Nation: Out of the Rose Garden

• Share

(2 of 2)

Partly to deflect such criticism, the President plans to begin his campaigning this week in Philadelphia, more than two weeks after the Pennsylvania primary. Thereafter he will make at least one trip a week, usually to stage-managed town meetings or speeches before large audiences. White House staffers tried hard to deny that Carter's motivation for leaving the Rose Garden is political. Snapped an aide: "It's not even necessary if you just look at the delegate numbers."

True enough: Carter holds a commanding lead over Kennedy in delegate votes. But other numbers—those of the pollsters—suggest that the President will face a serious problem in November. An ABC News-Harris Survey, taken the same day that the rescue mission's failure was announced, showed former California Governor Ronald Reagan leading Carter by 42% to 33%; in February, Carter led Reagan by 64% to 32%.

The man who probably has the most to gain from Carter's slumping popularity, Reagan, blasted the Administration as he swung through Texas. Though he supported the rescue attempt, Reagan criticized Carter for waiting so long and charged that the botched mission had worsened the crisis. He also castigated Carter for not spending enough to strengthen the nation's defense as it entered what Reagan described as "one of the most dangerous decades in the history of Western civilization."

Reagan did more stumping in Texas than he had originally planned, hitting five cities in three days, to blunt the challenge of Texan George Bush, who spent some $500,000 campaigning in the state, compared with Reagan's $150,000.

Bush's big spending paid off in a moral victory in the Texas popular vote, enabling him to finish close on the heels of the front-running Reagan. This surprising showing is certain to keep Bush's candidacy alive, perhaps at least through June 3, when California and eight other states hold primaries. Even before the Texas results started coming in, Bush said: "I'm going to stay in this race all the way." That might prove discouraging. In the crucial Texas race for G.O.P. Convention votes, Reagan seemed likely to win roughly three-fourths of the delegates. He also crushed Bush in the Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota and Guam delegate selections.

While Democrats and Republicans were slugging it out in Texas, Independent John Anderson spent his first week of campaigning without a party by marching through Georgia, West Virginia, Michigan and Massachusetts despite polls showing him with only 20% of the vote and pundits' predictions that he will fail. Anderson's effort is as much crusade as campaign, and it is perhaps best summed up by the line he frequently paraphrases from Robert Louis Stevenson: "It is often better to journey with hope than to arrive."