Nation: The Media Mesmerists

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Rival experts tell how to win votes

In the fiercely contested New York Governor's race, it's Garth vs. Deardourff. In the clamorous gubernatorial election in Ohio, it's also Garth vs. Deardourff. Even in December's presidential election in Venezuela, it's Garth vs. Deardourff. David Garth and John Deardourff are this year's top media mesmerists, the wizards who tell candidates how to project a winning image.

Garth, 48, is a stocky, cigar-waving New Yorker who wages his campaigns like a war. He barks over the phone, at reporters and candidates alike, so gruffly that he has been nicknamed Garth Vader. He once did graduate studies in psychology, then produced televised sports shows until his passion for politics drew him into John Lindsay's successful 1965 campaign for mayor of New York. He claims since then to have "won" 68 of 83 races, mostly for liberal Democrats. "All but twelve," he adds with characteristic immodesty, "were underdogs." This year, Garth says, he was approached to handle major races in 39 states, and selected six.

The most important, from his own viewpoint, is the New York Governor's race, in which he is trying to re-elect his friend Hugh Carey. Says Garth: "In my home state, I get very personally involved —and I hate to lose." His customary strategy is to demand that his candidates raise a lot of money, trim down to fighting weight, learn to concentrate on key issues, and leave the details to him.

Garth's ads are crisp, no-nonsense video-taped messages filled with facts. One for Carey shows the Governor staring directly into a camera and reciting the details of how he cut taxes. More facts are crammed in by a written "crawl" on the bottom of the screen. Garth believes in the power of the tube and worries little about block captains and doorbell-ringing.

Among Garth's other candidates is a sentimental favorite, Senator Jennings Randolph, 76, a Democrat from West Virginia, who first served in Congress 46 years ago and has never felt any need to use this newfangled television. This year he is in a tight fight against former Governor Arch Moore, so Garth was called in. Result: half of Randolph's $500,000 campaign chest will be used on television. One spot shows Randolph preaching fervently to a cluster of coal miners about his long struggle to get them adequate health benefits. He comes across as jolly, energetic and statesmanlike—and much younger than his age.

While Garth was helping with Lindsay's television in 1965, Deardourff joined the campaign staff to do research on issues. Deardourff, 45, is now in partnership with another TV whiz, Douglas Bailey, mostly handling moderate Republicans. He and Bailey were Gerald Ford's media experts, and though their candidate lost, they ran effective TV ads. Deardourff is as cool and managerial as Garth is gruff and feisty.