For the Record

It could all come down to the weather. Gallup poll says if all registered voters turn out, presidential race is “virtual dead heat”: 43 per cent for Carter; 42 per cent for Reagan; 10 per cent for Anderson. But Reagan leads among likely voters, with 45 per cent of the vote, as opposed to 42 per cent for Carter and 8 per cent for Anderson. . . . Carter strategists believe their man— dubbed Jimmy the Mean by Newsweek —can pull it off. “Meanness isn’t a voting issue,” a Carter staffer says. “War is.” . . . John Anderson is getting testier over Carterites’ frequent invitations to him to withdraw. Anderson on Jimmy the Mean: “His campaign tactics are often described as ‘hardball.’ That’s too generous a description in my opinion. There’s a code of conduct, even in hardball.” And: “I wish he would open up that heavy Bible that he so ostentatiously carries on Sunday as he goes to the classrooms of the Baptist Church.” . . . The Lucey Difference: Anderson running-mate Patrick J. Lucey has hurt Anderson ticket in Wisconsin, Lucey’s home state. “A lot of people [in Wisconsin],” says Anderson official there, “had trouble adjusting to him as a national figure.” GOP officials are confident of Reagan in state. . . . Endorsement of Reagan by Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. (Ind., Va.) will greatly boost Reagan with Virginia’s undecideds. The endorsement broke a family tradition of “golden silence” dating back to Byrd’s father. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr., who began it in 1952 with refusal to endorse Adlai Stevenson. . . . Reagan endorsement by National Maritime Union came as embarrassing surprise to union president Shannon J. Wall, who had, a month earlier, written an endorsement of Carter in union newspaper. Union rank-and-file didn’t heed their boss, and voted overwhelmingly to back Reagan. Among Wall’s published gripes against Reagan: his knack for going over the heads of union bosses to reach rank-and-file.

Many House Democrats are running scared, including such bigwigs as Majority Leader Jim Wright (Tex.), Majority Whip John Brademas (Ind.), Morris Udall (Ariz.). . . . Richard Huff, a conservative Tucson realtor, is giving Udall toughest race of his career. . . . In Texas, Wright is given edge over Republican Jim Bradshaw. Bradshaw is popular with business community, but businessmen also like Wright’s clout in Washington. … In Indiana, Republicans are saying Brademas “always runs on his record, and his record has finally caught up with him,” in the person of John P. Hiler, 27-year-old businessman given a good shot of knocking off third-highest Democrat in House. . . . Campaign ’80 will cost $450 million for federal races alone—more than half again as much as $290 million spent in 1976. Contrary to Carter/Mondale complaints that Reagan/Bush team has unfair edge in independent committee support, the two major party slates will each spend about $55 million when Democratic labor support is added, says Herbert E. Alexander, election finance expert at University of Southern California.

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It could all come down to the weather. Gallup poll says if all registered voters turn out, presidential race is “virtual dead heat”: 43 per cent for Carter; 42 per cent for Reagan; 10 per cent for Anderson. But Reagan leads among likely voters, with 45 per cent of the vote, as opposed to 42 per cent for Carter and 8 per cent for Anderson. . . . Carter strategists believe their man— dubbed Jimmy the Mean by Newsweek —can pull it off. “Meanness isn’t a voting issue,” a Carter staffer says. “War is.” . . . John Anderson is getting testier over Carterites’ frequent invitations to him to withdraw. Anderson on Jimmy the Mean: “His campaign tactics are often described as ‘hardball.’ That’s too generous a description in my opinion. There’s a code of conduct, even in hardball.” And: “I wish he would open up that heavy Bible that he so ostentatiously carries on Sunday as he goes to the classrooms of the Baptist Church.” . . . The Lucey Difference: Anderson running-mate Patrick J. Lucey has hurt Anderson ticket in Wisconsin, Lucey’s home state. “A lot of people [in Wisconsin],” says Anderson official there, “had trouble adjusting to him as a national figure.” GOP officials are confident of Reagan in state. . . . Endorsement of Reagan by Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. (Ind., Va.) will greatly boost Reagan with Virginia’s undecideds. The endorsement broke a family tradition of “golden silence” dating back to Byrd’s father. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr., who began it in 1952 with refusal to endorse Adlai Stevenson. . . . Reagan endorsement by National Maritime Union came as embarrassing surprise to union president Shannon J. Wall, who had, a month earlier, written an endorsement of Carter in union newspaper. Union rank-and-file didn’t heed their boss, and voted overwhelmingly to back Reagan. Among Wall’s published gripes against Reagan: his knack for going over the heads of union bosses to reach rank-and-file.

Many House Democrats are running scared, including such bigwigs as Majority Leader Jim Wright (Tex.), Majority Whip John Brademas (Ind.), Morris Udall (Ariz.). . . . Richard Huff, a conservative Tucson realtor, is giving Udall toughest race of his career. . . . In Texas, Wright is given edge over Republican Jim Bradshaw. Bradshaw is popular with business community, but businessmen also like Wright’s clout in Washington. … In Indiana, Republicans are saying Brademas “always runs on his record, and his record has finally caught up with him,” in the person of John P. Hiler, 27-year-old businessman given a good shot of knocking off third-highest Democrat in House. . . . Campaign ’80 will cost $450 million for federal races alone—more than half again as much as $290 million spent in 1976. Contrary to Carter/Mondale complaints that Reagan/Bush team has unfair edge in independent committee support, the two major party slates will each spend about $55 million when Democratic labor support is added, says Herbert E. Alexander, election finance expert at University of Southern California.