■ Republican Governor James Thompson of Illinois—hope of the liberal wing of the party for 1980—may be a victim of the tax-cutting fever now sweeping the country. Thompson has vowed to veto a property tax cut measure passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature. His opponent Michael Bakalis has endorsed it. … A winner in the House Ethics Committee report’s putting the finger on New Jersey Democratic Congressman Edward Patten is Patten’s Republican opponent, sometime NR contributor Charles Wiley. . . . Latest polls show Republican senatorial contender Rudy Boschwitz lengthening his lead (56 to 41) over Democratic Sen. Wendell Anderson in Minnesota. . . . The four bigmoney campaigns of the year, says U.S. News, will be (what else) two Texas races, Rep. Bob Krueger v. Rep-publican Sen. John Tower, and in the gubernatorial race Democrat John Hill v. Republican William Clements; the Jerry Brown-Evelle Younger battle in California, critical to Brown’s hopes of challenging Jimmy Carter in 1980; and the North Carolina senatorial race between incumbent Jesse Helms—an influential conservative leader in the Senate—and Democrat Bob Ingram. . . . Maine conservatives face a problem: whether to support liberalish Rep. William Cohen (ACA, 35 per cent; ADA 85 per cent; AFL-CIO COPE, 58 per cent) against Democratic Sen. William Hathaway, who is vulnerable, or go for conservative independent candidate Hayes Gahagan . . . And a correction: Former Gov. Marvin Mandel of Maryland was convicted of political corruption but is not, as reported here last issue, in prison.
■ Want to know who are the big spenders in Congress? The National Taxpayers Union’s list of spending votes in 1977 says the biggest spenders in the Senate are Democrats Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Gary Hart (Colo.), Mike Gravel (Alaska), Abraham Ribicoff (Conn.), and Jim Sasser (Tenn.). The most frugal senators are Harry Byrd (Ind., Va), William Roth (R., Del ), Jesse Helms (R., N.C.), William Proxmire (D., Wis.), and Paul Laxalt (R., Nev.). In the House the bad guys are Claude Pepper (Fla.), Daniel Flood (Pa.), John Murphy (N.Y.), and James Burke (Mass.)—all Democrats. The good guys are Phil Crane (Ill.), William Armstrong (Colo.), and James Collins (Tex.)—all Republicans. . . . Within the White House the fight against the introduction of a national health insurance program at this time is led by Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, who fears its impact on inflation. . . . Already, says Barry Bosworth of the Council of Wage and Price Stability, the cost of compliance with government regulations is adding three-quarters of a point to the inflation rate every year.
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