Nation: Money Is So Hard to Get

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In a moment of victory, Bush heads for defeat "Big Mo," he had called it, meaning momentum, that mysteriously intangible element that sometimes knocks aside all facts and logic as it sweeps a man on toward victory. George Bush had it once, last fall, when he startled the political world by defeating Ronald Reagan in Iowa caucuses and becoming temporarily the front runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Last week Bush beat Reagan again, and in the important state of Michigan. He won the popular vote in the primary by 57% to 32%, and collected 53 of the state's 82 convention delegates. But it meant nothing, for Big Mo had long since vanished.

For a time, Bush was perky as usual. "I hope we haven't peaked too soon," he jested of his fading candidacy. He tried to telephone his mother at almost midnight to tell her of his primary victory, and when he learned that she had gone to sleep, he remarked, "She ought to be out raising money." He still cherished hopes for a last-minute comeback in the June 3 primaries, which will rake in 428 delegates from California, Ohio, New Jersey and six other states. Said he: "We have 48 hours for euphoria." In less than 48 hours the euphoria was gone, for instead of emphasizing Bush's Michigan victory, the TV networks and the press naturally put their main emphasis on the fact that Reagan's victory in Oregon last week virtually assured him of the 998 delegates needed for nomination (Bush has 266). Michigan's primary was indeed not of major significance: most voters considered the race all but over, and only 11% cast ballots. But Bush was a trifle bitter at the network treatment. Said he: "If this kind of thing keeps up, by 1984 Howard Cosell will be deciding the nomination on a commercial break on the Laverne and Shirley show."

The truth was that Bush's closing strategy depended on a last-minute TV blitz in Reagan's own California, and that in turn depended on Bush's being able to raise $500,000 this month, and that possibility was rapidly disappearing. Said Bush two days after the Michigan vote: "Money is so hard to get when you have mournful predictions from others that it is all over." By then he had already arrived in New Jersey for what was to be a three-day campaign swing, but he canceled that, canceled all plans for California, and flew home to Houston to decide on his future course. Ex-President Gerald Ford offered a faint wisp of help, telling a press conference that Bush had done well in the industrial states where "Governor Reagan could have some difficulty." But though Bush might prolong his campaign, the indications were that his candidacy was about over.