■ According to Gallup, opinion in America has now swung toward ratification of the Panama Canal treaties. In the late January sounding, Americans supported ratification 45 to 42 per cent; three months ago, 48 per cent were opposed. . . . Kevin Phillips says he flat-out doesn’t believe those figures, points to other polls (NBC-CBS, NY Times, etc.) which show country still against the treaties. . . . Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus, which has spearheaded much of anti-treaty campaign, concedes the opposition is 12 votes shy of beating the accords. He plans to put special pressure on a number of still undecided senators; Republicans Schweiker, Wallop, Lugar, Roth, and Bellmon, and Democrats Randolph, Nunn, Talmadge, Russell Long, Burdick, Cannon, and Johnston. . . . In the House, 219 members— over half—have signed a resolution demanding that the House be allowed to vote on the treaties since they involve the transfer of U.S. property.
■ More trouble is in the offing for Jimmy Carter on SALT. John Lehman, former deputy director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, has taken a nose count in the Senate, finds that as of now thirty Republicans would vote against SALT II— that’s just four short of the votes needed to kill it. . . . Evans & Novak report growing Oval Office dissatisfaction with Disarmament Czar Paul Warnke, not only for his performance in the direct negotiations with the Soviets, but for his open—and vocal— opposition to the sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia. . . . Another Administration feud in the making, reports the Washington Post, between National Security Advisor Brzezinski and UN Ambassador Andrew Young. It’s over priorities: Brzezinski worries most about Soviet-Cuban adventurism in Africa; Young worries most about U.S. fence-mending with the front-line African states.
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