April 6, 1992

From the television studios of Manhattan to the Mall beyond the United States Capitol to a red brick public housing project here, Edmund G. Brown Jr. today spread his message of insurgency, promising voters that as President he would return the country to the people. At every stop he repeated the theme he has sounded since announcing his candidacy last October: that the Government is in the hands of a corrupt elite that needs to be overtaken.

At least half a million people marched from the White House to the Mall near the Capitol today in support of abortion rights, hoping to impress lawmakers and the public with their political influence as the Supreme Court considers a Pennsylvania case that could sharply limit women's access to abortions. The crowd, perhaps the largest ever to march on Washington, was estimated by the police at 500,000 and by the organizers at 700,000. By either count, it was around twice the size of the huge abortion-rights demonstration that filled the grassy Mall three years ago this week. Marchers From All Over The marchers came from all over the nation, by plane and bus and train and car. They included mothers and daughters, Hollywood stars, teachers, preachers and doctors, Republicans for Choice, Catholics for Choice and two Presidential candidates, Bill Clinton and Edmund G. Brown Jr. Paul E. Tsongas, who has suspended his campaign but says he may re-enter the race, was there with his oldest daughter, Ashley. President Bush, who has made telephone speeches to anti-abortion rallies, was at the Presidential retreat in Camp David, Md.

Federal regulators have decided to sell Home Fed Bank of San Diego, one of the nation's largest troubled savings and loan institutions, after determining that the company stands little chance of regaining its financial health. Regulators said they were stopping short of formally seizing HomeFed from its parent, the HomeFed Corporation. But in a statement issued late on Friday, the company said the regulators would sell the institution, probably with Federal financial assistance, and that shareholders and bondholders would probably lose their entire investments, as they would if the institution were seized.

On the eve of Election Day, cries of "Yes!" for Gov. Bill Clinton rose in Brooklyn, and praise for former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. sounded in Harlem. But in some 250 conversations in the New York region this weekend, few voters showed fire-in-the-soul feelings for either of the Democrats seeking the Presidential nomination. Voicing doubts about character, the voters spoke not in a shout but in a giant collective sigh.

"This is not a personal kind of cult, and I am not looking to be a cult figure," said Charles B. Wang, the hands-on chairman and founder of Computer Associates International, as he prepared to welcome 3,200 employees from 27 countries to a company meeting in a Long Island sports arena. The weeklong event -- part grand-opening celebration, part sales kickoff, part inspirational retreat -- will bring together nearly half the company's work force in a huge gathering at and around its new high-tech blue-tinted corporate headquarters here in the middle of the Island, hard by the Long Island Expressway, so that Mr. Wang can lay out next year's game plan.