FIVE CANDIDATES IN SEARCH OF A NOMINATION
Cort, John C
Five Candidates in Search Of a Nomination Five candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination recently appeared in Springfield, Mass., before 1800 people who paid five dollars apiece for...
...He came out against Vietnam in 1967, long before it was popular in Arizona...
...We don't have to worry about whether the people are more progressive than we are-we'd better get out there and keep up with them...
...Would support legislation putting employes and consumers on corporate boards of directors...
...His excuse: it was impossible to get elected in Arizona if he did not...
...That could be the seed-bed of another American revolution if our leaders have the sense and courage to plant and reap it...
...The fol-lowing are some impressions by an observer who had never seen any but Shriver before...
...We must help those poor people in the southern hemisphere who have less to eat than we feed our cats and dogs...
...Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia: smooth Southern gentleman with pleasant smile, conservative in economics, but liberal (for a Southerner) in civil rights, humanitarian issues, and foreign policy...
...We should stop doing business with every dictator who can afford a pair of sunglasses...
...All but Carter attack President Ford for turning tin ear to New York City's cries for help...
...Udall: "Maybe wage controls later when workers have had chance to catch up with cost of living"), Shriver for, price controls on oil and food...
...His lack of oratorical skill or fire make him a poor bet to challenge Wallace in Southern primaries...
...After one hour my notebook is still looking for one memorable sentence, statement or impression...
...Audience tired and hungry by now and thinning out...
...Folksy Oklahoma twang and all, he strikes me as even brighter than Udall...
...If you didn't know what George Wallace looked and sounded like and somebody said, "That's George Wallace," you could believe him...
...Kind of quote that turns me on (re CIA): "This country must never again get involved in trying to determine who shall be the leaders of other countries...
...Says that AFL-CIO's Al Barkan (COPE director) assured him he is "acceptable to organized labor" anyway...
...Morris Udall, Congressman from Arizona: Tall, distinguished, Lincolnesque...
...Birch Bayh, Senator from Indiana: Youngish, clean-cut, progressive, unexciting...
...Weak point: confesses, when questioned, that he voted for right-to-work provision of Taft-Hartley Act (permitting states to pass no-union-security laws) even though he was publicly on record as opposed to such laws...
...Similarities and differences: All candidates favor federal welfare system, at least in funding...
...Shriver for negative income tax, minimum income...
...Harris and Udall for price controls on monopoly or "concentrated" industries...
...Five Candidates in Search Of a Nomination Five candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination recently appeared in Springfield, Mass., before 1800 people who paid five dollars apiece for the privilege of hearing them speak and answer questions...
...A smart lawyer with a Phi Beta Kappa key, his full-throated blasts at the rich and powerful carry far more intelligence, sincerity and statistical research than ever marked the Alabama rabblerouser...
...We've just lost our (Continued on page 488) ability, somehow or another, to work together...
...All for federal energy corporation and public power except Carter...
...I have to admit he's right...
...I need a majority...
...In order of their appearance: Fred Harris, former Senator from Oklahoma: Stocky, jowly, Middle American in look and style...
...Otherwise he makes strong pitch for uniting party around old Roosevelt coalition: "We need everybody -Southern moderates, labor, liberals, big city mayors...
...Good joke, good laugh, but Harris would never tell that one...
...But not for long...
...Gets warm response to his call for a basic redistribution of income, wealth and power...
...Kind of quote that turns me off: "Our economic system is just as strong as ever...
...john c. cort (John C. Cort has worked for labor groups and anti-poverty agencies...
...Nevertheless manages to come across as pro-poor and anti-big business, largely on strength of his experience in, and genuine commitment to, the War on Poverty...
...And Harris may be right: maybe the people out there are doing more thinking than Stevenson gave them credit for, are more progressive than we effete liberals give them credit for...
...All favor plugging tax loopholes for rich, further tax cuts for non-rich to stimulate economy, reduce unemployment...
...Conclusions: During a break I run into a friend who is working for Harris and I say, "Harris looks good, but Udall looks more like a president...
...Come to think, that's a memorable statement, but I don't care for the memory...
...But Udall is no Muskie...
...The crowd came from New York and New England...
...I suspect Udall will get the nomination, but I resolve to vote for Harris in the primary...
...Looks like he may have best chance of getting them...
...On the other hand, Harris is the only one who is challenging capitalism head on...
...Sargent Shriver, Democratic candidate for vice-president in 1972, former director of Peace Corps and Office of Economic Opportunity: Charming, confident, optimistic...
...Quotes: "Get the rich off welfare and put the country back to work...
...Two black members of audience assure me his record in Georgia was pretty good...
...He starts off cold but warms them up and then cools them off by volunteering nonchalantly that he has been representing Gulf Oil as an attorney in Russia...
...Judging from strength of applause at end as compared with beginning, seems to have made the most converts...
...Watch it, Mo-remember what happened to Adlai...
...Somehow or another we've lost our faith in each other...
...All for interest rates to promote construction...
...I think we can forget about Humphrey, Muskie, Kennedy and Ford...
...The meeting was the second of five regional conferences sponsored by Americans for Democratic Action and several progressive unions...
...He didn't add that the poll indicates that two-thirds of our people want to replace capitalism with a system under which employes own and control their own companies...
...He says, "Muskie looked like a president too...
...Too elitist...
...All candidates express unwillingness to push constitutional amendment repealing Supreme Court decision on abortion, despite presence of anti-abortion picket line in front of hall...
...Volunteers flatly that he won't run on same ticket with Wallace or support a Wallace ticket...
...He's brighter, and more gutsy, even with the Taft-Hartley vote...
...Good speaker...
...Harris supporters in crowd the most enthusiastic...
...When asked how he would deal with inflation, his answer: "We should disregard inflation until we get unemployment down to 5 or, 6 percent...
...Only one to use Opening Joke Ploy: "A lady told Adlai Stevenson after one of his speeches, 'Gov-ernor, you hit it on the nose with all thinking people.' Stevenson replied, 'That's not enough...
...And I predict that one or the other will be our next president, and a good one...
...Udall leans heavily on his excellent record and leadership as a liberal in Congress...
...Udall and Shriver use almost the same words as Harris: "It's strange that we can bail out Lockheed and Perm Central, give billions to the oil companies and still let a great city like New York go down the drain...
...Weak point: says be can get votes of many former Wallace supporters on the economic issues, a remark that makes some sense but calls attention to his silence, until recently, on Wallace himself...
...As proof Harris referred to the Peter Hart poll funded by the People's Bicentennial Commission...
Vol. 102 • October 1975 • No. 16
