Candidate Ford: Quiet But Eager

Betty Ford was a bit miffed that she had not been invited. So were several dozen irate reporters. There was not even live television or radio coverage of one of the most muted--and one of the earliest--declarations by a U.S. President that he was an active, eager candidate to retain his office. But Gerald Ford wanted to play it that way, conveying the image of just plain Jerry, hard at work and determined. Seated at his desk in the Oval Office, backed by four campaign aides, he read a brief, low-key statement in a firm, confident voice. Said the President: "I intend to conduct an open and aboveboard campaign"--a pledge that would have seemed superfluous in any but a post-Nixon period.

Resting Right. The early announcement was impelled by Ford's desire to secure massive small campaign donations and thus qualify for the $5 million in federal matching funds allotted each candidate during the presidential primary campaign under the new election-funding laws. The timing also had another basic intent: to discourage any incipient challenge from the Republicans' restive right wing.

Ford's announcement coincided with fresh reports that former California Governor Ronald Reagan intends to mount such a drive. Reagan's conservative supporters announced formation of-a committee to seek his nomination. Headed by Lyn Nofziger, a former Reagan aide and adviser to President Nixon, the group clearly had Reagan's blessing. This did not mean that he had decided to run; it appeared more likely that he wanted to encourage his supporters and be ready to move later this year.

Close aides to Ford expect that Reagan will decide to stay out of the race once he assesses the President's growing popular support. But Ford himself is less certain. A group of California political pros, including a Reagan lieutenant, came away from a recent meeting with Ford carrying the impression that the President expects the former Governor to make a determined bid even if the odds look heavy against him. In their view, Ford is determined to crush Reagan by rounding up delegates early and dealing roughly with Reagan supporters. Told by the California group that some Reagan aides had been "insulted" by their lack of patronage influence with the Ford Administration, the President sounded unworried about such unrest among Reagan aides. Calmly puffing on his pipe, he observed that he had been a conservative Republican long before Reagan became one. Reagan was still playing second-banana roles in grade-B movies when Ford began pushing conservative principles, a Ford intimate explained unkindly.

No Team. The Ford campaign team is taking public steps to counter the Reagan threat. Howard H. ("Bo") Callaway, the shirtsleeved director of Ford's campaign and former Secretary of the Army under Nixon, told reporters bluntly that Ford is seeking the nomination solely on his own and distinctly apart from his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller. "The President appointed Rockefeller, he's proud of Rockefeller--but it's not a team," Callaway said. He noted that "a lot of Reagan people are not supporters of Rockefeller," and he did not want to discourage them from backing Ford. Rocky diplomatically pointed out the obvious--that a Vice President does not campaign for renomination; his fate lies with the whim of the presidential candidate.

Callaway was frank in other ways. He said he intended to watch every legal technicality in the Ford fund raising and campaigning because "I have never yearned to spend two years in Al-lenwood," a pointed reference to the Pennsylvania prison where some Nixon re-election campaign aides served sentences for various Watergate-related crimes.

The other Ford campaign officials who attended his announcement ceremony have reputations for openness and honesty. The finance chairman is David Packard, former Deputy Secretary of Defense under Nixon and a multimillionaire California industrialist (Hewlett-Packard Co.). The treasurer is Robert C. Moot, Defense Department comptroller in the Nixon Administration. Moot said jokingly that his job will be to watch Callaway and Packard and "keep 'em both honest." The chairman of Ford's campaign advisory committee, Dean Burch, a former Nixon aide and political counsel to Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, noted that his eyes will be pointed in a different direction: "I'm going to take a long, hard look at that Reagan committee," meaning at the group's observance of campaign laws. Already some friction has developed among presidential aides wanting control of the campaign. Callaway has been told to report to Donald Rumsfeld, Ford's White House chief of staff, rather than to Presidential Counsellor Robert Hartmann, whose duties have included political matters. Hartmann aides are seething.

In Tune. Ford has already indicated some of the issues on which he expects to run. He will stress the rebirth of confidence in the presidency, his advocacy of a strong national defense and his new efforts to combat street crime. Probably most important, he will call for an end to the excesses of big Government, a crusade against bureaucratic delay and overregulation of business, big and small. (Ford last week called in the heads of the regulatory agencies and urged them to cut away as much red tape and limitations on private enterprise as they could.) At week's end Ford traveled to Illinois and Michigan, trying out these incipient campaign chords. Again and again, he drew enthusiastic applause with variants on recent catch lines: "A Government big enough to give you everything you want is a Government big enough to take from you everything you have." And "We will cut out this unnecessary red tape now plaguing our citizens. After all, Government was intended to help us in the pursuit of happiness--not to set up obstacles."

It is Ford's deep belief, buttressed by his private polls, that he is in tune with a new national mood of conservatism. If the economy recovers as expected, and no foreign crisis intervenes, he will be an elusive target for all those yearning Democrats who have announced their own candidacy.

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