Kennedy quiet about how he will help Carter win election

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 6

Kennedy quiet about how he will help Carter win election

NZPA-Reuter New York

’Edward Kennedy, eloquent and relaxed despite his crushed presidential hopes, dominated the Democratic Party’s convention yesterday with a rousing call for party unity and a victory for his full employment crusade. Delegates cheered for 45 minutes when Senator Kennedy wound up his ninemonth campaign with a speech which included an ir passi .ied appeal to the p rty to reunite to beat the R oublican presidential nominee, Mr Ronald Reagan, in November.

But the spotlight will switch to President Carter today when the convention will hold a roll-call vote virtually certain to renominate him as the party’s candidate for another , four-year term in the White House. Carter and Kennedy aides meanwhile worked behind-the-scenes to try to bring Mr Kennedy and President Carter together for a show of unity that would help cut into the big lead Mr Reagan now has in public opinion polls. . . .

President Carter : was due in New York 'this morning, and there was speculation that he and Mr Kennedy might meet before the end of the day,. Senator Kennedy’s ..main ca’l yesterday was for .a $l2 tr’lion job stimulation sc leme to try fo end the recession. . . . ‘

Carter '. officials/ scared that it could reignite inflation, opposed the. idea but

in the end gave in and agreed to release their delegates to vote according to their conscience.

In the end, the support for the Kennedy proposals was so overwhelming that the Carter forces insisted that his motion be carried on a voice vote rather than go to a roll-call, which might have resulted in embarrassing figures.

The only part of the Kennedy proposals which did not carry was his call for wage and price controls. Senator Kennedy’s wife, Joan, two of their children and his sister-in-law Ethel, widow of his brother Robert, joined in the unremitting applause and chants of “we want Ted, we want Ted.” Although the speech meant the end of his presidential hopes for the time being. Senator Kennedy was in a buoyant mood, waving [and smiling broadly to the huge crowd.

He got warm applause when he told the crowd: “1 congratulate President Carter on his victory here. I am confident that the Democratic Party will reunite on the basis of Democratic principles — and that together we will march toward a Democratic Victory in. 1930..”

In an emotional wind)u.p to the speech, he -sai.d:7“For me,', a few hours; ago, this campaign came to an vend. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes ■ on, the cause endures,, the - hope’ still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

While speaking in general terms about the need for party unity to win against the Republicans, Senator Kennedy did not spell out specifically how much help he would give to President Carter.

His speech breathed life into the convention and restored the sense of drama which evaporated when Senator Kennedy withdrew from the race on Monday night after losing a key rules debate.

The defeat was on a motion by Kennedy supporters to scrap a rule binding delegates on the first nominating ballot to the candidate they were pledged to support in the state primary elections. Meanwhile President Carter’s mother, Miss Lillian, said yesterday she would not be upset if her son lost the election and returned! home to his small town in Georgia because he would be able to help her clean up her garden. “Jimmy’s good at that (cleaning the garden),” Mrs Carter said in a television interview. “I would like him to, because it’s hard to get anyone,anv more.”

She said her son would also be able to clean up the gutters’ in her roof. Asked if she thought Mr Carter would be happy. ,to return to a quiet town like Plains after the hectic' years in the presidency, she said: “I don’t know if he would enjoy it or not; I think he would have ;to get accustomed to it;”