California: Tide Coming In

“I’ll tell you what will happen if the Republican candidate is elected,” Bobby Kennedy told the kids as he stumped California with Democratic Governor Pat Brown. “School on Saturday. More homework.” His pitch to adults was just as tongue-in-cheeky: “Are you so devoid of compassion that you want to take Ronald Reagan out of the movies? He’s beloved in the movies; send Ronald Reagan back to the theater.”

Though President Johnson also was expected to campaign for Brown, such big splashes seemed unlikely to turn the tide ‘and send G.O.P. Gubernatorial Candidate Ronald Reagan back to show business. Running for a third term in Sacramento, Brown trailed Reagan by as much as 6% in recent polls.

Brown, in consequence, has recast his campaign tactics, no longer harps on the charge that Reagan is a right-wing extremist. Instead, the Governor is emphasizing Reagan’s lack of administrative experience. Reagan, in turn, is convinced that Californians are simply bored with Brown’s bland, avuncular personality and is now campaigning cautiously on the assumption, as one of his top advisers puts it, that “we’re ahead —let’s not blow it.”