POLITE FIGHT ON CAMPUS

Jimmy Carter's first-debate nervousness had vanished. Gerald Ford's second-debate foot-in-mouth was cured. Both candidates were more poised, presidential and restrained than before--in fact, at times they sounded downright angelic. Both avoided the kind of fatal gaffe that inspires a politician's nightmares. The verbal slips were slight. Old Football Player Ford began to predict improved economic prospects for "the fifth quarter" and quickly checked himself. Carter, often accused of changing his mind, said he would select Supreme Court Justices "who would most accurately reflect my own basic political philosophy as best I could determine it."

Overall, Ford was pushed more often into defensive positions. The three reporters, including a notably haughty Joseph Kraft, hurled some of their fastest pitches at the President--although other questions (about the propriety of constitutional amendments, the "urban intentions" of the candidates) were, in the trade idiom, real softballs. Carter exploited the challenger's advantage of attacking the incumbent's record. Both candidates probably reinforced their supporters' choice. Loosening his grip on the podium, Ford used hand gestures and head movements more freely than in the past. Carter's softer, yet still coolly assertive tone may well have gained him an edge among the voters who now matter most: the undecided. Highlights:

SACRIFICES. When asked what sacrifices they would ask the American people to make to achieve their presidential goals, neither candidate demanded much. Ford suggested vaguely that people would have to "tighten their belts" to meet some domestic problems and would have to spend "a few billion dollars more on defense," but he made it all palatable by promising a tax cut for middle-income people. Carter contended that Americans would have to sacrifice less under him, mainly because of lower unemployment. He asked only for "voluntary 'price restraint" and guidelines to check inflation.

THE CAMPAIGN. Carter's most effective moment may have been his frank admission that he had made mistakes in the long campaign ("This is part of just being a human being"), particularly his Playboy interview. He ticked off other notables who had been interviewed by Playboy (Treasury Secretary William Simon, Walter Cronkite and Albert Schweitzer) but conceded, "They weren't running for President." He now knows, he said, that he should not have granted the interview. Then he vowed that his campaign would not get personal in its final days, but predicted that Ford's would. Ford admitted that he, like "most others in the political arena," had been guilty of using "rather graphic language" in the campaign.

WATERGATE. Once again, Ford refused to amplify his role in blocking an early House Banking Committee inquiry into the origins of Watergate, standing on his testimony at the vice-presidential confirmation hearings in 1973. At issue is whether Ford acted at the direction of aides to Richard Nixon, as recently claimed by former White House Counsel John Dean, or only at the request of Republicans on the Banking Committee, as Ford claimed in the debate. Ford declined to urge that Nixon tapes of the period be examined. He was misleading in claiming that both the Watergate special prosecutor and Attorney General Edward Levi had investigated the topic and cleared him; they had merely refused to open full investigations into it. As the Los Angeles Times Jack Nelson pointed out, a clearer explanation could reasonably be asked of Ford. Carter scored by declining--for the first time in any of the debates--to comment at all on the opponent's answer.

YUGOSLAVIA. Ford's best moment came as he justifiably attacked Carter for saying that, as President, he would not send U.S. troops into Yugoslavia to counter a Soviet attack in the wake of President Tito's eventual death. Ford declared firmly that "it's unwise for a President to signal in advance what options he might exercise if any international problem arose." He recalled that Secretary of State Dean Acheson had drawn a U.S. defense perimeter in 1950 that did not include South Korea and suggested ("I can't prove it's true or untrue") that it may have invited the North Koreans to invade. Carter also flubbed by saying that a Soviet move into Yugoslavia involved "the internal affairs of another country." He had a point when he argued that such a move was highly unlikely and would not directly threaten U.S. security. But security is a flexible concept; he failed to note that an invasion of Yugoslavia would rock all of Europe and could have unforeseen global repercussions.

GENERAL BROWN. Neither debater distinguished himself in handling the question of what should have been done about the ill-advised comments of General George Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a recent interview Brown called Israel "a burden" to the U.S., and Great Britain "a pathetic thing"; in 1974 he had charged that Jews unduly influenced Congress, banks and newspapers. Ford claimed, erroneously, that Brown had been "reprimanded"--a severe step in dealing with high military officers. The general was not even given a personal presidential scolding. much less a formal reprimand. Carter said merely that Ford should have issued a quicker clarification that Brown's statements did not reflect U.S. policy.

VICE PRESIDENTS. Convinced that Walter Mondale has more presidential stature than Robert Dole, Carter cited his running mate as the kind of person he would bring into Government if he wins. Carter said he was now more sure than ever that Mondale was "the best person qualified to be President if something should happen to me," and declared he had never heard Ford make a similar claim about Robert Dole. Ford defended Dole, who was in the audience with his wife. But, while he said Dole was "fully qualified" to be President, he did not claim that his running mate was the best qualified.

