Going Far by Going Slow

Sears has persuaded Reagan to emulate the tortoise

The man who advised Ronald Reagan to ignore the Republican debate in Iowa and who is masterminding Reagan's surprisingly low-key and slow-starting presidential campaign remains supremely confident that the strategy is sound. John Sears, 39, Reagan's campaign boss in 1980, as in 1976, still feels that if Reagan had debated in Iowa he would have made himself just one of the pack. Says Sears: "Being the front runner can give you control. The race cannot really start before he begins to compete. Without him, it's just practice."

Even as Reagan hopscotched across the country last week, speaking in South Carolina, Florida, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, as well as Iowa, the suave Sears described his candidate's campaign as still being only in second gear --and right where it should be. Tracing designs in the air with long, delicate ringers and a Viceroy cigarette, Sears told TIME Senior Correspondent Laurence I. Barrett: "Political campaigning is a collection of enthusiasms, instincts, energy and emotion. You don't want to get your people spent too early if you don't have to." Witness, says Sears, Ted Kennedy.

In 1976 Sears gambled and lived to regret it. He persuaded Reagan to announce before the G.O.P. convention that his choice as his vice-presidential running mate would be Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker, whose liberal image on some issues cost the Californian support in his close but losing fight with Gerald Ford. This time Sears has resolved to be much more cautious. Says he: "Each campaign is an original. The game goes to the one who recognizes the changes and knows how to act on them."

No one doubts Sears' ability to understand shifting political realities. "Sears is the best strategist in the business," declares David Keene, who is managing the national campaign of George Bush, Reagan's rival with the finest organization in Iowa. "But this is his last shot. He has something to prove."

If Reagan fails to win the nomination, Sears will get much of the blame. More than the manager of any other presidential candidate, he totally controls his man's campaign apparatus. Says Reagan Press Secretary Jim Lake: "He has the strongest will and the strongest mind. He's the board chairman among the staff."

Sears' dominance of the staff was shown when he maneuvered two of Reagan's longtime aides out of the campaign. As finance director, Lyn Nofziger had argued with Sears' decision to start the campaign slowly and to replace some Reagan loyalists from 1976 with more moderate organizers. When fund raising lagged and Nofziger became more combative, Sears forced him to quit. Aide Mike Deaver then took charge of money raising, but Sears resented Deaver's independence. To spare Reagan the pain of choosing between the two, Deaver resigned.

Stories of Sears' control of his campaign have irked Reagan, who fears that voters will think that he is being molded by his manager. Reagan told TIME'S Barrett: "There's all this talk that he is 'moderating' me. I'm the candidate and I decide what I think the issues are and what my position is."

Indeed, Reagan has not reversed his stand on any significant issue since 1976, nor has Sears urged him to. "He would lose credibility if he did that," says Sears. But he has successfully encouraged Reagan to tone down his rhetoric and to ease his image of being too reactionary.

Actually, Sears cares less for issues than he does for the challenge of the contest. He is a political technician who could, and did, consider working for other Republican candidates this year, including Howard Baker. As late as the summer of 1978, Reagan was promising party hard-liners still bristling over the selection of Schweiker that Sears would not be given similar control over his 1980 campaign.

That promise ended in late 1978 when Reagan not only enlisted Sears but also accepted three of Sears' preconditions on strategy: 1) Reagan must appeal to all segments of the party; 2) Reagan, rather than his opponents, would dictate the timing and pace of the campaign; 3) the primary race would be run with the general election always in mind.

After getting degrees from Notre Dame and Georgetown University Law Center, the New York-born Sears joined Richard Nixon's Manhattan law firm in 1965. He soon impressed Nixon with his political instincts and was enlisted in the campaign. After Nixon won the presidency, Sears fell out of favor with the White House staff because he retained close ties with people outside Nixon's inner circle --and was even wiretapped as a suspected source of press leaks. He now feels some regret over his role in helping Nixon win. During the 1976 campaign, Sears' tendency to drink too much grew worse. A Roman Catholic who will readily interrupt a poker game to attend evening Mass, he has since become a teetotaler.

In a profession of the gladhander, Sears--a man with prominent, intense blue eyes and the softening physique of a person seldom exposed to sun, wind or exercise--at times muses introspectively about his profession. Says he: "You never really win anything in politics. All you get is a chance to play for higher stakes and perform at a higher level. Even if you get elected, you've won larger responsibilities to be carried out in a more fearsome world."

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