For the Record

Just who’s running what? According to Washington Post’s David Broder, presidential aide Edward J. Rollins is cracking the whip on the Hill, warning Republican dissidents that divergence from party line now could cost them in November. Rollins is particularly incensed at Sens. Robert Packwood (Ore.) and Lowell Weicker (Conn.). He points out that recent Robert Teeter poll shows that the more a voter approves of Reagan’s job performance, the more likely he is to vote Republican in November. “We should be more aggressive,” says Rollins. “After all, the Democrats ran against Herbert Hoover for thirty years.” . . . Evans & Novak beat the alarum over proposed 4 per cent surcharge on higher incomes now being pressed by Chief of Staff, James Baker. What Reagan will have to decide, they say, “is whether he was elected President to raise marginal tax rates.” . . . But what to do about the deficit. Minority House Leader Robert Michel, a tower of strength in last year’s tax-cut and budget battles, says the one thing he does know is that another $50 billion must be lopped from budget if deficit is to be kept to around $100 billion. . . . There are loyalists out there. Thirteen Republican senators (Denton, East, Garn, Grassley, Hatch, Hawkins, Helms, Jepsen, Kasten, Mattingly, McClure, Roth, Symms) have sent White House a letter urging President Reagan to stand firm on his tax cuts. . . . Although the Democrats rejoice as Reagan’s popularity slides, he’s still got them worried. Says National Chairman Charles Manatt: “Never, never underestimate Ronald Reagan. Heisina sophomore period now. You can’t count him out in any remote sense of the word.” . . . How will today’s barrage of bad news be reflected in November? Kevin Phillips, interviewing Democratic analysts around the country, says 28 per cent think the Democrats will gain zero to ten House seats, 37 per cent think they will gain ten to twenty. (Only 4 per cent think they will win more than that.) Two-thirds, however, predict that the present bipartisan conservative coalition, though weakened, will continue to control the House.

Some odd lineups on disarmament/defense matters. Rep. John Rhodes, onetime House Minority Leader, a longtime hawk, is taking active role in attacks on defense spending. Calls for scrapping of B-l, reducing MX expenditures by 70 per cent, cutting back on Rapid Deployment Force, and phased pullback of European troops. . . . On the other hand, Rep. Les Aspin (D., Wis.), a longtime Pentagon critic, has blasted the nuclear-freeze idea (Kennedy-Hatfield resolution) because, he says, “it would eliminate the Soviets’ incentive to reduce their armaments after the freeze.” . . . And Walter Mondale has attacked McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Kennan, Gerard Smith suggestion that the U.S. take a no-first-nuclear-strike pledge. That, says Mondale, “might encourage the Soviet Union to launch an attack on Western Europe that could turn into nuclear war.” . . . While the nuclear-freeze campaign takes wings, the people at large are very dubious. Most recent poll on Soviet trustworthiness finds only 1 per cent of Americans have “a great deal of trust” that Moscow will honor treaty obligations, 83 per cent have “little or no trust” that it will. . . . And how about this for chutzpah: the Right Reverend Robert Claflin Rusack, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles, has written His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Bishop of Rome, urging him to cancel a Vatican meeting with President Reagan on June 7, and haste instead to New York to address the opening session of the special UN session on disarmament.

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Just who’s running what? According to Washington Post’s David Broder, presidential aide Edward J. Rollins is cracking the whip on the Hill, warning Republican dissidents that divergence from party line now could cost them in November. Rollins is particularly incensed at Sens. Robert Packwood (Ore.) and Lowell Weicker (Conn.). He points out that recent Robert Teeter poll shows that the more a voter approves of Reagan’s job performance, the more likely he is to vote Republican in November. “We should be more aggressive,” says Rollins. “After all, the Democrats ran against Herbert Hoover for thirty years.” . . . Evans & Novak beat the alarum over proposed 4 per cent surcharge on higher incomes now being pressed by Chief of Staff, James Baker. What Reagan will have to decide, they say, “is whether he was elected President to raise marginal tax rates.” . . . But what to do about the deficit. Minority House Leader Robert Michel, a tower of strength in last year’s tax-cut and budget battles, says the one thing he does know is that another $50 billion must be lopped from budget if deficit is to be kept to around $100 billion. . . . There are loyalists out there. Thirteen Republican senators (Denton, East, Garn, Grassley, Hatch, Hawkins, Helms, Jepsen, Kasten, Mattingly, McClure, Roth, Symms) have sent White House a letter urging President Reagan to stand firm on his tax cuts. . . . Although the Democrats rejoice as Reagan’s popularity slides, he’s still got them worried. Says National Chairman Charles Manatt: “Never, never underestimate Ronald Reagan. Heisina sophomore period now. You can’t count him out in any remote sense of the word.” . . . How will today’s barrage of bad news be reflected in November? Kevin Phillips, interviewing Democratic analysts around the country, says 28 per cent think the Democrats will gain zero to ten House seats, 37 per cent think they will gain ten to twenty. (Only 4 per cent think they will win more than that.) Two-thirds, however, predict that the present bipartisan conservative coalition, though weakened, will continue to control the House.

Some odd lineups on disarmament/defense matters. Rep. John Rhodes, onetime House Minority Leader, a longtime hawk, is taking active role in attacks on defense spending. Calls for scrapping of B-l, reducing MX expenditures by 70 per cent, cutting back on Rapid Deployment Force, and phased pullback of European troops. . . . On the other hand, Rep. Les Aspin (D., Wis.), a longtime Pentagon critic, has blasted the nuclear-freeze idea (Kennedy-Hatfield resolution) because, he says, “it would eliminate the Soviets’ incentive to reduce their armaments after the freeze.” . . . And Walter Mondale has attacked McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Kennan, Gerard Smith suggestion that the U.S. take a no-first-nuclear-strike pledge. That, says Mondale, “might encourage the Soviet Union to launch an attack on Western Europe that could turn into nuclear war.” . . . While the nuclear-freeze campaign takes wings, the people at large are very dubious. Most recent poll on Soviet trustworthiness finds only 1 per cent of Americans have “a great deal of trust” that Moscow will honor treaty obligations, 83 per cent have “little or no trust” that it will. . . . And how about this for chutzpah: the Right Reverend Robert Claflin Rusack, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles, has written His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Bishop of Rome, urging him to cancel a Vatican meeting with President Reagan on June 7, and haste instead to New York to address the opening session of the special UN session on disarmament.