Eyes Right: Jack Kemp’s speech to American Association of Retired Persons in praise of Social Security raised conservative eyebrows. Kemp defended program from “social libertarians of the Right and the Left. . . . It’s not often that you hear a conservative attack a liberal for cutting the benefits of widows and orphans.” Kemp issues-advisor Jeffrey Bell calls Social Security a “tremendous safety net for the family.” Press secretary John Buckley made practical point: “We are talking about a primary electorate that is old.” . . . Colorado Senator Bill Armstrong’s decision to decline a run in 1988 frees supporters of New Hampshire Senator Gordon Humphrey, an Armstrong backer, to work for Kemp, though Humphrey himself will not. . . . New Hampshire Governor John Sununu is telling press that Kemp’s campaign in the Granite State is “just not clicking.” There is a grudge here: Kemp backed Warren Rudman over Sununu in 1980 GOP Senate primary. . . . “We’ll watch Kemp” for ideological deviations, promises former U.S. Treasurer Bay Buchanan Jackson, sister of retiring White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan. If any appear, “I’ll be knocking down my brother’s door” to get him back into race he pulled out of last month. . . . Oh yes, Kemp’s formal announcement is scheduled for April 6-7, in four places: the House, Buffalo, New Hampshire, and Iowa.
Eyes Left: Robert Squier, top D.C. Democratic consultant, raves over Mario Cuomo. “Governor Cuomo is someone of heroic size, a very big figure, maybe as big as President Reagan. . . . He gets his Teflon from the same place Reagan does.” . . . But are voters convinced? Boston Herald reports New Hampshire poll showing New York governor at 14 per cent, a distant third. Ahead of him: Gary Hart, with 42 per cent, and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, 30 per cent. . . . Cuomo also can’t be happy with article by Albany reporter Miriam Pawel in left-wing Mother Jones, “Nine Great Myths about Mario Cuomo.” Some samples: “Myth 1: Mario Cuomo is the hope of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Myth 2: Mario Cuomo is a fiscal conservative. Myth 3: Mario Cuomo surrounds himself with the best and brightest. (A/k/a: Mario Cuomo relies on lots of people besides his son Andrew.) . . . Myth 8: Mario Cuomo is a charming man.” Especially irksome to Mother Jones: Cuomo’s waffling on Nicaragua (i.e., insufficient zeal for Sandinistas). Possible source of much of the dirt: New York Senate Minority Leader Manfred Ohrenstein, a Democrat.
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