CANDIDATES ’76: Where’s Franklin Fitzgerald Jones?

CANDIDATES ’76

The 1976 presidential campaign has started earlier than ever before because candidates now need more time to round up money. The controversial new campaign finance law, which was upheld by the U.S. court of appeals last week, requires a candidate to raise a minimum of $5,000 in at least 20 states to qualify for matching federal money. So far, seven candidates have formally entered the Democratic race, and more are sure to follow. To report on where they stand, TIME here begins a series on the contenders.

Anyone who can be compared to both Abraham Lincoln and Will Rogers may be considered a serious candidate for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. Congressman Morris (“Mo”) Udall, 53, a lanky, breezy Westerner, is not reluctant to press the comparisons. As a relatively obscure Representative from Arizona, he knows that his chief asset is going to be the impression he makes. With considerable candor, a skill at raillery and a gift for not taking himself too seriously, he makes friends fast—if not ardent converts to his presidential quest.

Udall’s main target is the moderate-to-left end of the party spectrum. He offers progressive-sounding programs without going into too much entangling detail like George McGovern’s ill-fated plan to give every American $1,000. Udall intends to avoid the McGovern mistake of alienating centrists and conservatives. He disarms those who disagree with him by resorting to an easy Western humor, so much so that sympathizers cautioned him to appear a bit more serious in public if he wants to convey a presidential image.

In seven terms, Udall has become one of the most respected members of Congress. The Congressman has taken a clearly defined position on a variety of issues and has had a hand in writing key legislation. Highlights:

ENERGY. Opposed to the President’s program of removing controls from the price of oil and gas, Udall prefers to cut consumption by putting higher taxes on energy use. He advocates a “crash national effort” to develop new energy sources. He recommends that the Congress take action to break up the big oil companies’ monopolistic control.

THE ENVIRONMENT. He has been the principal author of a host of bills to protect and restore the air, earth and water. Last year his land-use planning bill, 2 which would have authorized federal grants to states that draw up programs for orderly land development, was defeated by only seven votes. He had another setback this year when his bill to regulate strip mining was passed by both houses and then vetoed by the President. On the other hand, he played a key role in blocking future development of the supersonic transport (SST).

THE ECONOMY. Something of a visionary, Udall speaks of “restructuring the economy” in favor of service industries that use less energy and raw materials and employ more people. For example, $5 billion in federal highway funds might be transferred to a national health care program. He urges similar shifts of funds to housing construction, mass transit, education and environmental control. But he is vague about how these programs will continue to be paid for in an economy that grows more slowly, if at all.

POLITICAL ETHICS AND REFORM.

Udall was a chief author of the 1974 campaign-finance law that puts limits on contributions and spending and provides for public financing of presidential elections. For years he has urged stiffer regulations for financial disclosure in the House and a ban against outside law practice by members.

FOREIGN POLICY AND DEFENSE.

Udall split with Lyndon Johnson on Viet Nam as early as 1967, but foreign policy is not his strong point. Favoring detente in principle, Udall argues, along with Scoop Jackson, that the policy must be a “two-way street.” He is hawkish on the side of Israel, which he visited last week. He urged Israel to sign the interim agreement with Egypt “even if signing it is as risky as rejecting it.” He has strongly opposed the proposed sale of antiaircraft missiles to Jordan. In place of what he calls “complex, exotic, often unreliable new hardware,” he would prefer a “lean, tough, defensive force.”

Udall is counting on friends in the House. His candidacy, in fact, is an assertion of institutional pride. Tired of being cast in the shadow of the more publicized and glamorous Senate, 45 liberal Representatives signed a petition backing him. “The House is one of the great unused political resources in the country,” says Udall. “It is the closest thing we’ve got to a network touching every kind of district in America.”

Udall believes that his Southwest upbringing will be a campaign asset. Mo’s grandfather David King was a Mormon pioneer who moved from Utah to Arizona in 1880. Mo’s father Levi became chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court and created a political base for his family that now rivals the power of the Goldwater clan.

Matching Funds. Mo was severely handicapped in a childhood accident that cost him his left eye. But it did not seem to daunt him. He became a top scholar and captain of the basketball team at the University of Arizona. To put himself through the university law school, he played pro basketball for two years (“He has a basketball player’s elbows,” says a Congressman, referring to Mo’s aggressive poli tical tactics). Udall practiced law in Tucson until his older brother Stewart gave up his congressional seat to become President Kennedy’s Secretary of the Interior. Then, in a 1961 special election, Mo replaced Stewart.

Morris remains a Mormon but not an actively practicing one. Unlike his ancestors, he has married his wives consecutively. He was divorced from his first wife, Patricia Emery, in 1965 after the couple had five children. Three years later, he married a member of his Capitol Hill staff, Ella Royston, whom he aptly nicknamed “Tiger.” When he upsets her, Tiger is sure to pounce.

Udall is one of five Democrats who have qualified for federal matching funds by raising $5,000 in at least 20 states (the others: Henry Jackson, Lloyd Bentsen, George Wallace, Jimmy Carter). But he still ranks low in the polls, listed among “others.” In a year’s active pursuit of the nomination, he has not developed the emotional following of a McGovern or a John Kennedy. One reason may be his uncrusading image; to many liberals he does not appear to be forceful enough. Says Udall with a touch of bitterness: “They’re waiting for someone named Franklin Delano John Fitzgerald Jones.” But even if a dream candidate does not emerge, other liberals with larger followings may enter the race: Hubert Humphrey, for example, or Edmund Muskie.

Udall is gambling everything on the primaries. His optimistic scenario envisions his emergence as the candidate of the centerleft, who will encounter the candidate of the center-right, possibly Jackson, in an epic battle in one of the last primaries. If Udall is defeated, he might be open to a bid for the vice presidency. Failing that, he has the option of running for Congress again or making a race for the Senate against Arizona’s Republican incumbent Paul Fannin or, at worst, just running for Congress again.