For the Record

■ It’s High Noon and John Connally has taken his staff off salary, plans to plow the $95,000 weekly payroll into newspaper, radio, TV ads in South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, where he must run strong if he’s to get to the late-spring primaries. . . . Things look grim. A Charleston, S.C. poll shows Connally trailing not only Reagan, but Bush. Says Reagan S.C. campaign coordinator Lee Atwater: “If he [Connally] can’t win in South Carolina, with an unlimited checkbook and the support of Strom Thurmond and [former Gov.] Jim Edwards, where can he win?” . . . Thurmond, who threw his support to Connally a couple of months back, was quoted in Washington Post as saying it would be “remarkable” if Connally ran second in S.C. . . . Sen. Howard Baker’s also at the crossroads. He’s knocking both Reagan and Bush—Bush particularly—making the point that though they can win primaries, he doubts they can win the big one: Nov. 4. But senatorial courtesy is so ingrained that, commented one N.H. reporter, “Baker finds it hard to name names. When he aims at the jugular, he hits the knee.” . . . George Bush is also the main target of John Anderson’s attack. Says Anderson: “[Bush is] a Ronald Reagan in Brooks Bros. suits.” . . . Incidentally, Anderson says he won’t support any candidate who opposes SALT II—which means that he will be able to support only a Democrat come Nov. . . . At the CPAC conference in Washington early in February, co-sponsored by YAF and ACL, their hearts were still with Ronald Reagan. In the CPAC straw poll it was Reagan 70 per cent, Phil Crane 18, Bush 7, Connally 3, Dole and Baker 1, Anderson zilch. . . . At that Conference, YAF chairman Jim Lacey called for Crane to get out of the race, i.e., to throw his votes to Reagan, and Rep. Bob Bauman (R., Md.)—more diplomatically—called for Crane and Reagan to get together and decide who should pull out lest “we risk losing the opportunity we have worked for all our lives.”

Dickinson, Punch Rothco

Featured Tags

Presidential Election

■ It’s High Noon and John Connally has taken his staff off salary, plans to plow the $95,000 weekly payroll into newspaper, radio, TV ads in South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, where he must run strong if he’s to get to the late-spring primaries. . . . Things look grim. A Charleston, S.C. poll shows Connally trailing not only Reagan, but Bush. Says Reagan S.C. campaign coordinator Lee Atwater: “If he [Connally] can’t win in South Carolina, with an unlimited checkbook and the support of Strom Thurmond and [former Gov.] Jim Edwards, where can he win?” . . . Thurmond, who threw his support to Connally a couple of months back, was quoted in Washington Post as saying it would be “remarkable” if Connally ran second in S.C. . . . Sen. Howard Baker’s also at the crossroads. He’s knocking both Reagan and Bush—Bush particularly—making the point that though they can win primaries, he doubts they can win the big one: Nov. 4. But senatorial courtesy is so ingrained that, commented one N.H. reporter, “Baker finds it hard to name names. When he aims at the jugular, he hits the knee.” . . . George Bush is also the main target of John Anderson’s attack. Says Anderson: “[Bush is] a Ronald Reagan in Brooks Bros. suits.” . . . Incidentally, Anderson says he won’t support any candidate who opposes SALT II—which means that he will be able to support only a Democrat come Nov. . . . At the CPAC conference in Washington early in February, co-sponsored by YAF and ACL, their hearts were still with Ronald Reagan. In the CPAC straw poll it was Reagan 70 per cent, Phil Crane 18, Bush 7, Connally 3, Dole and Baker 1, Anderson zilch. . . . At that Conference, YAF chairman Jim Lacey called for Crane to get out of the race, i.e., to throw his votes to Reagan, and Rep. Bob Bauman (R., Md.)—more diplomatically—called for Crane and Reagan to get together and decide who should pull out lest “we risk losing the opportunity we have worked for all our lives.”

Dickinson, Punch Rothco