Musical Chair

Democrats go headhunting

The dust has hardly settled over the rubble of the Democratic Party after its election collapse, but leading members are already jostling to rebuild -- and control -- the organization. Skirmishing has centered on the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, the logical position of power from which to direct a Democratic renaissance. Admits Chairman John C. White, 56, who was elected in 1978: "This is the only bone in the yard."

White insists he has enough votes in the 363-member national committee to win re-election next February, but the Carter loyalist is hedging about whether he really wants to stay on. "My decision is not made," says White, who may have plans to run for Governor of his native Texas in 1982. He adds: "I'm going home to Muleshoe, talk to a few friends and see what the future holds."

Many party leaders feel White's days as chairman are numbered, and the names of possible successors are floating around Washington as thick and fast as the resumes of out-of-work Democrats. Supporters of Edward Kennedy and Walter Mondale, now the two most obvious contenders for the presidency in 1984, are eager to gain control of the D.N.C. Senator Birch Bayh and House Majority Whip John Brademas, both from Indiana and both defeated two weeks ago, are mentioned as Kennedy's favorites. Mondale is said to prefer Charles T. Manatt, head of the D.N.C. finance committee for the past two years. Robert Strauss, Carter's campaign chief and a former D.N.C. chairman, is said to be touting his own candidate: Lee Kling, finance chairman for the Carter-Mondale campaign. Other names bandied about include HUD Secretary Moon Landrieu, White House Aide Anne Wexler, and defeated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

Whoever becomes chairman does not merely face the task of uniting the party's warring factions. The new chief must also erase a $2 million deficit, overhaul fund-raising and organizing operations, and articulate the party's positions on the issues -- in short, do what Bill Brock did for the Republicans during his four years as R.N.C. chairman. This is one reason that many Democrats are advising caution in filling the D.N.C. post. "We've got to move in a careful and considerate way to choose a chairman without a bloody fight," urges Wexler. Says one Kennedy intimate: "We want some one competent, willing to work for the party, and neutral." Adds a Mondale supporter: "Neither Kennedy nor Mondale wants this election to be the first primary of 1984."

Once a new chairman is picked, the party will still be left with the critical task of recasting its philosophy to suit the times. Last week flamboyant New York Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan charged that the party had run out of ideas and was spouting only tired doctrine. Moynihan warned that a group of "extreme left-wing supporters" of Kennedy might impose their ideology on the party, and he contended that they believed "Government should be powerful, and America should be weak." Ronald Reagan could not have said it better.

Colleagues dismissed Moynihan's blast as "overspeak," as one put it, but many Democratic leaders are admitting that their party needs intellectual refurbishing. In coming months, some of them will surely be competing with Moynihan for a voice in that undertaking. California's independent-minded Governor Jerry Brown, for example, has been keeping a low profile in Sacramento since dropping out of the presidential race last April, but he expects to play a major role in redefining what the Democrats stand for. Says Brown: "The party needs new direction and dimension, and I'll help give it that."

Meanwhile, an unlikely group is attempting to help the Democrats reformulate their ideology. Emboldened by its success in helping defeat four Democratic liberal Senators this year, the National Conservative Political Action Committee announced last week that it has tentatively marked 20 more Senators, including 17 Democrats, for defeat in 1982. N.C.P.A.C.Chairman Terry Dolan admitted that by announcing the list--which includes Kennedy and Moynihan--so early, the organization hoped to nudge at least some of the legislators away from progressive positions. Warned Dolan: "Liberals ought to be very intimidated by the mood of the American public."

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