ustxtxb_obs_1976_04_23_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

during this strange, disaffected political year. Grover, who came close to beating Dolph Briscoe for the governorship in 1972, stuck close to Reagan during the Texas tour. “Primaries,” Grover warned the GOP hierarchy, “are the way the people have of overcoming professional politicians.” There are new alliances in the making. With George Wallace’s campaign on the rocks, some of the more pragmatic Wallace folks are joining the Reagan forces. The chairman of Wallace’s primary delegate selection committee in Fort Worth’s District 12 abandoned ship and held a press conference, to say that he was signing on with Reagan. Rolly Millirons explained that, much as he loves Wallace, Wallace was ignored at the Democratic convention in ’72 and he will have even less influence among Democrats in ’76. People who want a conservative President, Millirons said, should seriously consider uniting behind Ronald Reagan, who has a good chance of winning the Republican nomination. About a dozen other Fort Worth Wallace supporters also announced their intention to vote for Reagan. Hall Timanus, head of the Wallace or Austin The Democratic presidential primary at this point is a gibbering mass of confusion. Lloyd Bentsen, George Wallace, and Jimmy Carter are on ballots in every senatorial district in the state. With Bentsen out of the running, he is losing some folks to Carter, most notably Land Commissioner Bob Armstrong, who switched from Bentsen to become Carter’s campaign manager. Bentsen’s troops held a pep rally in Austin April 10. All the state’s Demo biggies were there with the exception of ArmstrongGovernor Briscoe, \(whom Carrin Patman said gave one of his all-time best speeches on behalf of torney General Hill, Speaker Clayton, Agriculture Commissioner White. “I’m here,” said White. “And Bob Armstrong oughta be.” Fred Harris, who also has ceased campaigning for President, is in much worse shape than Bentsen, who was able to down-shift gracefully into the role of favorite son. Harris has delegates in only 14 of the 31 senatorial districts. Sargent Shriver, an earlier presidential casualty, pulled his delegates out of Districts 11 and 12 in favor of the uncommitted slates and he still has delegates on the ballots in Districts 19, 20, .26, and 29. Billie Carr’s progressive uncommitted slates are active in 18 districts. Representatives of the various liberal slates made un-official non-aggression pacts earlier in the campaign. It was hoped that some of the weaker slates might pull ganization, told the Observer, “From the outset, I said that the greatest threat to Wallace came from the Reagan campaign. Both essentially draw from the same element.” Wallace was due in Texas to campaign shortly after presstime. Timanus said he wouldn’t be able to gauge Wallace’s slippage to Reagan until after the campaign visit. While Reagan and Ford both seemed to think that Reagan was ahead in Texas, a Belden poll released in late March showed Reagan leading Ford only among those people who consider themselves real Republicans \(49 percent for Reagan, 44 percent for Ford, 7 percent for neither or unFord by 43 percent, \(Reagan 38 and neither Texas Democrats prefer Ford \(Reagan 34 Ford is trying to depict Reagan as an irresponsible extremist, who would lose as Goldwater did in ’64. He told a fat cat audience of Republicans at the San Antonio Convention Center that he supported Goldwater in ’64, “but one Alamo in a political career is enough. Let’s have a San Jacinto.” K.N. out in favor of the stronger slates right before the ballot-printing deadline April 10. Since delegates win by a plurality rather than a majority, competing liberal slates could seriously hurt one another’s chances. There are 12 districts in which Harris and uncommitted delegates are both on the ballot. On April 5, Anne McAfee, a leader of the Harris troops, called C. J. Carl, an Austin attorney and leader of the uncommitteds, and proposed that the uncommitteds withdraw six slates and the Harris people withdraw six slates. Carl didn’t like the division of districts suggested by McAfee \( “They were patently unfair,” he told the but he took the proposal to Billie Can in Houston. Can countered with a suggestion that Harris pull out of all 12 contested districts, leaving Harris on only two ballots in the state. Then, Can said, she would try to convince some of the uncommitted delegates to go with Harris at the convention. Can has been anxious to get Harris off the ballot in Texas. “He cost Udall the election in Wisconsin,” she said. Anne McAfee was not pleased. She and Billie Can do not get on. Can is notoriously soft on Carter. “He got rid of George Wallace and we owe him a debt of something for that, although not necessarily the Presidency,” she says. “I think he’ll at least be on the ticket and liberals shouldn’t alienate him. We should have some input.” This is rank heresy to McAfee. “Carr just doesn’t like the Harris people and I think she’s decided to go with a winner and she sees Jimmy Carter as a winner,” she said. “When we got that kind of a snub from Billie, well, our delegates decided to hell with her I don’t think Billie cares whether we knock each other out at this point.” The upshot is that Harris will run all 14 slates. Carl called this impasse a “mutual lack of agreement, not bad faith.” Meanwhile, the Carter campaign and the uncommitteds couldn’t be chummier. In districts where uncommitteds have no delegates, Can recommends that progressives vote for Carter delegates. In a few districts \(for example, District 5, Huntsville and gates. “They came to me and said if I didn’t suggest some good people, they would have to go with all conservatives and Baptists,” she said. Over in the Bentsen campaign, Carrin Patman is hoping that some of the Harris people will switch to Bentsen. She pointed out that many of Bentsen’s slates are surprisingly progressive. “There’s some truth to that,” Carl conceded. Bentsen bent over backwards to get blacks, chicanos, liberals, women, and labor leaders on his slate. His delegate nominees include State Sens. Oscar Mauzy and Babe Schwartz and State Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Anthony Hall, to name a few. “Both Carter’s and Bentsen’s slates are more liberal than you think,” Carl said. A lot will depend on which slates do the most campaigning between now and the primary. One of the problems with analyzing the situation is that there are really 31 separate elections in the Democratic primary, one for each senatorial district, and 24 different Republican elections, one for each congressional district. The folks who spend the most money, make the most waves will differ from district to district. The Bentsen slates will be making a media appeal, “Give Texans a Strong Voice at the 1976 National Democratic Convention.” John Pouland in Carter’s headquarters estimated that statewide they would spend between $100,000 and $200,000. Carter won’t spend much on media. He’s getting all the free publicity he needs. He probably will make two trips to the state before the primary. The first is scheduled on April 20. K.N. April 23, 1976 9 Low tide for Dems