Rhode Island: The Colonel & the Senator

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Barrage of Barbs. The colonel is a charming and good-humored woman who insists that the campaign poses two major issues for Rhode Islanders: "What's happening to their sons and what's happening to their dollars." She feels that the U.S. should put more effort into winning the Viet Nam war more quickly ("I'm not as scared of China as some people are"), calls for more steps to stop inflation. Moreover, she seems able to throw a continuous barrage of barbs at Claiborne Pell, whom she calls a "curlyheaded croquet player from Newport." Referring to Pell's good looks, she says: "I concede that if the election were on the basis of looks, I would lose. My campaign managers wanted me to do something with my hair, lose 20 lbs. and put some sex appeal into the campaign; but my reaction is it's too darn late." She also twits the New York-born Pell for his money ("It's axiomatic that if you want to take good care of your money, you should not elect a man who has inherited money or married it"), and criticizes him for what she calls a vacillating stand on Viet Nam ("The only way you can win a war is to be willing to fight it").

Though she plans to wage a man-to-man battle with Claiborne Pell, who so far has kept a discreet silence, Colonel Briggs also has the little extras of her sex going for her. When a woman in a store, mistaking the colonel for a supervisor, asked, "Do you have a lemon squeezer?" Colonel Briggs quickly introduced herself, said: "I have two, and if you can't find one I'll be glad to send you one of mine." And, though the colonel has promised to stick to the issues, she is woman enough to admit that she cannot promise not to be "snide from time to time."