring that statehood for the District of Columbia was a ``mainstream'' issue, launched a new effort Monday to gain the district's admittance to the union. ``D.C. statehood is a mainstream issue,'' Jackson said. ``We need to go to work ... mobilizing people all over the country. We want democracy and not tyranny.'' Jackson said the campaign, which began on the national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, ``would give substance to the dream'' that King espoused. Jackson, who moved to the district last year, was joined at the opening of the Rainbow Coalition's D.C. Statehood office by local and national politicans, local labor leaders and mayoral hopeful Sharon Pratt Dixon. The campaign will focus on persuading those who voted for Jackson in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries to rally behind the statehood effort, the two-time presidential hopeful said. Roughly 7 million voters backed Jackson in the primaries. The civil rights leader said he has already met with Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and House Speaker Thomas S. Foley to push the statehood issue. He said statehood supporters will write to each member of Congress and senator by Feb. 1 to determine who supports the idea. The Republican and Democratic parties will also be asked to help, and Jackson expressed confidence that he will be able to meet with President Bush to discuss the statehood issue. ``Surely, if he can send our men and women to fight and die for democracy in Panama, he will not deny democracy where he lives,'' Jackson said. ``If Mr. Bush can stand for Puerto Rican statehood, surely he can stand for D.C. statehood, too.'' In his State of the Union address last January, Bush promised to have party officials explore the possibility of making Puerto Rico a state. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown, a former Jackson aide and D.C. resident, noted that statehood for the nation's capital was a plank in the 1988 Democratic platform. ``We'll be behind it,'' said Brown. ``We will be putting our resources behind this _ mostly organizational help.'' Jackson has been rumored as a possible mayoral candidate, but has publicly said he would not oppose Mayor Marion Barry in the upcoming election. Barry indicated he may include funds for two ``shadow'' senators and a ``shadow'' representative in the budget he will send to the city council next month. Those elected to the largely ceremonial, non-voting positions would lobby for statehood in Congress. The district currently has one, non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.
