Democrats Warm Up for '84

...On the surface, not much None of the six survivors of the early shakeout that saw Edward Kennedy, Morns Udall and Dale Bumpers back down offer any serious disagreements with the 1980 Democratic platform—although all take a stronger stand on arms control And unless Ronald Reagan makes the opposition party's nomination more valuable by deciding against running as the Republican standard bearer, it appears that the field is complete Still, like baseball seasons, each campaign has its own pace and feel, its own special lessons and unexpected delights Admittedly, the playoffs are a distance away The press is throwing soft balls to the rusty oldtimers and rookie candidates alike If some are banging out singles for narrow constituencies, while others are already swinging for home runs, warm-up time isn't over Yet after hearing each of the announced competitors deliver at least half a dozen speeches (or six variations on the same speech), after talking to them and watching them shake hands, handle news conferences, rattle the tin cup for contributions, and work friendly crowds, several generalizations on the race seem justified Here are some distillations from spring training notes jotted down in Sacramento, Bal Harbour, Concord, New Hampshire and points in between First, President Reagan has done more to make liberalism respectable than anyone since Barry Goldwater in 1964 Four of the six Democrats running are liberals, and the other two eschew the rhetoric of conservatism Lifetime "liberal" scores, calculated from their Senate voting records by Americans for Democratic Action, are Former Vice President Walter Mon-dale, 92 per cent, Senator Alan Cranston of California, 85 per cent, Gary Hart of Colorado (after wide swings from 58 to 95), 79 per cent, and John Glenn of Ohio, 63 per cent Even Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, with 33 per cent, is liberal on social issues Former Florida Governor Reubin Askew, unrated since he has never been in the Senate, is to liberalism as Tang is to orange juice—many similar ingredients are listed on the label, but the taste is artificial Mondale personifies the liberal as Mister Nice Guy Cranston is more militant than thou Hart and Hollings think liberals are nice, if a little slow Glenn thinks liberals are fun, but a little fast Askew thinks of himself as a moderate, fears homosexuals, opposes abortion and enchants the business community Second, one should not get hung up on historical parallels with 1976 True, Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen's big-money, pro-business tactics are being aped by Askew, the battle between Udall and then Senator Frank Church for the Democratic left's banner is being refought by Cranston and Hart, and Glenn mirrors Senator Henry Jackson's stance—liberal at home, conservative abroad There is no George Wallace of Alabama here, though, no seeker of enemies Another new wrinkle frontrunning Mondale's natural allies—teachers, the AFL-CIO, office holders, party regulars—will have more delegate slots in San Francisco next year than at any national convention since 1968 Even if this coalition does not unite around Mondale, he should hang on to the biggest portion of that support In the Massachusetts straw vote, he led with 29 per cent, and would have had 45 per cent by picking up fewer than two-thirds of the labor delegates who voted for "jobs" instead of for a candidate The same day, at a Democratic convention in Puerto Rico, 85 per cent cast straw votes for Mondale and the rest abstained Third, differences in attacks on the President have not involved substance Mondale insists Reagan has been and will always be wrong Cranston describes Reagan as a madman Hart shrugs off the President as dumb Hollings charges cruelty Glenn chides Reagan for making too many mistakes Askew asserts that the man is misguided Fourth, money trouble is not a factor yet In their April reports the six showed combined receipts of $6 2 million, well above the record $5 4 million raised by all candidates of both parties at this point in the 1980 precampaign Mondale has raised $2 4 million since November 2,1982, to break the individual record of $2 3 million set by Wallace in '73, '74 and the first three months of '75 Each of the others—Glenn ($1 2 million), Askew ($1 1 million), Cranston ($760,000), Hart ($451,000), and Hollings ($300,000)—surpassed the $227,000 Jimmy Carter had come up with at this point before his victory of 1976 These fundraising contrasts were predictable Mondale and Glenn are equally well known, and Mondale has more national contacts plus a better staff Askew, like John Connally in the 1980 GOP race, attracts supporters who find donating money easier than giving their time Cranston is privy to the anti-nuke bucks Hart has plugged into the network of New Money trendsetters Hollings has a lot of old friends These candidates, it might be added, understand how to work within the post-Watergate campaign reforms Workers routinely contact contributors who exceed the $1,000 legal limit and ask pointedly whether the donor wants the excess to be credited to a gift from his or her spouse, children, or live-in friend Large loans from friends and banks also provided $414,000 in seed money to Mondale for this campaign Fifth and finally, the party of McGovern, Stevenson, Truman, FDR and Al Smith has laryngitis To anyone who has ever watched Reagan or any Kennedy perform, the bunch on the road now is almost physically painful to listen to If you have endured them once, the temptation is to leave a tape recorder with a colleague during the speech-making at the cattle calls and wander around the hallway booths and backstage trailers seeking literature, tidbits and, most blessed of all, escape Mondale, 55, turns red as he orates, his nasal tenor trembling higher and higher The cagey veteran, armed with a dozen fancy pitches and no fast ball, ticks off outrage after outrage, stand after stand, commitment after commitment Each faction—blacks, ecologists, farmers, union members, gays, teachers, investors, city dwellers, feminists—eagerly awaits its turn When it comes, the members invariably pop up from their chairs to cheer and wave their signs Cranston, 68, is all elbows and adjectives at the pulpit He thunders forebodings of fire and brimstone upon superpowers for failing to immediately repent their nuclear sins "We can drive the indifferent from the temples of power," and the chastising whip shall be arms control "The event is in the hand of God " The sixth of the audience that is with him hallelujahs Many others nod their agreement A balancing remainder, the skeptics, sit sullenly Hart, 45, instructs quietly, his voice flat The patient professor correcting a mediocre student's test, he winds his aloof, precise way through a convoluted examination of flaws in past policy Some of the classes notice that his acute, somber, usually just analyses are rarely accompanied bv concrete proposals Glenn, 61, is wooden vet happier than Hart One heck of an earnest guy, he plows mechanically through Kennedyesque rhetoric, using only two volumes—soft and loud His arms pump, his eyebrows wig-wag, one hand enumerates three reasons on the fingers of another as he endorses a position that all his rivals wholeheartedly embrace The crowd preens, proud as parents whose kid has recited a poem Hollings, also 61, is a mushmouthed patrician A lifetime office holder who lapses from Churchillan imagery into "ox in the ditch" Southernisms, he is the one candidate who seems to think of, rather than memorize, his jokes He dismisses the MX dense pack plan by saying, "We tried that at Pearl Harbor It didn't work" Nevertheless, his approach is not riveting He tells us that there is "no magic formula, no magical set of new ideas, no cluster of all-powerful interest groups, there is just work" Askew, 54, is above average on the podium—polite, affable, evanescent He is a workmanlike corporate spokesman delivering a pep talk to the sales force He would "challenge business, labor, education, agriculture, and government to come together and work together in an entirely new way" What way7 One clue Much of his campaign money comes from Florida executives and bankers who once backed the more conservative opponents he defeated back home The Democratic lineup's lack of panache on the hustings may not be critical for a general election, where television has made mass meetings obsolete except as a background for 20 second voiceovers But personal appearances are vital in the states that will select a hefty 18 per cent of the convention delegates in the first 18 days of caucuses and primaries (These are Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Washington, Rhode Island, and Delaware) In am case, next summer millions will witness the acceptance speech the winner will give in San Francisco—provided the 3,900 Democratic delegates can muster the discipline that will allow him to speak before voters m Eastern time zones tall asleep Andrew Mollison, a frequent New Leader contributor, is chief political writer for the Cox Newspapers...