It’s a whole new ballgame, say pols involved in ’76 campaign. Two big reasons: the campaign financing law and the new Democratic rules doing away with winner-take-all primaries. Richard Murphy, in charge of Shriver effort, is in his seventh presidential campaign: “The new rules and laws make it like my first; it’s just that different.” Murphy doubts JFK and McGovern would have gotten Democratic nod if they had had to operate under ’76 rules. . . . Abolition of winner-take-all primary has also encouraged the lame to keep limping along rather than drop out. “In 1971,” says Richard Stearns, a McGovern vet, “people tested the water, then pulled back quickly if it didn’t look good. Now the law encourages proliferation. Everyone has a financial incentive to stay alive.” An illustration of this is Milton Shapp, at or near the rear of most every poll. But Shapp recently predicted: “I can’t really lose. Other candidates are using themselves up by entering all the primaries and none of them will be able to get enough delegates to win on the first ballot. Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting in the wings, ready to sprint up there at the end.” . . . “So remote that you can just say for all practical purposes, it’s ruled out.” That’s George Wallace talking about chances he’ll go the third-party route; he’s satisfied with the way the Democrats are treating him and confident they won’t adopt a “1972-type candidate and platform.” . . . Sarge Shriver has now put his finger on the reason for his fifth-place finish in the Iowa primary. He claims the Catholic Church in Iowa “stuck it in my guts” on the abortion issue because of its tacit support of Carter. “The truth is,” says Shriver, “I’ve done more over the last ten years on this issue than anyone else in or out of public life.” Not so, say prolifers; Shriver has been doing the waffle on abortion, just like all the other Democratic candidates.
Cuba’s Angolan venture is having repercussions close to home. Venezuela, which resumed diplomatic relations with Castro just last January, is now wondering. One official says, “If Castro can do it in Africa, so far from home, he can also do it anywhere in the Caribbean.” Venezuelans also suspect that many of the Cuban embassy people have intelligence functions. Coincidentally, Castro has also asked permission to establish consulates in three other Venezuelan cities. Approval is not expected. . . . Viet vet Larry Mitchell says he has recruited over 200 black Vietnam veterans who want to keep Communism out of Africa. “I know the side I’m going with is losing,” said one vet. “That only makes me want to go all the more.” The mission was made possible when the Congress of Racial Equality promised to pay for transportation. Departure is scheduled for February 15. . . . Hoping to shake the British public “out of a long sleep,” Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher has attacked Harold Wilson’s Labor Government for dismantling Britain’s defenses while the Russians are bent on world domination. “The Russians put guns before butter,” she told an audience. “We put just about everything before guns.” . . . Speaking of which, Selskaya Zhizn, the daily of the Soviet ministry of agriculture, reports bread shortages in at least 11 major cities, including Moscow.
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