Politics: The White House Candidate

Less than a year ago, Linda Chavez, 38, was the relatively unknown staff director of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, a bipartisan federal advisory panel. But Chavez, a Hispanic American and onetime union lobbyist, transformed the minor post into a bully pulpit to express her strongly conservative views against racial quotas, busing and comparable worth. Her outspokenness won the attention of influential Republicans, and last spring President Reagan made Chavez the highest-ranking woman in the White House when he appointed her to head the Office of Public Liaison, the principal link between the Administration and interest groups.

Chavez's rise went into overdrive last week when she left her job to campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, a seat that will be left vacant by the retirement of Republican Charles Mathias. Chavez will have her work cut out for her. She moved to Maryland, where Democrats hold a 3-to-1 registration edge, only in 1984, and was a Democrat herself until last April. She will face tough Democratic opposition: the potential candidates include popular Representatives Barbara Mikulski and Mike Barnes.