The Special Spiro Pin

How the Nixon Administration would handle its most rebellious Republican Senator, Charles Goodell of New York, has been one of the fall's more fascinating guessing games. Last week Spiro Agnew provided the answer: the quiet-spoken Goodell would be treated like the meanest of Democrats.

Agnew had been hinting for some time that there is a Republican among the Senate Radical-Liberals, the villains of his political set piece. He finally named Goodell an R.L. during an interview in North Dakota, declaring that the New Yorker had "left his party" by opposing President Nixon on Viet Nam, economic policy and law-and-order issues. Agnew planned to come to New York this week to address a group of conservative political contributors who are hardly likely to number Goodell among their beneficiaries. Agnew's appearance will seem to many politicians to be a frank pitch for James Buckley, the Conservative Party candidate, who has pledged to support the White House if he is elected.

Unpleasant Reminder. For his part, Goodell has little to lose--and perhaps something to gain--from the Agnew attack. He met it head-on by claiming that Agnew was out to "purge" him. Said Goodell: "This is campaign season, and the Vice President is on the campaign trail. But let's not try to imply that people who disagree with the Administration on this or that issue are somehow like the people who 'trash' campuses and burn banks and blow up mathematics centers. That sort of rhetoric is an unpleasant reminder of the chilling political climate of the early 1950s." That sort of talk by Goodell is also an unmistakable suggestion that Agnew is adopting the tactics of the late Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. In a press conference, Goodell appealed to Nixon to "intervene and ask Agnew to cool his rhetoric."

Assuming the underdog role in a state where Agnew is not particularly popular was a shrewd move. Goodell, who in the last two years has earned a national reputation as a leading Administration critic of the war, is seeking election to a full term. He is beset by a strong Democratic candidate in Richard Ottinger, the Buckley candidacy and defections in Republican ranks because of his liberal stance. While he has been careful not to attack the President personally during the campaign, he is presenting himself as an independent, principled Republican who will not bow to high-level pressure. His tough response to Agnew apparently reflects his belief that he can approach liberal voters with greater success if he sports an "Attacked by Spiro" pin.

Not for the First Time. For Agnew, too, political reality may have weighed as heavily as philosophical differences. Polls show Goodell running behind, and the White House may have concluded it had little to lose by betting on the long shot, Buckley. It would not be the first time national-level Republicans have despaired of the liberal brand of politics practiced by New York's G.O.P. Agnew, in fact, addressed a Buckley fund-raising affair in 1968 when the Conservative was running against Liberal-Republican Jacob Javits. And practical considerations clearly motivated Rogers C.B. Morton, the Republican national chairman, who manfully tried to keep the peace while the hard words flew. He said of Goodell: "If he's a Republican in New York, he's a Republican with me." Agnew dismissed the Morton statement as that of a "party functionary" who cannot deviate from his party loyalty.

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