A Parallel for Percy?

If tall, well-spoken, moderate Republican John Lindsay, 43, could land the mayoralty in New York, why couldn't short, well-spoken, moderate Republican Charles H. Percy, 46, win a U.S.

Senate seat in Illinois? The parallel appeals strongly to many Midwestern Republican leaders. Last week they were striving mightily to impress it on Chuck Percy, the Bell & Howell board chair man who narrowly lost his bid for the governorship in last year's G.O.P. debacle. Next year, they urged, Percy should enter the lists against three-term Democratic Senator Paul Douglas, 73, a popular paragon of liberalism and a comfortably protected member in good standing of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's well-greased machine.

Percy, as pragmatic as he is ambitious, had aimed to run for Governor again in 1968, and he protested his reluctance to take on Douglas. "You can't fault Paul Douglas as being lackluster or a hack," he said. "He is a solidly entrenched, hard-working Senator. He has managed very successfully to disassociate himself, in the public mind, from the Daley machine, while receiving all the benefit of its work. He works for every welfare measure that comes up and yet has the image of favoring econ omy in Government because he harasses the Pentagon on the cost of screwdrivers. It's quite a combination."

If Douglas were 15 years younger, he would indeed be all but unbeatable. But with age, he has lost some of his zing. Half in jest, Percy remarked: "One thing that bothers me about this is that it's my friends who keep telling me I shouldn't run, and my enemies who tell me I should."

Soon Chuck might decide that his enemies are his real friends.

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