FOR THE RECORD

How to explain substantial upturn in George Bush polling figures? CBS/ N. Y. Times poll that had Michael Dukakis 17 points ahead post-Atlanta (50 to 33) found him six points behind (40 to 46) post-New Orleans, less than a month later. . . . New York Times chief Washington correspondent R. W. Apple says Democrats had expected polls to even off after New Orleans, but that “something was wrong either with that expectation or with the notion that selecting Mr. Quayle had hurt Mr. Bush.” . . . Norman Ornstein, a political analyst with American Enterprise Institute, believes Dukakis’s program for furloughing murderers has been big plus for Bush. . . . Former Carter Attorney General Griffin Bell says Dukakis’s opposition to capital punishment will be a “campaign bust” at a time when crime, particularly in the drug field, is rampant. . . . Before GOP convention, Republican political tactician Roger Stone explained: “We have to get people to say: ‘George Bush may not be what I am, but he thinks like I think.’ ” Many believe Bush’s effective acceptance speech accomplished this. . . . Larry Hugick, an analyst for Gallup, reports independent voters have moved back to Bush recently—particularly women in their thirties and forties who are comfortably off. . . . Finally, voters seem less concerned about Dan Quayle’s Vietnam War record than the media are. Newsweek-Gallup poll on question, “Do you have a less favorable opinion of Dan Quayle because he served in the National Guard instead of in Vietnam?” got 13 per cent Yes response, 74 per cent No. . . . Congressional countdown shows that ninety of 131 congressmen and senators of roughly Quayle’s age did no service of any kind during Vietnam War.

Guess what: in the first test on Contra military aid (the Dole amendment) Lloyd Bentsen flunked. He voted No to Contra aid for first time in his career. . . . Interestingly enough, Jesse Jackson had threatened that Bentsen (and presumably Dukakis) might lose black support in November unless Bentsen reversed course on Contras. . . . How is Dukakis candidacy playing internationally? Daniel Ortega likes him: “With Dukakis we could have better conditions to work for a new dialogue,” Ortega is quoted in Forbes. . . . Izvestia’s Aleksandr Bovin likes him: “Dukakis probably doesn’t have experience or charisma. But he has brains. We need people with brains.” . . . Britain’s left wing is going ga-ga over him. Writes Brian Walden in The Sunday Times: “Already, a serious case of Dukakis mania has broken out in the newspapers and intellectual journals of the Left. It is not that Dukakis is regarded with affection or approval, but he does seem to have found a way of winning the votes of the gullible.” . . . Punch keeps its cool. Reporting that Dukakis loves a good joke, it adds: “Though, as Mark Twain might have said, a Dukakis joke is no laughing matter.”

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How to explain substantial upturn in George Bush polling figures? CBS/ N. Y. Times poll that had Michael Dukakis 17 points ahead post-Atlanta (50 to 33) found him six points behind (40 to 46) post-New Orleans, less than a month later. . . . New York Times chief Washington correspondent R. W. Apple says Democrats had expected polls to even off after New Orleans, but that “something was wrong either with that expectation or with the notion that selecting Mr. Quayle had hurt Mr. Bush.” . . . Norman Ornstein, a political analyst with American Enterprise Institute, believes Dukakis’s program for furloughing murderers has been big plus for Bush. . . . Former Carter Attorney General Griffin Bell says Dukakis’s opposition to capital punishment will be a “campaign bust” at a time when crime, particularly in the drug field, is rampant. . . . Before GOP convention, Republican political tactician Roger Stone explained: “We have to get people to say: ‘George Bush may not be what I am, but he thinks like I think.’ ” Many believe Bush’s effective acceptance speech accomplished this. . . . Larry Hugick, an analyst for Gallup, reports independent voters have moved back to Bush recently—particularly women in their thirties and forties who are comfortably off. . . . Finally, voters seem less concerned about Dan Quayle’s Vietnam War record than the media are. Newsweek-Gallup poll on question, “Do you have a less favorable opinion of Dan Quayle because he served in the National Guard instead of in Vietnam?” got 13 per cent Yes response, 74 per cent No. . . . Congressional countdown shows that ninety of 131 congressmen and senators of roughly Quayle’s age did no service of any kind during Vietnam War.

Guess what: in the first test on Contra military aid (the Dole amendment) Lloyd Bentsen flunked. He voted No to Contra aid for first time in his career. . . . Interestingly enough, Jesse Jackson had threatened that Bentsen (and presumably Dukakis) might lose black support in November unless Bentsen reversed course on Contras. . . . How is Dukakis candidacy playing internationally? Daniel Ortega likes him: “With Dukakis we could have better conditions to work for a new dialogue,” Ortega is quoted in Forbes. . . . Izvestia’s Aleksandr Bovin likes him: “Dukakis probably doesn’t have experience or charisma. But he has brains. We need people with brains.” . . . Britain’s left wing is going ga-ga over him. Writes Brian Walden in The Sunday Times: “Already, a serious case of Dukakis mania has broken out in the newspapers and intellectual journals of the Left. It is not that Dukakis is regarded with affection or approval, but he does seem to have found a way of winning the votes of the gullible.” . . . Punch keeps its cool. Reporting that Dukakis loves a good joke, it adds: “Though, as Mark Twain might have said, a Dukakis joke is no laughing matter.”