A Toss-'Em-Out Temper

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But distant and aloof Kansas Republican Governor Robert Bennett, never really popular in his state, fell victim to the widespread voter unrest. He was upset by Democrat John Carlin, 38, speaker of the state's house of representatives. Wisconsin's image as one of the more liberal states was transformed by Republican Lee Sherman Dreyfus, 52, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, who was seeking office for the first time. He unseated Acting Governor Martin Schreiber, 39, a career politician. Yet Dreyfus, who describes himself as a maverick in a populist mold, saw no ideological portent in his victory. He was elected, he said, "not because of what I was, but because of what I was not. I was beholden to no one, backed by no special interests and had no debts." In Iowa, the voters' toss-'em-out mood benefited Conservative Republican Roger Jepsen, who upset Liberal Democrat Dick Clark.

Despite the clear conservative tilt in the Midwest, voters sometimes went the other way in their desire to shake things up. In Michigan they chose Democrat Carl Levin, 44, former president of the Detroit city council and a party regular, over Republican Senator Robert Griffin, a skillful parliamentarian and his party's Senate whip. At the same time, Michigan's voters stuck with an able Republican Governor, William Milliken, 56, despite a harsh campaign against him by Democrat William Fitzgerald, who even blamed Milliken for a public scare over Michigan farmers' use of the controversial pesticide PBB. Replied Milliken during the campaign: "It's a terrible thing to pander to people's fears." He finally won with 57% of the vote-his largest win in three elections.

Many of the other incumbents who survived the turn-out tide did so only after sobering close calls. In one of the Mid west's most expensive Senate races, Illinois' Moderate Republican Charles Percy had to use some $450,000 of his own money to fend off the challenge of Democrat Alex Seith, a lawyer who spent $750,000 of his and his wife's funds on his campaign. Running behind in the polls, the frightened Percy made a novel last-minute plea with TV ads saying that he had gotten the message all right. But he added: "If you don't vote for me, I won't be around to act on it." Enough voters rallied behind Percy to give him a 245,000-vote edge, but the margin did little to enhance his standing among colleagues in the Senate or his presidential ambitions.

Another shaky Republican winner was Ohio's James Rhodes, 69, who has served nonconsecutively as Governor for a total of twelve years. Articulate, handsome Democratic Nominee Richard Celeste, 41, Ohio's Lieutenant Governor since 1974, threw Rhodes on the defensive by charging that the Governor had allowed the state's public schools to slip into near bankruptcy. Rhodes campaigned so hard that he had to rest during the closing days. In the end he won by only 49,109 votes out of 2,839,000 cast. He called this "a landslide," and in a sense it was. Four years ago Rhodes had mistakenly conceded defeat on election night, and then, next morning, discovered that he had won by 11,414 votes. —