For the Record

Snipers have finally begun aiming at Jimmy Carter’s Rose Garden. “He says national unity must be preserved,” wrote David Broder recently, “but it is increasingly clear that it is Carter’s interests— not the hostages’ or the country’s—that are being protected by his sequestered status.” Carter did emerge from the White House to appear on Meet the Press January 20, the day before the Iowa caucus, when he declared that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan wouldn’t have any effect on U.S. decision to impose sanctions on neighboring Iran. Carter got the Iowa headlines the next day, said Broder, but Iran has yet to get the sanctions . . . Has Jimmy called? Despite Iran and Afghanistan crises, say Evans & Novak, “never before have so many total strangers been telephoned by a President.” Carter makes twenty to forty phone calls to prospective voters each weeknight, and many more than that on weekends. Kennedy workers in New Hampshire say that in some precincts every Democratic household has received a phone call from the President. . . . With Kennedy running to the left of Carter, Carter stand-in Fritz Mondale has turned into a free-marketeer. Mondale has derided Kennedy’s call for wage-price controls as “hocus-pocus and hokum” that would spawn an “army of federal bureaucrats.” As for Kennedy’s call for gas rationing, Mondale said that wouldn’t produce a “single drop of oil.” . . . The other Democratic contender, Jerry Brown, is doing poorly even at home. In a nonbinding presidential preference poll at the California state Democratic convention, Brown got 207 votes, against 622 for Kennedy, and 583 for Carter.

Campaign warchests are overflowing. As 1980 began, presidential contenders had received nearly $40 million from individuals—double the amount given at the same point in 1976 campaign. Biggest money-raiser is John Connally, with $9.1 million raised by the end of the year, plus $800,000 in January. Ronald Reagan is second, with $7.2 million raised in 1979 and $1.1 million in January. Carter raised $5.7 million in 1979, easily beating late-starter Ted Kennedy, who raised $3.9 million in the final three months of ’79. . . . Eventual presidential nominees will receive $29,440,000 from the Federal Government, plus about $3 million as a fund-raising allowance. After some hesitation, Reagan has decided to accept federal matching funds. The lesson of Iowa now driven home, Reagan will participate in a debate with his GOP rivals in South Carolina on February 28 and will also debate in New Hampshire some time before the state’s February 26 primary.

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Snipers have finally begun aiming at Jimmy Carter’s Rose Garden. “He says national unity must be preserved,” wrote David Broder recently, “but it is increasingly clear that it is Carter’s interests— not the hostages’ or the country’s—that are being protected by his sequestered status.” Carter did emerge from the White House to appear on Meet the Press January 20, the day before the Iowa caucus, when he declared that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan wouldn’t have any effect on U.S. decision to impose sanctions on neighboring Iran. Carter got the Iowa headlines the next day, said Broder, but Iran has yet to get the sanctions . . . Has Jimmy called? Despite Iran and Afghanistan crises, say Evans & Novak, “never before have so many total strangers been telephoned by a President.” Carter makes twenty to forty phone calls to prospective voters each weeknight, and many more than that on weekends. Kennedy workers in New Hampshire say that in some precincts every Democratic household has received a phone call from the President. . . . With Kennedy running to the left of Carter, Carter stand-in Fritz Mondale has turned into a free-marketeer. Mondale has derided Kennedy’s call for wage-price controls as “hocus-pocus and hokum” that would spawn an “army of federal bureaucrats.” As for Kennedy’s call for gas rationing, Mondale said that wouldn’t produce a “single drop of oil.” . . . The other Democratic contender, Jerry Brown, is doing poorly even at home. In a nonbinding presidential preference poll at the California state Democratic convention, Brown got 207 votes, against 622 for Kennedy, and 583 for Carter.

Campaign warchests are overflowing. As 1980 began, presidential contenders had received nearly $40 million from individuals—double the amount given at the same point in 1976 campaign. Biggest money-raiser is John Connally, with $9.1 million raised by the end of the year, plus $800,000 in January. Ronald Reagan is second, with $7.2 million raised in 1979 and $1.1 million in January. Carter raised $5.7 million in 1979, easily beating late-starter Ted Kennedy, who raised $3.9 million in the final three months of ’79. . . . Eventual presidential nominees will receive $29,440,000 from the Federal Government, plus about $3 million as a fund-raising allowance. After some hesitation, Reagan has decided to accept federal matching funds. The lesson of Iowa now driven home, Reagan will participate in a debate with his GOP rivals in South Carolina on February 28 and will also debate in New Hampshire some time before the state’s February 26 primary.