Campaign to start in earnest

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 7

Campaign to start in earnest

Washington

The United States Presidential campaign will formally open tomorrow with President Carter’s fortunes suddenly on the rise and the Republican Ronald Reagan,apparently hurt by controversial statements, trying to regain momentum.

Mr Reagan and Mr Carter are virtually level in opinion polls. The poll rating of the Independent candidate John Anderson has slipped, but his presence makes the November 4 election unpredictable in a year already marked by widespread voter uncertainty and quick poll l changes. Although the President and Mr Reagan have campaigned for the best part of a year, tradition has it that the final runoff for the presidential election starts on America’s Labour-Day holiday. The President will attend a jamboree-style picnic in Alabama, underlining a determination to hold- his Deep South voting base against a real challenge from Mr Reagan. Mr Reagan will address a rally in a park overlooking the Statute of Liberty in New York Harbour, then visit Detroit to woo some of the traditionally Democratic bluecollar labour vote he must

win to capture the White House. Mr Anderson/ the 1 Republican congressman from Illinois, who has slumped in recent polls, started a flying trip through the industrial mid-west over the weekend.

Meanwhile there is a tactical clash of crucial importance — whether Mr Anderson would participate in the first of the televised presidential cam* paign debates. Mr Anderson and Mr Reagan are united in this against Mr Carter, who wants the first, most-wide-ly viewed debate to be a clash with Mr Reagan alone.

Both Carter and Reagan advisers acknowledged that any gain in Mr Anderson’s voting strength was likely to come out of the President’s usual constituency, and that the debates could give the Independent challanger (Anderson) a badly needed boost. The bitter squabbling over the issue underlines the battle for a huge undecided vote. . Mr Carter has been the latest beneficiary of unpredictable *■ opinion poll swings. In its first post-Demo-cratic convention poll, the Gallup organisation gave Mr Reagan 39 per cent to Mr Carter’s 38 per cent

and Mr Anderson 14 per cent. In its previous poll, Mr Carter had 31 per cent and Mr Reagan 45 per .< cent,'-"’ : But the political talk of the United States for the last two weeks has been / Mr Reagan’s perceived penchant for talking his way into controversy. The most celebrated was . the row over his comment that he would restore “official” relations with' - Taiwan, and in effect restore what Peking considers an unacceptable “two . Chißas” policy. He 'eventually backed

away. But he gave critics a chance to ridicule his grasp of foreign affairs,' infuriated the Chinese, and reduced the heralded visit to Peking by his vice-pres-idential candidate, George Bush, to a During the week-end Mr Anderson, issued a 330page policy statement he said was untraditional but consistent He took a conservative stance on economic issues which could decide, the election. Mr Anderson, who also spelled out his views how United States defence, foreign, health and education policies should be run, sought in an accompanying statement to distinguish his proposals from the Democratic and Republican platforms .adopted at the national conventions of the two fiarties. Candidates traditionally ignored much of their, parties’ platforms, noting, for example, that President Carter disagreed with parts of the ' Democratic platform, he said. _ ‘There is no ambiguity about our commitment to jour platform. It’s ours, we mean, every word of it and we’U stand by it. during and after the national campaign.” The platform is a blend of Mr Anderson’s previous

proposals, often described as conservative on econemte issues and liberal on ; social matters, and contains. a dash of;'some of . the off-beat ideas which attracted attention when he first entered the pres& dentialrace. ' Fbr example, he notes that the AttornejMSeneraJ, the* top. United States law enforcement officer,, often got into difficulty because of political loyalties to th© President who appointed him. .' / .. :■ Therefore he pledged to appoint someone with the approval of the United States Judicial Conference* which represents the nation’s federal judges. In the economic sphere* Mr Anderson and his vicepresidential running mate* Patrick Lucey, have said they favour balancing the budget but recognise that it may not always be possible te do so.. Mr Anderson makes the cornerstone of his econ:amic policy an elaborate wage and price incentive programme. While opposing wage and price controls, he said: “Our administration will invite labour and management leaders toagree upon fair and realistic guidelines and to determine . appropriate tax-* based incentives to encourage compliance.”