Drinking fruit punch and eating egg rolls and enchiladas, more than 200 people celebrated former Boston mayoral candidate Melvin H. King's 60th birthday last Thursday at Roxbury Community College.

To the strains of a folk singer, a gospel choir and a '50s rock n' roll band, community activists, local politicans and leaders of the Rainbow Coalition mingled, politicked and griped about the Presidential ticket.

The proceeds from the celebration, entitled "Roots of the Rainbow," will help retire King's campaign debt from his 1986 bid to succeed Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill in Congress.

King was greeted with warmth and respect at the October 20 party. Sporting his ever-present bow tie, the soft-spoken King reflected on his bittersweet experience in Boston politics.

Founder of the Rainbow Coalition and a close personal friend of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, King grew up in the South End, the only racially integrated neighborhood in Boston. His political career, fueled by childhood memories of racial harmony, included a 10-year spell as a state representative--as well as his run for Congress and two campaigns for mayor of Boston.

King, reflecting on the 1988 presidential race, said the necessity of defeating Vice President George Bush is the principal concern of the Rainbow Coalition.

"The issue is--what do we do to pull people together to turn out that vote?" said King.

Former Jackson delegates to the 1988 Democratic National Convention said the Dukakis campaign failed to work on solidifying its support in traditional Democratic constituencies.

"I've learned that as a basic axiom of politics, you always solidify your base at the beginning of the campaign and then you move out to gain supporters in sympathetic groups," said Bruce Bolling, president of the Boston City Council and former state chairperson of the Jackson for President Campaign. "A campaign with an almost solitary emphasis on Reagan Democrats was a failed strategy."

"You have to reach out to the people based on ideas, based on the direction that you want to move towards. If people saw an alternative to Bush, they'd vote for it. The Dukakis-Bentsen campaign stayed in a grey area far too long. It didn't energize its natural constituency--Blacks, labor, the disadvantaged," Bolling said.

Either the candidate turns people on or he doesn't," Boston School Committee member and First Chairperson of the Boston Rainbow Coalition Juanita B. Wade said.

"The candidate must talk about what concerns people's hearts--and the Democratic candidate has failed to do this. If people think the candidate doesn't articulate those issues, the people aren't going to vote."

The Dukakis post-convention strategy also drew criticism for not supporting the national voter registration drive that Jackson sought funding for at the Democratic Convention.

"The decision was made by the [Democratic National Committee] and Dukakis strategists not to fund a voter registration drive. The pressure of local party pols, elected officials--they didn't want to swell their districts with new voters," said western Mass. Jackson organizer Lisa Baskin. "If we had made a decision to register after the convention, there would be no question of victory in November."

From those Black citizens who are registered and choose to vote, the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket will receive overwhelming support on November 8, Bolling said.

"But in order for Michael Dukakis to win, he'd need the support of upwards of 90 percent of that vote with significant turnout. The reaching out to Black voters was never manifested to the extent that it was necessary," said Bolling.