Election '82: Losing a Fragile Coalition

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Other notable G.O.P. losers were Johnnie Crean and John H. Rousselot. Crean, 33, beat 17 party rivals in a primary campaign so unscrupulous that he was censured for it by the ethics panel of his own Orange County Republican Committee. One of his victims, Ron Packard, 51, was so incensed that he ran as a write-in candidate. He drew such a heavy sympathy vote that he beat both Crean and Democrat Pat Archer, thereby becoming only the fourth person ever elected to Congress by write-in votes. Rousselot, a Congressman for 14 years and member of the John Birch Society for 21 years until 1979, was artfully gerrymandered into a heavily chicano district near Los Angeles already represented by Democrat Mathew Martinez. Rousselot ran a vitriolic campaign but was overwhelmed.

Early in the campaign, Golden State Democrats feared that Burton, of all people, was headed for defeat. In the interest of helping fellow Democrats, the boss gerrymandered his own district to include a higher Republican registration. Also, he had become a virtual stranger in San Francisco; he admitted spending only nine nights in the city last year. Republican State Senator Milton Marks effectively attacked Burton's "arrogance of power" and briefly led in the polls. Burton struck back with an old-fashioned campaign, stumping in person at gatherings ranging from ethnic rallies to the Gay Olympics, and in the end swamped Marks by winning 58% of the vote.

MIDWEST. Unemployment in aging "smokestack" industries and drastically reduced farm income have made the nation's heartland something of a depressed area. As expected, Democrats picked up eight additional seats in the 15-state region, but Republicans won some of the most publicized races. House Minority Leader Robert Michel squeaked through to re-election with 52% of the vote in an Illinois district centered on Peoria. Some 13,000 of Caterpillar Tractor's workers in the area have been laid off because of the recession and Reagan's sanctions agains the Soviet-West European gas pipeline for which Caterpillar would have supplied equipment; another 23,000 workers are on strike. Discontent among grain farmer gave a further opportunity to Michel' opponent, G. Douglas Stephens, a labor lawyer. But in the end Michel's statu was too much for Stephens to surmount.

In Iowa, Cooper Evans, a wealthy farmer and Republican incumbent, won 55% of the vote against feisty Democratic Challenger Lynn Cutler in a race that had been rated a tossup. Both drew help from their national parties; Vice President George Bush flew in to campaign for Evans, and former Vice President Walter Mondale stumped for Cutler. But Cutler undermined her campaign by foolishly remarking that anyone who paid as much federal and state income tax as Evans did ($116,000) was too dumb to be in Congress. Evans sounded what became a popular Republican line, supporting "the President's general goals" but emphasizing disagreement on specifics.