For the Record

Des Moines hosted Midwestern Republican Leadership Conference, and all would-be Republican leaders were there. George Bush got the prize slot, the big luncheon address, and, observers reported, aquitted himself blandly. “We’re moving the ball on the ground just fine,” Bush consultant Rich Galen said in Bush’s defense. “Unless they make us put it in the air, why do it?” . . . Other candidates sniped at special treatment of the Veep. Pat Robertson: “He’s running a Rose Garden campaign without the Rose Garden.” Alexander Haig: “It’s . . . important that the RNC . . . establish a level playing field.” Robert Dole: “We are allowed to go into the city limits as long as we don’t touch anything.” . . . Sharpest attack on Bush came from Pete du Pont. Bush has lived in a “cocoon” for eight years. “How does [he] get the sort of wisdom that can be found only in the coffee shops and the living rooms and the county courthouses, talking to the American people?” . . . Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk predicts Bush will win the Republican nomination, and adds that Bush is the man he would most like as opponent because he could be put on defensive over Reagan record.

On Democratic side, it’s official: Frontrunner is Jesse Jackson. Jackson tops latest New York Times/CBS poll (with 17 per cent) and Teichner poll in California (13 per cent); according to Des Moines Register, he trails only next-door neighbor Richard Gephardt (Gephardt, 24 per cent; Jackson, 13 per cent). “There’s not much doubt about it,” says pollster Kevin Phillips, “and also not much doubt about how uncomfortable it makes some Democrats.” . . . Testing the waters: Rep. Pat Schroeder. “People have asked me to look at it seriously.” Mrs. Schroeder was a signer of the fawning “Dear Comandante” letter to Daniel Ortega. … A shoal of Gary Hart operatives, including his national political director, has swum over to Michael Dukakis.

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Presidential Election

Des Moines hosted Midwestern Republican Leadership Conference, and all would-be Republican leaders were there. George Bush got the prize slot, the big luncheon address, and, observers reported, aquitted himself blandly. “We’re moving the ball on the ground just fine,” Bush consultant Rich Galen said in Bush’s defense. “Unless they make us put it in the air, why do it?” . . . Other candidates sniped at special treatment of the Veep. Pat Robertson: “He’s running a Rose Garden campaign without the Rose Garden.” Alexander Haig: “It’s . . . important that the RNC . . . establish a level playing field.” Robert Dole: “We are allowed to go into the city limits as long as we don’t touch anything.” . . . Sharpest attack on Bush came from Pete du Pont. Bush has lived in a “cocoon” for eight years. “How does [he] get the sort of wisdom that can be found only in the coffee shops and the living rooms and the county courthouses, talking to the American people?” . . . Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk predicts Bush will win the Republican nomination, and adds that Bush is the man he would most like as opponent because he could be put on defensive over Reagan record.

On Democratic side, it’s official: Frontrunner is Jesse Jackson. Jackson tops latest New York Times/CBS poll (with 17 per cent) and Teichner poll in California (13 per cent); according to Des Moines Register, he trails only next-door neighbor Richard Gephardt (Gephardt, 24 per cent; Jackson, 13 per cent). “There’s not much doubt about it,” says pollster Kevin Phillips, “and also not much doubt about how uncomfortable it makes some Democrats.” . . . Testing the waters: Rep. Pat Schroeder. “People have asked me to look at it seriously.” Mrs. Schroeder was a signer of the fawning “Dear Comandante” letter to Daniel Ortega. … A shoal of Gary Hart operatives, including his national political director, has swum over to Michael Dukakis.