Nation: Thank God Almighty...

Carter puts a pro in charge

Jimmy can't make it without you," said one Carter intimate. "I have no alternative," said the President. And so, almost inevitably, Robert S. Strauss last week gave up his frustrating assignment as Special Ambassador to the Middle East and took up an equally complicated job that he will like much better: running Carter's re-election campaign. Sighed a Democratic National Committee staffer: "Thank God Almighty, Strauss at last."

Carter first discussed the campaign chairmanship with Strauss earlier this year, but the garrulous Texan hankered after a more statesmanlike job. He won the Middle East assignment last April, but when he discovered that his down-home diplomatic style did not produce quick results, he grew restless. Spurred on by White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan and Confidant Charles Kirbo, Carter again asked Strauss to take charge of his re-election effort. This tune the former Democratic Party chairman agreed, but demanded the freedom to run the campaign as he saw fit. Carter's reply, says Strauss, was "to sign over a power of attorney. He told me to go into business and just get him re-elected."

Strauss, 61, becomes the third proprietor of that trouble-ridden business in less than a year: Evan Dobelle, 34, former U.S. Chief of Protocol, headed the re-election committee for six months after it was formed last March, then was judged too lightweight; Tim Kraft, 38, Carter's assistant for political affairs, took over in September, then was judged too abrasive. Both will remain with the committee, Dobelle as a fund raiser and Kraft as director of field operations.

At the grubby Carter headquarters on 14th and K streets, Strauss inherits a campaign seriously short of cash: almost all of the $2 million raised so far has been spent. Indeed the committee has been in some danger of missing its next payroll. Strauss named Lee Kling, 40, a veteran Democratic operator, as campaign treasurer, and together the two hope to raise $3 million by the end of the year.

Strauss's strategy for the moment is to avoid arm twisting and simply to cajole waverers into delaying any endorsements for now. He is convinced that time will eventually level Ted Kennedy. Says he: "If Jimmy Carter has to run on his record, Kennedy has to run on his."