Politics: The G.O.P Gears for '72

TO kick off what will be the most lavishly financed presidential campaign in American history, the Republicans staged a warmup set of spectaculars last week. The star of the shows of course was Richard Nixon. In the space of seven hours, he spoke at $500-a-plate dinners in both New York City and Chicago. Closed-circuit TV carried the festivities to 18 other cities, where such Republican luminaries as John Wayne, Jackie Gleason, Art Linkletter and Martha Mitchell played deferential host. It was the President's evening; even Martha spoke for only two minutes.

In dramatic contrast to his stridently partisan approach in the 1970 campaign, the President was the very model of cool statesmanship. First, Bob Hope primed the well-heeled audiences: "I didn't make any phone calls [when I stayed at the White House]; it was just a thrill to hear J. Edgar Hoover breathing." Then the President sounded the theme that is going to be emphasized throughout the campaign: "Peace in Our Generation." But peace with honor. America, Nixon warned, must stay strong. He made a pitch for his domestic programs: revenue sharing, welfare reform, Government reorganization. "They are historic. They are revolutionary." He returned to a subject that is obviously worrying him: his feeling that America may go downhill, like past civilizations, because of a failure of nerve and will. "They turned away from greatness. They grew soft. They did not welcome the opportunity to continue to lead." The partisan duties of the evening were handed, as usual, to Vice President Agnew, who told a story about how the Democratic presidential hopefuls went to Miami, where they got lost and wound up in Disney World. "They really put a new look on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," said Agnew. "Now they are known as Grumpy, Sneezy, Dopey, Hubie, Lindsay, Muskie and Teddy."

No Shortage. Though the President has not yet announced that he is running for reelection, and will probably not do so until shortly before the January filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary, campaign planning is well under way. Attorney General John Mitchell is already supervising campaign activity for the Republican National Committee, as well as directing the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, a Washington-based outfit that has a staff of 30 and is scheduled to be doubled next year.

There should be no shortage of funds. Last week's spectacular added to party coffers some $5,000,000, which will be divided equally between the National Committee and the state committees. Another $30 million has already been banked, and a budget of $10 million has been allocated for advertising. To avoid the Madison Avenue image that dogged the last presidential campaign, the White House has hired the services of a relatively obscure Los Angeles adman, Peter Dailey, whose accounts include King Oscar sardines and Fiji Islands tourism. His job will be to mount a campaign slick enough not to seem slick. Since the White House has made such a fuss about slanted news on television, it is not in a position to oversell its own product. A leaflet recently distributed by the National Committee, however, is not reassuring. Entitled "GO-Peace," it contains a graph showing the progressive Viet Nam troop withdrawals by the President and a table linking all the major wars of this century with Democratic Presidents. Periods of peace are equated with Republican Chief Executives. Traditionally, the Republicans blame all the wars on the Democrats, while the Democrats blame all the recessions on the Republicans.

Despite his statesmanlike approach, the President has no intention of abandoning his Southern strategy. Some of his staffers, including White House Aide Donald Rumsfeld, have argued that the President should concentrate on the big Northeastern cities. But John Mitchell, Harry Dent and others maintain that what worked before should be tried again.

Mobster Quotas. Besides, they are convinced that George Wallace's support has slipped appreciably in the South. Nixon took the school-busing issue away from Wallace, and he has not been able to grab it back. The President, they believe, stands a good chance of picking up almost the entire Deep South as well as the Border states. They also put the Western states in his column. If he wins the farm belt as well--a big if (see page 20)--plus California, Ohio and Illinois, he will clinch the election. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and even New Jersey can then be conceded to the Democrats. Says a staffer: "Some people around here are kidding themselves about carrying New York on the basis that Jim Buckley won and Rocky's our friend now. The basic strategy has got to be to take the states you took last time."

The White House is in no danger of ignoring the issues that appeal to its constituency, even if the President sticks to a relatively nonpartisan route. As illustration, word was passed to schedule the arrests of mobsters to inflate the anticrime record in 1972. Quotas, in fact, have been established, though neither the Justice Department nor the FBI will take credit for them. In the first two months of next year, 1,000 hoodlums are to be arrested. For example. New York City has a quota of 200; Philadelphia has 60; Columbia, S.C., rates only five. In the meantime, arrests are being delayed so that future quotas can be filled. Granted an unexpected breather, some crime bosses have even offered to cooperate. One mobster told an FBI man last week: "How many gamblers do you need for your quota? If you're short, I'll give you some names." The agent said thanks anyway, but he had his own list.

The White House is openly disdainful of the opposition. It pretends scarcely to notice the candidacy of rebel Republican Pete McCloskey in the New Hampshire primary. He is airily dismissed as a "media creation." The Democratic possibilities are not regarded much more highly. "I almost feel sorry for them," chortles Harry Dent. "But it's a wonderful sorrow. Muskie is fading. Humphrey is like driving a used car. Kennedy excites too much emotion one way or another in people. The public is looking for somebody in the middle, and Nixon has that middle pre-empted." The G.O.P. is obviously going to spare no pains --or expense--to see that the middle stays put.

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