Reagan's Revolution (46 page)

For Ford, this meant that to take Reagan on directly would be tactically foolish. So he stuck to the plan and defended his foreign policy, while mixing in a generous portion of pro-American and anti-Soviet rhetoric.
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In California, Ford campaigned in Orange County, the home base for the state’s conservatives. He attracted a large and pleasant crowd, except for one protester who held aloft a sign that read, “I Want President Nixon Back.”
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The direct attacks on Reagan were again left to his spokesmen and surrogates including Carla Hills, a Californian who was Ford’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and had been a longtime liberal critic of Reagan. Peter Kaye, Ford’s acerbic campaign spokesman and also a Californian, told the
New York
Times
, “This is one state where Reagan can’t fake it.”
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Reagan, in his swing through Oregon before returning to California for two days to recharge, spoke optimistically about a first ballot nomination. According to newspaper accounts, Ford had pulled slightly ahead of Reagan in the delegate count, when some uncommitted votes were factored in. Reagan was not dissuaded, except when he charged the White House with heavy-handed pressure on New York’s and Pennsylvania’s uncommitted delegations, saying their approach “smacks of bossism.” He also flashed anger at the Kansas GOP for attempting to bar his supporters who were not delegates from attending the state convention in Topeka to hear him deliver the keynote address.
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At one rally at Oregon State University before 2,500 supporters, several protesters heckled him and held up signs that read, “Reagan is Rancid,” “Stop Rotten Ronnie,” and “Curb Ronnie’s Ray Gun.” Reagan dispatched them with his typical, self-deprecating humor when he said, “Perhaps some time before the morning’s over I can convince somebody that I don’t eat my young.”
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Over the weekend, Reagan continued to speak positively about the “probability” he would nab the nomination on the first ballot—for good reason.
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After all, the Gallup organization released the results of a national survey that showed Americans decidedly right of center 47 percent, with 29 percent leaning left and 12 percent claiming the middle. Even better, within the GOP, an overwhelming 61 percent called themselves “right,” while only 21 percent of Republicans called themselves “left.”
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A few days later, a national Gallup poll showed the race between the two contenders tightening considerably. Ford only led Reagan 53-40 percent, the closest the contest had been since just before the New Hampshire primary.
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Virginia was about to wrap up its drawn-out selection process, with fifty-one delegates to be decided upon. Kenny Klinge, one of the toughest and nicest GOP operatives around at the time, led Reagan’s forces there.
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Against Sears’s best efforts, New York’s GOP made it official on May 24, when 119 of their 154 delegates pledged their votes to Ford. Ford then zoomed ahead of Reagan by more than 100 delegates. In fact, Rosenbaum and Rockefeller had hoped for more from New York and were a bit disappointed that a handful had decided to stick to the original agreement and stay uncommitted. According to the
New York Times
, an argument broke out between Clark and Rosenbaum over the strong-arm tactics being used on behalf of Ford. Clark charged him with a “fast shuffle,” to which Rosenbaum responded, “I make the rules here!”
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Pennsylvania’s delegates had also broken with their previous decision to stay uncommitted and went for Ford, putting yet another eighty-eight delegates in the President’s hip pocket. The
Washington Post
estimated that Ford now had approximately 675 delegates to around 550 for Reagan. It was the first time the President had the delegate lead in over three weeks.
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Over that weekend, Ford also won the low-key contest in Alaska and took most of the delegates at the Kansas convention, which had concluded an extended selection process.

