Tackling the Teflon President

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Other candidates for the Democratic nomination have done Reagan's spadework, painting Mondale as the avatar of Big Government and a vestige of the failed Carter Administration. Gary Hart, particularly, has attacked Mondale as the tool of special interests, most of all Big Labor. When Mondale tries to expose the Reaganauts' sleaze factor, the Republicans are sure to cite the questions Hart raised about Mondale's propriety. Hart's main charge: Mondale used "tainted money" raised by labor political action committees to avoid federal campaign-spending limits. Even supporters admit that Mondale tends to overpromise. For instance, he pledged to the AFL-CIO that he would match the export subsidies of other countries "product for product, dollar for dollar" (cost: up to $50 billion). Says one Hart adviser: "Reagan will get a lot of mileage from moderate Democrats by saying to them, 'Free your party from Big Labor.' These White House people aren't just sitting there, you know. They're gathering ammunition about just how tied to Big Labor Walter Mondale actually is, and it will be devastating." The G.O.P. will also try to tag former Vice President Mondale with the failures of Carter's foreign policy, particularly the debacle of the hostages in Iran.

Far from coming on as the feisty challenger, Mondale could quickly wind up on the defensive. "Mondale is the reincarnation of Hubert Humphrey, even down to that shrill desperation in his voice," says Gerald Austin, a Midwestern Democratic political analyst. Warns Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey, a Hart backer: "Mondale has got to take the first step away from organized labor, perhaps by saying that wage increases have to be tied to productivity. You can't have a 100% voting record with COPE [the AFL-ClO's political arm] and get elected."

Perhaps, but Mondale is not about to disavow his political heritage and turn into a "neoliberal" like Hart. Instead, Mondale's advisers say, the nominee-to-be will become even more of a liberal ideologue. Mondale will try to portray himself as the champion of the working man, the downtrodden and the dispossessed, in sharp counterpoint to Reagan. In effect, Mondale will try to turn the campaign into a class contest.

One problem with this strategy is that Populist Fritz looks more like Establishment Fritz. He says that he "hurts" when workers lose jobs and the poor go hungry, but voters question his empathy when they read that he earned some $300,000 last year by doing almost nothing for a Washington law firm and by sitting on various corporate boards. Also, there may not be enough poor, minorities and union members to elect Mondale. If the old Democratic coalition turned out in force, it could perhaps again forge a majority. But voter turnout is traditionally low at the bottom end of the economic ladder. Mondale has thus far been unable to arouse the passion necessary to drive voters to the polls.