Why did Ronald Reagan go for the subsidized wheat sale to Russia? There are (count them) 12 to 14 reasons: That’s how many Republican senators are running for re-election in hard-hit farm states. Evans & Novak say aides have convinced the President that the wheat sales could be of “great importance” in six tight races. . . . Economic analyst Albert Sindlinger believes economic downturn will be particularly damaging to GOP in Midwest, South, while Republicans will do well on prosperous East and West Coasts. . . . William Feltus, senior analyst at Market Opinion Research, tends to be more optimistic. He says it usually takes an increase in unemployment figures to hurt incumbents, and employment is, if anything, up. . . . Latest Gallup on economic prospects shows 51 per cent of the people expect to be better off a year from now. That’s down from 61 per cent in March, but still in the optimistic column. . . . Running scoreboard on Senate races: Kevin Phillips calls it even at end of July: three GOP plusses, three Democratic plusses. In Missouri, latest Mis-souriNet poll shows former Republican Gov. Kit Bond leading Harriett Woods, 50 to 42. Mrs. Woods’s campaign is in general disarray; she has managed to turn veterans’ groups off by accepting $2,000 contribution from Jane Fonda. … In Alabama, Sen. Jeremiah Denton continues to hold a slim lead, and in North Carolina, Democrat Terry Sanford—now facing an incumbent senator, former Rep. James Broyhill—has slipped. . . . But Democrats continue to look good in Florida (v. Paula Hawkins), in Illinois (Democratic incumbent Alan Dixon leads Judy Koehler by thirty to forty points), and in California (where the race is much closer: Alan Cranston, 48; Ed Zschau, 41). . . . New polls show Sen. Arlen Specter doing well against very liberal Rep. Bob Edgar in Pennsylvania. Edgar has gotten endorsement of state AFL-CIO despite Specter’s pro-labor voting record. But Specter is showing weakness in former GOP bastions, presumably because of his anti-Administration votes on confirmations of Brad Reynolds and Daniel Manion, among others. . . . Hardly the way to endear yourself to a prospective colleague: In Wisconsin (primary Sept. 9), Democratic senatorial nominee Ed Garvey told People magazine that Sen. William Proxmire would have endorsed him if Proxmire “hadn’t died in 1974.”
COULD BE WORSE —
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