Mail-Order Presidents

Presidential primary campaigns have long been something of a marathon poker game. How many chips does a candidate bet on a given state? Which elections does he pass because his cards look bad? But as the 1976 primary season approaches, the candidates are more uncertain and confused than ever. Last year's campaign-funding reforms vastly changed the rules of the game. The fat cats have been dealt out. The pot is now limited. Yet some time before the first primary is held next winter, the U.S. Supreme Court could break out an entirely new and unfamiliar deck by throwing out all or part of the new law.

Certain changes are proving especially unnerving to the campaign strategists. One is the spending limit of $10 million that a candidate cannot exceed through the primary period. This calls for more precise planning than in the past, since there is no way for a candidate to make a strong finish in the last primaries if he has spent most of his total to stay in the race through the earlier elections. A second is the limitation of $1,000 that any individual can donate to a candidate. This reform knocks out the influence of a relatively few wealthy donors, but forces the candidates to turn to massive mail solicitation in the search for many small donations.

A third is that to qualify for up to $5 million in matching money from the federal Treasury, the candidate must raise at least $5,000 in each of 20 states in amounts no larger than $250. "There just aren't that many people out there who have $250 they want to give away," says Arizona Congressman Morris Udall, an announced Democratic candidate. "You have to find them--and that's a trick."

The most obvious impact of the changes is that more candidates have announced earlier than ever before so as to crank up the fund drives necessary to qualify for the matching money.

High Cost. So far only two candidates, Alabama Governor George Wallace and Washington Senator Henry Jackson, have met the requirements, Wallace almost entirely through direct mail drives. But these are expensive and require an outlay of "seed money" before the donations roll in. Official reports turned in by Wallace indicate that he began his solicitations as early as 1973, raising $1 million, picked up another $1.7 million in 1974 and more than $300,000 early this year. But he recorded only $216,354 cash on hand in his last report (in March), an indication of the high cost of raising money by mail. By contrast, the frugal Jackson reported receipts of $1.14 million last year and had $933,000 of that on hand. He has collected another $960,000 this year.

The new law thus puts a premium on mail expertise and mailing lists. Wallace has hired Richard A. Viguerie, a Virginia professional fund raiser who has effectively served such controversial clients as the National Rifle Association, the Rev. Billy James Hargis and South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. He has steadily refined old Wallace mailing lists, adding such groups as the nation's policemen and subscribers to the Saturday Evening Post and the National Review. He has developed a list of 2.5 million "favorable supporters," at least 300,000 of whom he feels confident can be relied on for money. According to Wallace aides, some $20,000 reaches the Wallace headquarters in Montgomery each day. Viguerie's solicitation company helped Wallace get his mailings started by advancing credit--which some of his opponents consider a political donation exceeding the $1,000 giving limit.

Dark Horse. Jackson raised his initial funds in stages. First he held a series of three-hour planning lunches in Washington, D.C., beginning in the summer of 1974. His guests were usually some 30 or so residents from various large cities, invited to Washington. Fund-raising affairs were held later back in those cities. This money in turn provided the capital for a mail campaign launched through Morris Dees, an Alabama lawyer who ran George McGovern's effective mail solicitations in 1972. Jackson has acquired no fewer than 66 lists, including subscribers to Newsweek.* He hopes to collect the full kitty of $7 million by the end of this year (the law permits spending $2 million to finance fund raising in addition to the $5 million raised by the candidate and the $5 million from the Government).

The mechanics of the law thus virtually rule out the possibility that any unknown dark horse could enter the field at the last minute and raise enough money in enough states to catch up with the early starters. The end of this year looks like the practical deadline for entries--except for someone like Senator Edward Kennedy, whose familiarity could attract widespread funds quickly.

Better Class. Although the new rules create new dilemmas for candidates, they also put them all on a more even footing. No one can overwhelm the field financially, and none need feel beholden to affluent interests. "It's a helluva lot better psychologically," explains Jackson's finance coordinator, Richard Kline. Donors know they are not going to be "hit for a fortune," he adds, and "there isn't all the tension. Also, you don't have to find some donor's kid a summer job in Washington. We're dealing with a much better class of people now."

Nevertheless, the law is being challenged in court by a coalition of conservative and liberal politicians, including New York Senator James Buckley and former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. Their lawyers have filed 34 legal objections to it in a suit which reached the U.S. Court of Appeals last week. The suit claims that any limitation on political donations and spending by candidates violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and contends that the law's provisions for federal funding of the general presidential election virtually freeze out third-party candidates. The Supreme Court is expected to resolve the suit by the end of this year. If the court throws out key sections of the law, individuals and groups with thick purses could once again curry favor with their cash. Lacking the Government matching money and time to raise more on their own, the primary candidates would find it hard to resist such help if they wanted to stay in the race.

* TIME does not sell its subscriber lists to political candidates.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.