THE CITIES. Carter scored by charging that the Ford Administration "has no urban policy." He cited the now famous New York Daily News headline that followed Ford's refusal to bail New York City out of its fiscal crisis--FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD. Carter criticized the shrinkage of the federal share of education costs under the "Nixon-Ford Administration," urged that the Federal Government gradually take on a larger share of welfare costs, and suggested that revenue-sharing funds go entirely to cities, cutting out such aid to states. Ford failed to argue, as he had done effectively in the past, that he held off aid to New York until the city reformed its unsound management. Ford's counterargument implied that funds for revenue sharing and community development were adequate. As examples of his concern for urban areas, he cited his Administration's tax incentive for industry to move into depressed areas and efforts to reduce down payments required for FHA housing loans.

CIVIL RIGHTS. Carter used some of his sharpest language in attacking the Administration's record on civil rights, claiming that Ford's glowing description of that record "is hard to recognize." As evidence of his Administration's concern for blacks, Ford at first rather lamely mentioned three high-placed blacks (Secretary of Transportation William Coleman, Four-Star Air Force General Daniel James and Three-Star Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely). More relevantly, the President then contended that the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights legislation were being "fully and effectively" enforced by the Government. He also cited efforts to help minority businessmen get started. But Carter validly criticized widespread scandals in federal home-loan programs, in which minority home buyers have been victimized. He also noted the especially high unemployment rates among minority groups. Carter charged that Ford had supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only when final passage was assured. In their earliest stages, he said, Ford had opposed them. Ford, indeed, had voted to recommit the voting rights bill; his stand on more than 100 proposed amendments to the act was not clear. In a moving statement, Carter said that "the greatest thing that ever happened to the South was the passage of the Civil Rights Act ... it not only liberated black people, but it also liberated the whites."

GUN CONTROLS. Ford probably helped himself in Western and Southern states by firmly opposing the registration of either guns or gun owners. He proposed instead that prison terms be made more certain for crimes in which guns are used. Carter said he favored registration of handguns, but not rifles (he said he owns several hunting rifles and a handgun), and only to keep them out of the hands of mentally incompetent persons and those convicted of crimes. Ford, as he pointed out, has supported legislation to ban the sale of so-called Saturday Night Specials.

UNEMPLOYMENT. Quite properly, Ford "violently disagreed" with Kraft's assertion that Ford's current economic record is "rotten." Carter was excessive when, in response to Ford's claim of vast economic gains under his Administration, he declared--in the evening's most biting remark: "President Ford ought to be ashamed of making that statement." Yet Carter was correct in pointing out that unemployment reached its highest level since the Depression after Ford took office (8.9% in May 1975). Mistakenly thinking that Carter had specifically referred to low unemployment in the 1950s, Ford said the figures were low because of the large number of men (3.5 million) who were serving in the Armed Forces during the Korean War. Ford did not quite echo the old Republican claim that Democrats start wars, but he did say: "This Administration doesn't believe the way to reduce unemployment is to go to war." The implication was that Democrats, including Carter, do believe that. In the night's most mystifying statement, Carter said that Ford's "environmental agency has projected a 10% unemployment rate by 1978." Not even Campaign Manager Hamilton Jordan could explain what he meant.

ENVIRONMENT. In trying to defend his Administration's generally weak record on environmental protection, Ford fell into some exaggerations. He claimed he had vetoed a strip-mining-control bill because it would have meant a loss of some 140,000 jobs. In fact, that was an inflated industry claim; in his own veto message last year, Ford contended that it might mean the loss of at most 36,000 jobs. Carter was right in pointing out that the job-conscious United Mine Workers had backed the bill. He was correct too in noting that Ford had held back funds appropriated for the control of water pollution.

SUMMARIES. In their summations, the two candidates expressed their contrasting views of the state of the nation more clearly than in past debates. As Ford sees it, most Americans have a far better life than when he assumed the presidency, and his steady leadership is all that is required to make life even better. Carter took a more downbeat view, arguing that neither the nation nor all too many Americans are that well off and a fresh approach is needed.

Ford was more eloquent than in his past summations. "I did not seek the presidency," he noted, "but I am asking your help and assistance to be President for the next four years." He perhaps overemphasized the impact of the nation's Bicentennial celebration and the "new spirit" it had produced. But he movingly proclaimed: "The American people are healed, are working together. The American people are moving again, and moving in the right direction." He cited the achievement of "peace with freedom" as one of his major accomplishments. He concluded: "It would be the highest honor for me to have your support on November 2 and for you to say, 'Jerry Ford, you've done a good job. Keep on doing it.' "

Carter too was at his vintage best in summing up his case. "I believe in the greatness of our country, and I believe the American people are ready for a change in Washington. We've been drifting too long. We've been dormant too long. We've been discouraged too long." Carter conceded that "Mr. Ford is a good and decent man." But he unfavorably compared Ford's 800 days in office with John Kennedy's 1,000. Under Ford, Carter asked, "what's been accomplished?" Carter ran through his familiar and too-cluttered grab bag of current ills (the tax structure, inadequate health care, unemployment, secrecy in Government, the high cost of housing, budget deficits, inflation). He admitted that "there are no magic answers." But he predicted that if both Congress and the President, management and labor, decided together that "our nation is greater than what we are now," then "we can achieve great things."

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