Six Others for '76--and More to Come

The list of contenders, seeking or sought, for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination is almost infinitely expandable at this premature stage of the campaign. It includes those household familiars: Edward Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Edmund Muskie, George Wallace. It extends to those whose potential candidacies may only be a gleam in someone's eyes, be it only their own, such as New York Governor Hugh Carey, California Governor Jerry Brown, Illinois Governor Dan Walker, Pennsylvania Governor Mil ton Shapp, Idaho Senator Frank Church, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, Ohio Senator John Glenn, former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford, Boston Mayor Kevin White. But any list must include six men who are either already seeking the nomination or have winning personalities and significant regional support. The six are:

DALE BUMPERS, 49. Probably the nation's fastest-rising politician, the Arkansas Senator has achieved a giant-killer reputation by coming out of his state's hill country to defeat popular former Governor Orval Faubus in a primary election. Later in 1970, he knocked off the in cumbent Governor Winthrop Rockefeller to take over the statehouse and, finally, Senator J. William Fulbright last year. Breezy, charming and easygoing, his winning ways make him a highly effective campaigner. A lawyer and farmer who tags himself a populist, Bumpers is liberal on such issues as expanded Medicare and race relations.

The freshman Senator has made no move toward the presidency. But on the stump he is probably the most ap pealing of the party's fresh faces, and that could turn out to be a prized asset in the eyes of the pros in 1976.

REUBIN ASKEW, 46. First elected Governor of Florida on a tax reform theme in 1970, the former state legislator delivered on his promises and won a smashing re-election last year to be come the state's first successive two-term Governor. The feat was particularly remarkable because he favored busing. A native of Oklahoma who neither smokes nor drinks, Askew is a Southern liberal who has raised corporate taxes, repealed var ious consumer levies and pushed hard to help the elderly and protect Florida's endangered environment. Soft-spoken and handsome, he was an effective keynote speaker at the Dem ocrats' 1972 convention. A strong executive, Askew adamantly professes no interest in seeking the presidency -- a good position to be in if a deadlocked nominating convention turns to a non-candidate to break the impasse.

LLOYD BENTSEN, 53. Suave and sophisticated, the Texas Senator is a landed millionaire (estimated worth: $2 million) whose cool style contrasts with the earthy, flesh-pressing ways of Texas politicians like Lyndon Johnson. Bentsen resists facile classification. His conservative image was buttressed by his unseating of Liberal Senator Ralph Yarborough in the 1970 primary and his opposition to busing and gun controls. Yet, claiming to be a political moderate, he has also opposed the SST, favored reduction in the oil depletion allowance, and voted to make it easier to cut off Senate filibusters. He is admired by Senate colleagues for his unpredictable but reasoned stands on issues. Running hard for months and well financed, Bentsen will probably announce his candidacy next week.

FRED HARRIS, 44. Although his aborted 1972 presidential campaign ran out of steam--and money--in just six weeks, the former Oklahoma Senator is such an evangelistic speaker and is working so hard this year that he cannot be ignored. A sharecropper's son, Harris, who earned a Phi Beta Kappa key and law degree from the University of Oklahoma, worked with his state's oil barons to become Senator. But to their surprise he quickly turned against Oklahoma's power cliques and championed legislation to help the poor. Advocating a "new populism" and "economic democracy," he sought the presidency instead of re-election to the Senate in 1972. He is conducting a far more frugal presidential campaign this time, staying with friends in New Hampshire and working tirelessly throughout the area's small towns in an effort to draw national attention--and Democratic Party support--by scoring an upset victory in that state's opening presidential primary next year.

JIMMY CARTER, 50. One of the earliest symbols of the New South's political moderation on racial issues, the just-retired Georgia Governor was born on a farm, still owns one, and sends his second-grade daughter to a public school that is 75% black. A Baptist who taught Sunday school as a midshipman at Annapolis and conducted religious services on wartime submarines, he was a postwar nuclear engineer under Admiral Hyman Rickover. After two terms as a state senator, it took him two tries to succeed troglodyte Governor Lester Maddox. As Governor he was scandal-free but unspectacular. Another self-styled populist and a genial campaigner, he announced his presidential candidacy last December.

MORRIS K. UDALL, 52. Tall, handsome and witty in the Will Rogers manner, the 13-year Arizona Congressman is the favored candidate of most unreconstructed McGovern liberals. Udall is a strong conservationist (his brother Stewart was President John Kennedy's Secretary of Interior). Outgoing and athletic, the 6 ft. 5 in. Udall was born on a farm, played professional basketball (the Denver Nuggets), and is a lawyer. He has shrewdly maintained rapport with the center of his party, and even his home-state Senator, Republican Barry Goldwater, holds him in high regard. Udall was the first Democrat to announce his presidential candidacy. So far, his effort has produced more volunteers than money.

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