Trying to Break from the Pack

By Ed Magnuson

With Glenn slipping, Hart hopes to become the alternative

Trying to fly from Boston to New York City for a fund raiser last week, Gary Hart was grounded because of heavy fog. So the Colorado Senator raced across town to catch the Metroliner. When the train stopped in New Haven, he dashed out to telephone his office. The Metroliner pulled out before he could finish, leaving him stranded. By the time he reached Manhattan on a slower train, many of the potential givers had left. Later in the week he had to have an ingrown toenail surgically treated. In his haste to catch an airplane, he locked his keys in his wife's car.

Life on the campaign trail is not always easy, especially for those mired in the pack of Democrats who trail far behind Front Runner Walter Mondale. But the slippage of John Glenn caused voters seeking an alternative to Mondale to take a closer look at the also-runners. A New York Times/CBS News poll showed that the former astronaut had parachuted into a tie with Jesse Jackson for second place among registered Democratic voters (each at 14%), far behind Mondale's 44%. If Glenn continues to sputter on the trail, and if Mondale fails to sew up the nomination in the first few primaries (two very big ifs), Hart seems best positioned, for the moment, to be the beneficiary of any opening for a fresh challenge to Mondale.

While the late-starting Jackson has made spectacular gains in the eight-man field, he is still seen chiefly as a charismatic gadfly with little chance of winning the nomination. George McGovern draws waves of affection from some Democratic audiences and scores points for his clear-cut stands on issues, but after his trouncing as the party's candidate in 1972, he seems unlikely to emerge as a credible contender. Former Florida Governor Reubin Askew saw Glenn's slide as helping his own effort to consolidate conservative support, based in part on his anti-abortion position. South Carolina Senator Ernest Rollings detailed his economic-freeze policy in a forceful New York City speech in which he claimed that he could virtually balance the budget by 1988 by clamping a lid on most spending, including defense and entitlements, for a five-year budget savings of nearly $600 billion, while closing over $256 billion in tax loopholes. California Senator Alan Cranston found even some antinuclear activists slipping out of his fold, turned off in part by his advocacy of the B-1 bomber.

The campaign in which reporters detected the most movement last week was Hart's. "He's coming up," conceded Joe Trippi, who manages Mondale's efficient organization in Iowa. Declared Iowa Party Chairman David Nagle: "Hart's starting to get hot. He's become more aggressive."

Echoing the pack's complaint that Mondale, Glenn and Jackson have dominated press attention, Hart contends, "There is a strong desire for my candidacy if the voters can find it. I just have to get over the visibility hurdle." He views the race in two tiers, a "column A" struggle between Mondale and Glenn and a "column B" fight among the others. Says he hopefully: "Mondale will win the race in column A against Glenn. I will win in column B and replace Glenn as the alternative to Mondale."

At 47, the ruggedly handsome Hart looks much younger. Since mid-December, he has toured nearly half of Iowa's 99 counties, concentrating on farmhouses and barbershops, cafes and bars in small towns where nearly 60% of the state's delegates will be chosen. He has difficulty stirring up audiences, but manages to be crisp and to the point on television. Says he: "Mondale's generation is good at arousing halls of people. But mine is better on television."

Hart needs TV exposure to overcome the identity handicap, but his organization cannot pay for much of it. He spent some $1.8 million last year, $600,000 more than he raised. (Mondale raised $9.4 million.) Hart used the federal matching funds he received in January to pay off his debt and is keeping afloat by taking in about $7,000 a day. He began an Iowa TV campaign last week, spending $30,000 on a series of four ads.

Hart repeatedly argues that he is the one candidate with "new ideas," but he has not been terribly successful at explaining exactly what they are. One of his key proposals is a reindustrialization program that would create industry, labor and Government advisory groups to guide basic industries like steel back to health.

He thinks high-tech industries need no help other than an adequate amount of investment capital. He advocates a stronger defense, but one that relies more on upgraded manpower and military readiness than on the purchase of costly sophisticated weapons systems.

Whatever the merit of such ideas, they tend to get buried in the day-to-day clamor of the campaign. But Hart was by no means the only candidate with serious worries on the eve of the Iowa caucuses (Feb. 20) and the New Hampshire primary (Feb. 28). Only last week Glenn moved, for the second time, to revitalize his lackluster organization. Iowa Coordinator Gerald Vento replaced Glenn's longtime confidant William White, who has been blamed for much of the staff disarray, as campaign manager. This move put Vento and Political Director Robert Keefe, both former campaign aides to Jimmy Carter, in charge.

Mondale, meanwhile, serenely triumphed in the first actual selection of flesh-and-blood delegates. In an effort to guarantee that elected officials will have more influence at this year's convention, the Democratic Party has given its members in Congress the right to choose 191 delegates. That process began last week in the House, where Mondale has had a score of aides drumming up support for nearly a year. It paid off. Of the 164 delegates chosen, Mondale won 75. Glenn got 17; Cranston, 11; Jackson, 7; Hart, 5; and Askew and Rollings, 4. There were 42 delegates officially uncommitted. While that showing reinforced Mondale's standing as the man to beat, it was hardly conclusive, since 3,769 delegates are still to be selected. --By Ed Magnuson. Reported by Christopher Ogden/Des Moines and John F. Stacks with Hart

With reporting by Christopher Ogden/Des Moines, John F. Stacks