For the Record

Those rumblings you hear are opening guns of ’88 presidential campaigns. In long, complex Michigan delegate selection—a year-long process—George Bush came in first, evangelist Pat Robertson second, Jack Kemp third, in preliminary count. No one else of 18-man Republican field—if you count everyone who’s been mentioned—went after Michigan delegates. . . . On Democratic side, the week featured Mario Cuomo’s announcement that he was running for re-election as governor of New York, a necessary preliminary bout to the main event. Cuomo remains number two to Gary Hart in polls, but Democratic political analyst Richard Scammon suggests he would be a poor choice for his party. Democrats could be “buying trouble” if they turn to Cuomo, says Scammon, because Cuomo is perceived in the rest of the country as a Northern “establishment” Democrat. In Christian Science Monitor interview, Scammon points out that Democrats, much more than Republicans, have an “ideological chasm” between their left and right wings. The candidate they come up with must be acceptable to both wings because the Left (Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem, Michael Harrington, Norman Lear, etc.) provides the money, the enthusiasm, the bell-ringers; the Right, the voters. . . . Incidentally, Democratic point man Hart will be finding it harder to pass himself off as a moderate given National Journal analysis that shows him the most liberal member of the Senate—ahead of John Kerry, Daniel Inouye, Howard Metzenbaum, Tom Harkin. . . . Among Republicans, Jack Kemp continues to build his campaign organization: Latest recruit is Robert C. Heckman, who will head Kemp’s Campaign for Prosperity. . . . Sen. Bob Dole is publicizing Congressional Quarterly finding that he has voted the Reagan line 92 per cent of the time in latest session of Congress, more faithfully than any other senator.

Ring out the old-timers in the South. George Wallace won’t be running again in Alabama, and Orval Faubus took the count in Arkansas gubernatorial primary last week, losing to Gov. Bill Clinton. … In Pennsylvania, the leftmost Democrat, Bob Edgar, won the right to face liberal Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in November. Specter is no prize—he played major role in William Bradford Reynolds’s confirmation debacle last year, and is supporter of Kennedy-Hatfield nuclear freeze—-but Edgar is worse: A former counselor to Vietnam draft dodgers, the six-term congressman has an ACU rating of 5 per cent, and a career AFL-CIO COPE rating of 89 per cent. Edgar beat former Democratic Congressman Don Bailey. . . . In Ohio, former GOP Gov. James Rhodes, 76, who dismisses the age factor with comment, “I haven’t been shot and I don’t have cancer,” is given outside chance of winning over incumbent Dick Celeste, if former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich, running as independent, skims off 10 to 15 per cent of votes. . . . The man Maryland Republicans would like to see take over Sen. Charles Mathias’s seat is former Sen. Glenn Beall, according to Baltimore Sun poll that gives Beall— who has not announced—33 per cent of vote to 8 and 7 per cent, respectively, for declared candidates Linda Chavez and Richard Sullivan.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Mario Cuomo

Bob Dole

Those rumblings you hear are opening guns of ’88 presidential campaigns. In long, complex Michigan delegate selection—a year-long process—George Bush came in first, evangelist Pat Robertson second, Jack Kemp third, in preliminary count. No one else of 18-man Republican field—if you count everyone who’s been mentioned—went after Michigan delegates. . . . On Democratic side, the week featured Mario Cuomo’s announcement that he was running for re-election as governor of New York, a necessary preliminary bout to the main event. Cuomo remains number two to Gary Hart in polls, but Democratic political analyst Richard Scammon suggests he would be a poor choice for his party. Democrats could be “buying trouble” if they turn to Cuomo, says Scammon, because Cuomo is perceived in the rest of the country as a Northern “establishment” Democrat. In Christian Science Monitor interview, Scammon points out that Democrats, much more than Republicans, have an “ideological chasm” between their left and right wings. The candidate they come up with must be acceptable to both wings because the Left (Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem, Michael Harrington, Norman Lear, etc.) provides the money, the enthusiasm, the bell-ringers; the Right, the voters. . . . Incidentally, Democratic point man Hart will be finding it harder to pass himself off as a moderate given National Journal analysis that shows him the most liberal member of the Senate—ahead of John Kerry, Daniel Inouye, Howard Metzenbaum, Tom Harkin. . . . Among Republicans, Jack Kemp continues to build his campaign organization: Latest recruit is Robert C. Heckman, who will head Kemp’s Campaign for Prosperity. . . . Sen. Bob Dole is publicizing Congressional Quarterly finding that he has voted the Reagan line 92 per cent of the time in latest session of Congress, more faithfully than any other senator.

Ring out the old-timers in the South. George Wallace won’t be running again in Alabama, and Orval Faubus took the count in Arkansas gubernatorial primary last week, losing to Gov. Bill Clinton. … In Pennsylvania, the leftmost Democrat, Bob Edgar, won the right to face liberal Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in November. Specter is no prize—he played major role in William Bradford Reynolds’s confirmation debacle last year, and is supporter of Kennedy-Hatfield nuclear freeze—-but Edgar is worse: A former counselor to Vietnam draft dodgers, the six-term congressman has an ACU rating of 5 per cent, and a career AFL-CIO COPE rating of 89 per cent. Edgar beat former Democratic Congressman Don Bailey. . . . In Ohio, former GOP Gov. James Rhodes, 76, who dismisses the age factor with comment, “I haven’t been shot and I don’t have cancer,” is given outside chance of winning over incumbent Dick Celeste, if former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich, running as independent, skims off 10 to 15 per cent of votes. . . . The man Maryland Republicans would like to see take over Sen. Charles Mathias’s seat is former Sen. Glenn Beall, according to Baltimore Sun poll that gives Beall— who has not announced—33 per cent of vote to 8 and 7 per cent, respectively, for declared candidates Linda Chavez and Richard Sullivan.