DEMOCRATS: Carter's Road Show

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Carter also spoke scornfully of a practice pursued by Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (and quite a few other Presidents, though Carter neglected to say so): appointing "unsuccessful candidates" to cushy Government posts. One of the appointees specifically included in a staff-produced paper backing up the generalized claim was CIA Director George Bush, who went from a losing Texas senatorial campaign to become U.N. ambassador, then Republican National Committee chairman, then U.S. liaison chief in Peking, and now holds the nation's top intelligence job. Shortly after the speech, Bush came to Plains for a six-hour briefing of Carter on national security matters. Carter later told reporters that the use of Bush's name was the result of a staffer's mistake, and he publicly apologized to the CIA director. At the same time, however, he criticized another Republican appointee, FBI Director Clarence Kelley, for losing control of the bureau and strongly hinted that he would go if Carter becomes President.

Still, compared with the raucous Republicans, Carter was making good progress preparing for the campaign. His national campaign staff—now consisting of 325 paid workers but scheduled to grow to 700 or 800 by the fall—has moved into new headquarters: three upper floors of the 24-story Colony Square building on Atlanta's Peachtree Street.

One indication of Carter's strength emerged not from his own camp but from the embattled White House. Should Ford win the nomination, the President's strategists said, he might challenge Carter to a series of debates. That would be a switch. It has usually been the challenger who has tried—generally without success—to persuade the incumbent to debate. But then, not many challengers have enjoyed a 2-to-l margin over the incumbent in the early polls.