Republicans: Playing with Numbers

Glowing with confidence after President Reagan's landslide re-election, the Republican Party last spring launched an ambitious drive to persuade Democratic voters to switch their party affiliation. Dubbing their plan Operation Open Door, Republican National Committee leaders hoped to win 100,000 converts in 100 days in four target states: Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Last week R.N.C. Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf declared the operation "a remarkable success" that indicated a growing political realignment in the U.S. More remarkable was the way the R.N.C. compiled its totals. In Florida, the Republicans claimed to have won 28,064 defectors, a respectable number, if considerably short of the 45,000 goal for that state. Yet only 9,203 new registration cards had been processed. The party also counted some 2,500 unprocessed cards and added 15,986 "changes in progress"--voters who had promised to register as Republicans. The R.N.C. used similar arithmetic in the three other target states, and threw in reregistrations in California to hit the 100,000 mark. In all, the drive cost $750,000 and netted only 54,179 actual registrations in the four states. "Operation Open Door?" scoffed Democratic National Committee Spokesman Terry Michael. "They should rename it Operation Open Mouth, because somebody sure put his foot in it."