For the Record

■ Cooling it on Watergate: Sen. Howard Baker, back from August recess, says he isn’t sure continued TV exposure of the Watergate hearings is a “good thing”; the tide, he says, seems to be turning against it. . . . Sen. Daniel Inouye, although he voted with the Committee to demand the tapes, now says he doesn’t believe they are essential to the Committee’s investigation or final report. . . . According to Lou Harris, the American people now feel, 50 to 44 per cent, that the press and television have given Watergate “more attention” than it deserves. In July, the feeling was, 44 to 40 per cent, that the coverage was “not excessive.” . . . The real Watergate question, says columnist Stewart Alsop is: “How could people who were clearly not morons have been such goddam fools?” . . . Evans & Novak, in their newsletter, characterize the present White House press corps “as the most antagonistic and hostile press corps in modern memory.”

■ Reports from the scene are that John Connally wowed them at that Republican state banquet in San Diego, California a fortnight ago and was a big hit, too, at meeting with Republican National Committee in Washington a week later. Sample Connally oratory on Ronald Reagan’s home turf: “I have left the Democratic Party of my father’s past to join the Republican Party of my children’s future.” If he decides to run, Connally told reporters, it will not be “as a reluctant candidate.” . . . Sen. Charles Percy didn’t include Connally in his list of possible GOP nominees in ’76. He named himself, Spiro Agnew, Nelson Rockefeller, and Ronald Reagan, said it would be “rougher [for him] to win the nomination than the election,” and vice versa for the others. . . . Recent soundings show Agnew’s stock down both with Republican voters and with GOP political leaders in wake of Maryland scandal. . . . Human Events dropping minibombshell with statement that Barry Goldwater has not “ruled out the possibility” of a presidential race in ’76.

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■ Cooling it on Watergate: Sen. Howard Baker, back from August recess, says he isn’t sure continued TV exposure of the Watergate hearings is a “good thing”; the tide, he says, seems to be turning against it. . . . Sen. Daniel Inouye, although he voted with the Committee to demand the tapes, now says he doesn’t believe they are essential to the Committee’s investigation or final report. . . . According to Lou Harris, the American people now feel, 50 to 44 per cent, that the press and television have given Watergate “more attention” than it deserves. In July, the feeling was, 44 to 40 per cent, that the coverage was “not excessive.” . . . The real Watergate question, says columnist Stewart Alsop is: “How could people who were clearly not morons have been such goddam fools?” . . . Evans & Novak, in their newsletter, characterize the present White House press corps “as the most antagonistic and hostile press corps in modern memory.”

■ Reports from the scene are that John Connally wowed them at that Republican state banquet in San Diego, California a fortnight ago and was a big hit, too, at meeting with Republican National Committee in Washington a week later. Sample Connally oratory on Ronald Reagan’s home turf: “I have left the Democratic Party of my father’s past to join the Republican Party of my children’s future.” If he decides to run, Connally told reporters, it will not be “as a reluctant candidate.” . . . Sen. Charles Percy didn’t include Connally in his list of possible GOP nominees in ’76. He named himself, Spiro Agnew, Nelson Rockefeller, and Ronald Reagan, said it would be “rougher [for him] to win the nomination than the election,” and vice versa for the others. . . . Recent soundings show Agnew’s stock down both with Republican voters and with GOP political leaders in wake of Maryland scandal. . . . Human Events dropping minibombshell with statement that Barry Goldwater has not “ruled out the possibility” of a presidential race in ’76.