REPUBLICANS: Rocky on the Campaign Road

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Though snow, sleet and fog shrouded the runway, the Grumman Gulfstream private jet ignored instructions to stay aloft and proceeded to land. Aboard was too heavy a load of dreams and ambitions to be put off by the elements. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had arrived hi Grand Forks, N. Dak. After two appearances, the Governor, with half a dozen Republican notables in tow, flew on to Minot, N. Dak. Addressing the guests at a $100-a-plate dinner, the first ever held by local Republicans, Rocky paid glowing tribute to every politician in the room: "I had the pleasure of standing next to Dave Germain, during the reception . . . Also just a word to thank the Bishop Ryan High School chorus and Mrs. Koenig, who is their leader." A local Republican made the inevitable comparison: "Agnew once came out here and just stood around not shaking hands with anybody."

From Phoenix to Des Moines to Minot, Rocky has spent the past two months crisscrossing the country, talking the issues, praising the old-fashioned values and rallying the party faithful in their dark hour of Watergate. Not even employing the usual political camouflage and persiflage, the Governor was clearly off and running—for the fourth time and, at 65, for the last time—for the U.S. presidency. For Rocky, the prize glitters as never before, and as never before, it may be within reach.

Mr. Clean. The plans have been painstakingly laid. The first step is to shed the burden of governorship. By last week his aides had managed to assure just about everybody that the Governor would resign before the first of the year, after 15 years in the job. The post will then be turned over to Rocky's faithful Lieutenant Governor of those 15 years, Malcolm Wilson, 59, a conservative party loyalist. Rockefeller would thus avoid having to seek a fifth term in 1974 and the prospect of facing one of two hungry, popular Democrats: Congressman Ogden Reid or Howard Samuels, director of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. If he lost the election, his presidential hopes would be killed.

Moreover, by leaving office at the present time, Rocky can boast of a substantial record of achievement, especially in the areas of education and recreation.

His administration has not been tainted by scandal. In the time of Watergate, he is Mr. Clean.

Once he resigns, he will step smoothly into the national spotlight. Last week, with appropriate fanfare, he held the first meeting of his National Commission on Critical Choices for America, a kind of ad hoc think tank that will debate the central issues of the day. Its 40 members, all chosen by Rocky from various pursuits and from both major political parties, include Vice President Gerald Ford; Sol Linowitz, chairman of the National Urban Coalition; Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Ambassador to India; Ivan Allen, former mayor of Atlanta; Nancy Hanks, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; William Paley, chairman of the board of CBS; Historian Daniel Boorstin; Physicist Edward Teller and Clare Boothe Luce.

Commission reports will be issued over the next two years, just before the presidential campaign gets under way —much as Rocky did with the reports of the Prospect for America Commission during his bid for the presidency in 1960.