For the Record

■ The word has gotten to Gerald Ford: those frantic campaign trips around the country aren’t helping his image. White House aide Jerry Jones says Ford’s trip to Georgia, a week before Reagan was to announce, was Ford’s “last speech to a Republican fundraiser for a long time and maybe forever.” . . . House Minority Whip John Anderson (Ill.), a liberal, is taking the Reagan threat seriously, has warned the President he’d better do so too. . . . Barry Goldwater still expects Ford to be the GOP candidate in ’76 but, at National Press Club three days before Reagan was to declare, he dodged the question: Who do you think would be the strongest Republican candidate? . . . Goldwater, incidentally, says he thinks the Democratic choice will be Humphrey. . . . With Rocky out, liberal Republicans, looking for vice presidential fodder, are now pushing Connecticut Sen. Lowell Weicker (of Ervin committee fame). Weicker says he’s not interested. He runs in Connecticut next year, and late polls show him leading probable Democratic opponent, State Secretary Gloria Schaffer, by 18 points.

■ On the Democratic side, it was a big week for former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, who captured 67 per cent of the votes at the Florida Democratic presidential convention, as against 5 per cent for George Wallace. Should Carter beat Wallace in Florida—which was thought inconceivable a few months back——he could emerge as real contender. Going for Carter, say the pros, is the fact he is not associated in voters’ minds with Washington, plus his energy. He has visited Florida 23 times in recent months, more than the other nine Democratic candidates combined. . . . Interesting poll of Democratic leaders (state chairmen, national committeemen) in U.S. News finds 59 per cent responding no to question: Do the Democrats need a Southerner on the ticket to help hold the South in 1976? But when asked who they thought would be the vice presidential candidate, they picked two Southerners, Jimmy Carter (41 per cent) and Lloyd Bentsen (20 per cent); 75 per cent of the Democratic pols also said they could not support a ticket with George Wallace on it. . . . Former civil rights activist Charles Evers, now mayor of Fayette, Miss., doesn’t see it that way at all. Evers would like to see Wallace as Number Two on the Democratic ticket. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—give me a converted racist anytime over a lifelong liberal.” Punch Rothco

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■ The word has gotten to Gerald Ford: those frantic campaign trips around the country aren’t helping his image. White House aide Jerry Jones says Ford’s trip to Georgia, a week before Reagan was to announce, was Ford’s “last speech to a Republican fundraiser for a long time and maybe forever.” . . . House Minority Whip John Anderson (Ill.), a liberal, is taking the Reagan threat seriously, has warned the President he’d better do so too. . . . Barry Goldwater still expects Ford to be the GOP candidate in ’76 but, at National Press Club three days before Reagan was to declare, he dodged the question: Who do you think would be the strongest Republican candidate? . . . Goldwater, incidentally, says he thinks the Democratic choice will be Humphrey. . . . With Rocky out, liberal Republicans, looking for vice presidential fodder, are now pushing Connecticut Sen. Lowell Weicker (of Ervin committee fame). Weicker says he’s not interested. He runs in Connecticut next year, and late polls show him leading probable Democratic opponent, State Secretary Gloria Schaffer, by 18 points.

■ On the Democratic side, it was a big week for former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, who captured 67 per cent of the votes at the Florida Democratic presidential convention, as against 5 per cent for George Wallace. Should Carter beat Wallace in Florida—which was thought inconceivable a few months back——he could emerge as real contender. Going for Carter, say the pros, is the fact he is not associated in voters’ minds with Washington, plus his energy. He has visited Florida 23 times in recent months, more than the other nine Democratic candidates combined. . . . Interesting poll of Democratic leaders (state chairmen, national committeemen) in U.S. News finds 59 per cent responding no to question: Do the Democrats need a Southerner on the ticket to help hold the South in 1976? But when asked who they thought would be the vice presidential candidate, they picked two Southerners, Jimmy Carter (41 per cent) and Lloyd Bentsen (20 per cent); 75 per cent of the Democratic pols also said they could not support a ticket with George Wallace on it. . . . Former civil rights activist Charles Evers, now mayor of Fayette, Miss., doesn’t see it that way at all. Evers would like to see Wallace as Number Two on the Democratic ticket. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—give me a converted racist anytime over a lifelong liberal.” Punch Rothco