Ford’s team had caught a lot of wind in its sails over the previous week. But they were still nervous. With the decisions in New York and Pennsylvania, they wondered if momentum would hold. After all, in three of the six primaries on May 25, Democrats were allowed to cross over and vote for a Republican candidate, a tactic that had frustrated Ford throughout the campaign. He had written off two of the crossover states, Arkansas and Idaho. But Cheney tacked, and said that a victory in Tennessee, once considered unlikely, was now “do-able.” Ford also had a chance to win Kentucky.
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May 25 turned out to be more that just “do-able” for Ford. The day exceeded anything he and his team had entertained. Ford won in Oregon as he had hoped. But most importantly and surprisingly, Ford defeated Reagan in Kentucky and Tennessee, both of which had long been considered “Reagan Country.” Reagan won Arkansas, Nevada, and Idaho, as expected. Although the six combined contests produced a relatively small amount of delegates and, in fact, Reagan won one more delegate in Tennessee than Ford, twenty-two to twenty-one, Ford scored a huge psychological victory by winning these two state primaries and thus won the day.
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In Tennessee, Ford’s margin was about 2,000 votes out of approximately 240,000 cast. Pundits and Reagan officials pointed to the eleventh hour controversy over Reagan’s comments on the TVA as the reason for his narrow loss. In Kentucky, Ford defeated Reagan by a little over 5,000 votes in a contest that saw approximately 130,000 voters turn out.
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Ford was also helped by his Administration’s announcement that it would seek a new way to review the Supreme Court’s ruling on forced busing. The issue had been contentious in both states, with conservatives strongly opposing the meddling by federal courts.
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The result in Kentucky was especially bizarre because the state GOP had already selected its delegates at a state convention in April. Reagan’s forces overwhelmed this convention, and he prevailed with twenty-seven delegates to only eight for Ford, with two uncommitted.
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However, the results of the primary would trump the decision of the state convention. So by winning the Kentucky primary, delegates initially chosen for Reagan would in fact have to vote for Ford on the first ballot in Kansas City, according to state party rules. By winning the primary, Ford prevailed on the final go-around, seizing nineteen out of thirty-seven delegates, even though the vast majority of Kentucky’s delegation was rabidly pro-Reagan.
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Reagan enjoyed the support of former Governor Louie Nunn and was also helped in Kentucky by the American Conservative Union, which ran radio ads that highlighted his opposition to forced busing.
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Ironically, Governor Nunn’s brother Lee, whom the Ford campaign had fired in the fall of 1975, had just been elected State Chairman of the GOP. Although virtually every state party was supporting Ford, it was unknown whether Lee Nunn was holding a grudge against Ford and would undermine his campaign there.

Winning in two Southern states was a major breakthrough for Ford. Reagan’s camp had been claiming that the South and West were their province since his victory in North Carolina, and that Ford was the regional candidate. No more. For the day, Reagan won seventeen of twenty-seven delegates in Arkansas, thirteen of eighteen in Nevada and seventeen of twenty-one in Idaho. In Oregon, Kentucky, and Tennessee, he won a total of fifty-four delegates to Ford’s fifty-six for a total of one hundred and one to seventy-five.
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Although Reagan had added handsomely to his delegate total, it was Ford who won the day in the minds of the national media.

The events of May 25 proved once again Sears’s maxim: “Politics is motion.” Reagan’s message had lost some of its steam, and the controversy over his comments on TVA threw his campaign into reverse gear in Tennessee and, to some extent, in Kentucky. Ford was in motion as he aggressively defended his two years in office, pointed to the recovering economy, and seized on any mistakes by Reagan. In fact, Ford was beginning to sound more and more like Reagan on the stump. While he could never compete with the Gipper in terms of style and presentation, his rhetoric became more about limited government, freedom and the free enterprise system, capital punishment, and other issues important to conservatives. Nonetheless, Reagan could always craft a line better than anyone, especially Ford, as he would tell audiences on the stump, “If we get the federal government out of the classroom, maybe we’ll get God back in.”
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Reagan’s counterpart on the Democratic side, Jimmy Carter, was also faltering, as Jerry Brown was winning a couple of primaries, Frank Church had scored a win over Carter in the Oregon primary, and Mo Udall was still hanging around. Still, because all the Democratic primaries were proportional, Carter was moving out in front inexorably, towards a first ballot nomination at their convention in New York.
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Reagan and Ford now focused on the biggest primary day of the year, June 8. California’s 167 delegates, winner-take-all, would be the grand prize of the day. Ohio and New Jersey would also hold their primaries.

