Monday Master

As the 1972 presidential campaign heats up, so does the rhetoric of Monday, the Republican National Committee's eight-page weekly written primarily for 60,000 party members who contribute $25 or more. A mixture of puffs, jabs, slurs and short news items, Monday is happily taking pot shots at Democratic presidential hopefuls. It quoted former Senator Eugene McCarthy: "Have you heard the latest Polish joke? It's Ed Muskie." McCarthy wrote to Monday denying the gag, but he did not deny another quote the weekly had attributed to him: "If Muskie had been Paul Revere, he'd have shouted during his warning ride, The British have been here for four days.' " Monday headlined one article: "Sen. Mushy and the Politics of Wishy-Washiness."

When New York Mayor John Lindsay switched to the Democrats last month, Monday gave him a sour sendoff. Lindsay, wrote Editor John Lofton Jr., 30, "left the Republican Party not because it was unresponsive to his liberalism, but because it was unresponsive to his ambition." Lofton predicted that the Lindsay switch would doom the candidacy of Senator George McGovern: "Hoping McGovern will hold on to the left-liberal youth vote in a primary contest with Lindsay is like hoping the fraternity brothers will prefer Snow White to Raquel Welch."

Lofton's tart tirades have made Monday lively reading in Washington for friend and foe alike. President Nixon is pleased and has told party officials, "I want that thing to hit hard." The Democratic National Committee's publications director, William Quinn, sneers that Lofton "drums up yellow journalism," but he admits that Monday "can generate a lot of attention. Lofton is kind of crafty. He knows what will catch the eye of newspapers." Indeed Monday is often quoted by one or another of the 8,000 newspapers, radio or TV stations to which it is sent. By contrast, the Democrats' newsletter, Fact, has thus far attracted little attention.

Ripon Rip-Off. Monday was not doing so well either, until Lofton took it over a year ago. The son of a conservative Florida lawyer, the new editor never went to college but got his higher education as a reading-room attendant in the Library of Congress. By shrewdly publicizing the 20-odd letters he had written to Washington editors during the Goldwater campaign, Lofton got the job as editor of the Vermont Sunday News, owned by right-wing New Hampshire Publisher William Loeb. Three years later, Lofton went to Washington to edit the newsletter of the House Republican Campaign Committee. Since last August he has run Monday with the help of the Republican National Committee's research staff of 20, which hunts up Democratic gaffes he can exploit.

Last month the G.O.P.'s liberal Ripon Society pointed out that Lofton was on the masthead of New Guard, a newsletter that has been highly critical of certain Nixon policies. Lofton admits that the young New Guard conservatives are his friends, but has requested that his name be dropped from the masthead. He cites a letter from ten G.O.P. House members praising Monday as proof of his party loyalty. And he rips off Ripon: "I have my hands so full with the Democrats that I don't have time to respond to those so-called Republicans." The Democrats would surely attest to that.

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