"A candidate's rhetoric, his positions, his style on the stump--a reporter can get these down in a few days," says Senior Correspondent Laurence Barrett, "but only by tagging along in close quarters for weeks at a time can you capture a full portrait of this fellow who wants to be President." This week's cover story on the Republican race reflects the insights of two reporters who have been coattailing the party's leading contenders for the past nine weeks: Barrett, our man on Ronald Reagan's plane, and Washington Correspondent Douglas Brew, who has followed the fortunes of Reagan's chief rival, George Bush.

"Covering Bush is like covering an athletic event," says Brew, who has matched his fellow jogger almost stride for stride from Iowa to Maine to Puerto Rico. "Despite the routine gladhanding of politics, Bush truly likes people and is getting a kick out of running for President." Bush and his wife Barbara also work hard to ensure that their press escorts enjoy the process as well. Recalls Brew: "When I spent a day at their home in Houston, Barbara offered to do my laundry, while George--no one calls him Mr. Bush--lent me swim trunks and my choice of at least a dozen pairs of running shoes. All this on the day after the Nashua, N.H., debates, when his political fortunes were taking a nosedive." Barrett found Reagan a gracious host in his Pacific Pali sades, Calif, home, but characteristically controlled: "He says virtually the same thing in private as he does from the podium." Only through extended exposure to the candidate was Barrett able to penetrate the reserve. For example, Reagan talked candidly with Barrett last week about the abrupt firing of Campaign Manager John Sears. "To someone following the Reagan camp so closely, the departure did not come as a complete sur prise," said Barrett. "Two weeks earlier you could detect a decided cooling of the Reagan-Sears relationship." Barrett therefore had a head start in investigating the shake-up and even managed to inter view William Casey before he was in stalled as Sears' successor. Barrett also found an opportunity to share some of his insights with a newcomer to the Reagan press corps. Just before the big formal an nouncement of the staff dismissals, Bar rett saw a familiar face in the press room. It was his son Paul, covering the candidate for the Harvard Crimson. Young Barrett obviously has a nose for news too.

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