PRIMARIES: Redford v. Cagney

There was nothing of Tweedledum, Tweedledee in the choice available to Pennsylvania voters last week for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. Indeed, reported TIME Correspondent Don Sider, it was more like Robert Redford v. James Cagney. Facing each other from opposite ends of the state were Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty, a lanky, blue-eyed charmer with an engaging grin and earnest air, and former state Insurance Commissioner Herbert S. Denenberg, a cocky, abrasive professor whose "Shopper's Guides" to buying insurance, legal-aid and medical services have made him a consumers' hero. In the end, Redford-Flaherty won.

Both candidates ran modest campaigns with limited funds and the help of numerous relatives. Both racked up impressive mileage as they crisscrossed the state with their handsome wives in search of votes, but their styles and tactics differed. Threatening to bite rather than kiss the first baby he saw, Denenberg, 44, plunged into crowds, bluntly demanding votes and firing flamboyant rhetoric in all directions. Samples: "The oil companies have been fixing prices for so long, they don't know it's illegal. Government is the No. 1 consumer fraud. I was on to Nixon in '48—he's the symbol of evil to me." If elected to the Senate, Denenberg promised, he would "shake the hell out of that cozy club."

Somewhat shy and constantly smiling ("He can outsmile me five to one," said Denenberg), Flaherty ran on his reputation as Pittsburgh's fiercely honest, cost-saving mayor. A former assistant district attorney and city councilman with a law degree from Notre Dame, Flaherty, 48, was first elected in 1969 on the slogan that he was "nobody's boy." He proved it by eliminating unnecessary jobs from city hall, attacking union featherbedding, and bringing in a cadre of new young department heads. He has also abolished or lowered several city taxes. Last fall he was re-elected on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. Critics attacked Flaherty for opposing projects they say Pittsburgh needs if it is to move ahead—such as rapid transit and a convention center—and they fear the city will pay later for his frugality. "The demands on the mayor are five times the supply. You have to say no," replied Flaherty. Ironically, Reformer Flaherty won the backing of the official party machine, partly because as an Irish-Catholic from western Pennsylvania he provided good ticket balance to Democratic Governor Milton Shapp who, like Denenberg, is a Jew from the Philadelphia area and is running for a second term.