How they stacked up in Iowa: On the Republican side, Robert Dole (37 per cent), Pat Robertson (25), George Bush (19), Jack Kemp (11), Pete du Pont (7), Alexander Haig (less than 1). For the Democrats, Richard Gephardt (31), Paul Simon (27), and Michael Dukakis (22) bunched at the top, followed by Jesse Jackson (9), Bruce Babbitt (6), Gary Hart (less than 1), and Albert Gore (less than 1) . . . Robertson’s surprise showing reflects well on Kevin Phillips’s prescience: Robertson, wrote Phillips preIowa, raises “the chance that the major conservative outside thrust in 1989-92, supplanting economic conservatism, will be some cultural/religious mixture.” … Phillips also discerned “Machiavellian conservative approach” to 1988—” reluctant acceptance of the White House going Democratic so that the Right can have four years in opposition to rebuild.” “The real game,” agrees Kemp pollster Lance Tarrance, “will be played for keeps in 1992. . . ”Yea Pat Robertson!” cheered left-wing Senator Tom Harkin (D., Iowa). “It means the Republicans have a big problem on their hands.” . . . At a press conference in Manchester, N.H., NR Senior Editor Jeffrey Hart endorsed du Pont, signed on as senior advisor for speechwriting. Du Pont was also endorsed by Senator William Roth (R., Del.), of Kemp-Roth fame . . . Of historical interest: the last Boston Globe pre-Iowa poll of New Hampshire showed Dukakis at 38 per cent, Simon at 17 per cent, Hart at 11 per cent; Bush at 39 per cent, Dole at 19 per cent, Kemp at 17 per cent.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, bowed out of race against Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Decision cripples state GOP . . . “The Republicans are a lot closer to putting together the old Reagan coalition than the Democrats are to putting together any coalition,” thinks Gallup organization president Andrew Kohut. January Gallup/Times Mirror poll classifying voters by values found large majorities of three core Reagan constituencies—” enterprisers,” “moralists,” “upbeats”—willing to back Bush or Dole against any Democrat. No core Democratic group— “New Dealers,” “Sixties Democrats,” “passive poor,” “partisan poor”—displayed similar commitment to any current Democratic contender . . . “TV’s 1987 election coverage often seemed to be a soap opera starring Gary Hart”—conclusion reached by Robert and Linda Lichter’s Center for Media and Public Affairs, after analyzing 379 election stories on network evening news. On the other hand, Hart “had far and away the worst press . . . Bush proved the Republican counterpart to Hart, with massive coverage producing the most negative press in the field. Robertson and du Pont also had more bad press than good.” Best press “of any candidate in either party”: Jackson. Best Republican press: Dole and Kemp . . In House 164 Republicans and 47 Democrats voted “yes” to Contra aid;207 Democrats and 12 Republicans voted “no” (aid failed by eight votes). Presidential candidates Kemp and Gephardt split (yes and no, respectively). In Senate (51 yes, 47 no), 12 Democrats supported the Contras, seven Republicans opposed them. The honor roll: Bentsen, Boren, Breaux, Chiles, Exon, Graham, Heflin, Hollings, Johnston, Nunn, Shelby, Stennis. The finks: Chafee, Durenberger, Hatfield, Packwood, Specter, Stafford, Weicker. Candidates Gore and Simon voted no; so did Bill Bradley, whose pro-Contra vote in 1986 won conservative plaudits.
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