Ford backers worry aloud about the Texas primary on May 1, although Administration insiders believe that John Connally, recently appointed to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, will swing the state for Ford with an endorsement just before primary day. A much more serious cause of concern, however, and one that isn’t discussed openly, is the May 18 primary in Michigan. As a Ford partisan points out, it’s a straight percentage primary, and cross-over voting is allowed, thus guaranteeing Reagan a good vote total and a significant share of delegates. George Wallace, who carried the state in 1972, has all but thrown in the towel there, and Michigan Wallaceites have announced that they will vote for Reagan. And Ford himself has surprisingly thin support in his home state. “He’s traveled everywhere else for the past 25 years speaking for Republicans,” says a Michigan Republican, “but not in Michigan.” A defeat in Michigan, Ford backers believe, would have a stunning psychological impact, and should Ford go on to win nomination, would provide the Democrats with invaluable campaign fodder.
Ford campaign aides are furious that the President found it necessary in Wisconsin to attempt to defend Henry Kissinger against Ronald Reagan’s televised charges, especially when Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt states flatly that Kissinger did indeed say that his job is to negotiate the best Number 2 position in the world for the United States, thus leaving Ford in the awkward position of calling Ronald Reagan a liar for telling the truth. Added to the growing perception of Kissinger as architect of our decline, Helsinki, and the unflattering depiction of him in the newest Woodward and Bernstein effort, the “fabrications” flap may signal the end. “We will have a new Secretary of State in the next Ford Administration,” said Melvin Laird shortly after the controversy erupted. “Henry knows that. He will bow out because he knows he should not serve beyond the present term.” Laird, a close political associate of Ford, is famous in Washington for floating Administration trial balloons, and the message this time may be as much meant for Kissinger as for the general public. If he continues to be a campaign liability, the President is expected to order him to announce his resignation—voluntarily, of course— before the general election.
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