Nation: May the Best Man Win

(2 of 4)

In a rush to launch his campaign so that he can combat the power of the Carter incumbency, Kennedy this week will make the official announcement of his candidacy at historic Faneuil Hall in his native Boston. California Governor Jerry Brown, who has been planning his own run against Carter for more than a year, is expected to follow suit the next day at the National Press Club in Washington. Republican Howard Baker, the minority leader of the U.S. Senate, last week made his candidacy official. Next week former California Governor Ronald Reagan will announce his latest attempt. On this, his third time round. Reagan will enter the race as the early favorite for the Republican nomination.

Underlying all specific issues as the full-scale campaigning begins, and with less than three months left until the first key test in the Iowa caucuses, are the role and power of the Government the candidates want to lead. On the Republican side, there is a considerable harmony of views about reducing the size and influence of the Federal Government, lowering taxes, unfettering the private sector of the economy and increasing industrial productivity. Republican candidates are also generally calling for much heavier defense spending and a more aggressive, bolder stance by the U.S. in foreign affairs. These candidates frequently note the turn to the right taken by voters in England and Canada this year and predict the oft-predicted end of the New Deal era of Big Government and big spending on lavish social programs. Says Baker: "There is a sea change coming in American politics. The country has been building toward it for years, but was frustrated by Watergate." Says John Connally: "This will be the most important election in this century." And from the Democratic side, Ted Kennedy predicts: "This will be a watershed period." Long-Shot Candidate Brown agrees: "America is ready for a pattern shift in its political thinking. There will be some kind of political realignment. The nation is not governable without new ideas."

A colossal struggle is now under way for control of the Democratic Party. Carter and his troops regarded their victory in 1976 as the first step toward moving the party to a more centrist position. Carter's defeat of Alabama's George Wallace, they felt, saved the party from moving too far right. And their battle with Ted Kennedy is already seen from the White House as saving the party from New Deal liberalism. All over the country. Democrats are being pressured to pick sides.

Former Iowa Senator Dick Clark, an ambassador-at-large for refugee matters in the State Department, whom Carter had just designated as head of the new Cambodian relief effort, resigned last week to join the Kennedy campaign. Carter accepted the resignation with a snappish note. Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne told Carter three weeks ago that she would support him, according to John White, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, but last week she announced her pledge to Kennedy. This gives the Massachusetts Senator an important advantage in the critical Illinois primary next March. Morris Dees, Carter's chief fund raiser in 1976, switched sides to join Kennedy. Said he: "I am not disaffected with President Carter, but philosophically I'm much more attuned to the views of Senator Kennedy."