CAMPAIGN ’88 : Simon Admits Slippage in Latest Illinois Polls

Illinois Sen. Paul Simon acknowledged Friday that he has slipped in the polls in his home state after failing to compete on Super Tuesday this week, but he nonetheless predicted a victory in the Illinois primary next Tuesday.

“There was some slippage after Super Tuesday,” Simon said Friday after meeting diners at a Chicago restaurant. “But when the votes are counted . . . we will be ahead both in delegates and in the separate ‘beauty contest.’ ”

Simon is running no television advertising in his home state, and a poll in Illinois by one of the TV networks showed him slipping from a high of 46% before Super Tuesday to 30% this week.

The senator’s decision to stay in the race for Illinois is a problem for the three leading candidates in the Democratic race, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr.

They do not want to criticize Simon because he is popular in his state. But on the other hand, he stands in the way of each of them scoring a major victory in the primary, in which 113 of Illinois’ 187 convention delegates will be chosen.

Simon was pressured to stay in the race by some longtime liberals and also by Illinois politicians who had filed as delegates under his name. Those people want to go to the convention and did not want Simon to get out of the race until at least after Tuesday.

But it was clear from random interviews in the Chicago restaurant where Simon appeared Friday that he is facing long odds, because many people now see him as a candidate who cannot win the nomination.

“He’s my senator, so naturally I’m with him, but I’m afraid he’s running out of steam,” said Marge Krizek.

And Richard Mutalibov said, as Simon shook his hand and moved on: “I like Paul Simon. . . . But I read in the papers that he cannot win. No chance.”