The Dlehards Dissolve

Most had seen him only fleetingly before--perhaps at a campaign kaffeeklatsch or making a quick stump speech in the primaries. Only last week did hundreds of delegates get then-first close look at Candidate Carter as he moved from parties to meetings of state delegations to the convention hall on the climactic night. Some diehard opponents continued to resent what they feel is Carter's insensitivity to issues that burn them. But to the majority, he came across as more magnanimous than he had been during the primaries, and as capable and, perhaps most important, open-minded. He answered every question--and made no promises. All this impressed many liberal, labor union, Jewish and Catholic delegates.

New Jersey's 108-member delegation, which had supported Hubert Humphrey and Jerry Brown, shifted behind the winner on election eve at the insistence of State Chairman James Dugan. After Carter's 35-minute appearance before the group Wednesday, Jersey City Mayor Paul Jordan declared: "There had been a sense that Carter was light and superficial. But he came across as thoughtful, intelligent and sincere."

A month ago, Philadelphia City Councilman Louis Johanson said that he would not vote for Carter under any circumstances. But he did--after his fallen favorite, Scoop Jackson, asked him to. By then the still-cynical Johanson had heard Brown address the delegation and cracked that "the difference between a babbling Baptist and a jumping Jesuit isn't that much." One reluctant Manhattan delegate, Harold Jacob, criticized Carter for not making clear where he stands on Israel and other issues (like emigration from the Soviet Union) of concern to Jews, but he softened after the nomination of Fritz Mondale; he "has a good record on Israel, and Jewish people respect him."

Less susceptible to persuasion was a union business agent from Pennsylvania. Said he: "The Southern Baptist thing still bothers a lot of people, including me. And Carter is an amateur surrounded by amateurs." But later he, too, softened: "At heart I'm a Democrat." Many more labor delegates shared the mood of Jim Mahoney, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO: "There will be enthusiasm for Carter. AFL-CIO President George Meany wants to go all the way for the Democratic ticket, and we're starting now, not two months from now."

Phil Duncan, 31, of Grand Prairie, Tex., who originally backed Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, moved to Carter's camp because "he's as conservative as you can get out of the Democratic party today."

Yet quite a few of George Wallace's diehard supporters remained dour at their favorite's demise. Lester Skinner, 57, a Gaffney, S.C., real estate broker, cast a reluctant vote for Carter only after looking his hero in the eye and asking him "if he really meant we should support Carter. He told me he really meant it." Skinner expects Wallace supporters to "follow George's advice and vote for Carter over Reagan" if the Californian is nominated.

The most polarized delegation was the 280-member California contingent, bitterly split between Carter and Brown. Jessica Govea, 29, a Chicana union organizer from Bakersfield, was gung-ho for Jerry Brown largely because he had pushed through the nation's first collective bargaining law covering farm workers. She perceives Carter as too sympathetic to Big Agribusiness, but, if he makes a "gesture" toward the United Farm Workers, would work for him against Reagan and probably against Ford.

To some extent, Carter needlessly contributed to some lingering resentments, particularly among supporters of Mo Udall. Although Udall emerged from the primaries with a substantial claim to leadership of the party's liberal wing, he had been conspicuously left out of the vice-presidential sweepstakes by Carter--in part because of Udall's campaign advertising depicting Carter as two-faced. Groused Cleveland Lawyer Sheldon Schecter, 49: "We feel so deeply about Mo. It hurts that he's being kind of ignored." Before pledging support, Schecter wants clearer declarations of Carter's positions on national health insurance, right-to-work laws and the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Bill. Another Udall backer, Ellen Kozak, 25, a Milwaukee attorney, is not pleased with Carter, but she is realistic. "We don't have anywhere else to go." More than that, whatever his strengths and weaknesses with the diverse ideological and ethnic blocs, Jimmy Carter had closed the door to none.

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