Reagan’s forces were surprisingly cocky. As one staffer told the
Washington Post’s
David Broder, “Reagan’s going to win that last and biggest battle in California. When was the last time they didn’t give the decision to the guy who hammered his opponent in the last round?”
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Actually, in the popular new movie just released in 1976,
Rocky
, the hero did batter his opponent and defending champion Apollo Creed in the final round. But the decision still went to the champion.

According to the
Washington Post
, Ford had moved ahead of Reagan in the delegate count, 796 to 616. But many were left to be decided, and Ford was still well off the 1,130 needed for the nomination.
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Most observers felt Reagan was in excellent shape on his home turf in California, despite an attempt by some of Ford’s California supporters to change the rules from “winner-take-all” to a proportional vote but the move was crushed by Reagan’s forces.
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Ford’s supporters at the Ripon Society had earlier attempted to have the U.S. Supreme Court intervene, but the Court threw the lawsuit out.
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Ford’s chances in California were bleak, as documented in polling done by Pat Caddell for Evans and Novak. An astronomical 87 percent of Republicans in California approved of Reagan’s stewardship as Governor, while only 48 percent approved of Ford’s Presidency. In one particular column, the two reporters detailed how ill the voters thought of Ford. They seemed to go out of their way to find reasons to dislike him. One said, “The Fords are too liberal with their children,” while still others complained about First Lady Betty Ford and son Jack Ford. Even the President’s support seemed lukewarm. One Ford backer could only sum up this praise for Ford: “A man of average intelligence, down to earth just like the rest of us.”
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The Young Americans for Freedom enlisted Efrem Zimbalist Jr. to appear in radio ads supporting Reagan on his home turf while lambasting Ford. The organization had sent out hundreds of thousands of letters to conservatives, signed by Ron Robinson, who was heading the California effort for the YAF.
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California was an odd assortment of hard-core conservatives and ultra-leftists, of traditionalists and malcontents, communes and suburbs. The state had great weather, scenery, beaches, and mountains. But it also had smog and some of the worst traffic in the country. It had Patty Hearst and Charles Manson, Disneyland and oil spills, Haight-Ashbury and San Diego. California was impossible to categorize or generalize. As Reagan had pointed out many times, it truly was a country unto itself in many ways.

Ford stumped in California and Ohio on May 26 and proclaimed himself the only Republican who was a “national candidate” and who could beat the Democratic nominee in the fall election. He told reporters, “I am not a regional candidate, I am a national candidate and I know I can win. I have some reservations about any other Republican candidate being able to win in November.” Ford also dismissed Reagan as a “Sun Belt” candidate.
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Ford had directed Attorney General Edward Levi to ask the Supreme Court to clarify its decisions on school busing. At a news conference in Ohio, the President brushed off questions from reporters who were pressing him and implying that this request was politically motivated.
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New Jersey would decide on sixty-seven delegates. Sears had decided to not only bypass New Jersey, but also to avoid antagonizing the state party leadership there by aiding the in-state Reagan operation. Consequently, the bulk of New Jersey’s delegates were already being counted for Ford.
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Ohio would have ninety-seven delegates at stake. This state would be difficult for Reagan since its Governor, Jim Rhodes, who always seemed to be under an ethical cloud, controlled the GOP machinery from top to bottom. Reagan’s campaign was late starting and Black’s efforts for Reagan were again woefully under-funded.

Ford’s strategy was to make a play for California and keep Reagan pinned down there, minimizing the time the challenger could spend campaigning in Ohio. Reagan, in fact, was forced to campaign heavily and spend resources in his own state that might have been better aimed at picking up some additional delegates in the Buckeye State.

Speaking to a convention of California peace officers, Reagan reiterated his strong views on law enforcement and justice, telling the police group, “We do have a problem with lenient judges, but far worse is the problem that laws, precedents, procedures and rules of prosecution are stacked in behalf of the criminal defendant—and hence against the society he threatens.” He received a tumultuous ovation from the convention. Ford had earlier addressed the group, but did not receive nearly the warm reception that Reagan did.
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