Democrats: Defensive Politics

ALONG with all their other woes, the Democrats are suffering from a bad case of me-tooism. Accused of being too permissive toward radicals and, virtually, of advocating violence, many liberal Democrats have not until recently bothered to deny such charges. Polls and other soundings have persuaded them that they must indeed respond, thus putting them in the impossible position of having to outdo Agnew & Co. on law-and-order.

In Chicago, Senator Edmund Muskie called for safety in the streets as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, the party heavy since the tumultuous 1968 convention, beamed his approval. In a speech, Senator Edward M. Kennedy termed militant disrupters "campus commandos" who must not only be deterred but repudiated, "especially by those who may share their goals."

During his successful campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination in Minnesota, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey strummed a persistent chord: "There can be no alternative to public safety." Little more than a year ago, Humphrey was speaking of "patriots of dissent, filled with anger and indignation who deserve our thanks, not our rebuke." Party Chairman Lawrence O'Brien, currently on a combined speechmaking, fundraising, strategy-planning tour, rarely fails to stress Democratic devotion to a disciplined, though dissenting society.

If Democrats succeed in neutralizing the permissiveness issue, party leaders are confident that economic problems will emerge as their best talking point, particularly among working-class families. Most of the Democrats are hitting this theme regularly. A Gallup poll showed last week that only 25% of voters polled believe that the Republican Party is best able to maintain prosperity; 40% favor the Democrats on this question.

Should pocketbook assume primacy over social questions, the Democrats figure that they can readily retain control of Congress despite the high risk that stems from having so many of their Senate seats up for challenge. Ordinarily, the out party gains in off-year elections, but the Democrats are painfully short of campaign funds and lack powerful, recognized leadership. The weakness at the top is partially offset by a number of strong candidates in individual races.

Nine-Time Loser. Both Humphrey and Senator Henry Jackson of Washington easily turned aside primary challenges by little-known Negro peace candidates last week, adding to the evidence that the war has been at least temporarily defused as a pervasive issue. Of 35 Democrats seeking Senate seats this year, at least a dozen, including Humphrey, Jackson, Muskie, Kennedy, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Rhode Island's John Pastore, are conceded to be certain winners. In Illinois and California, Democrats Adlai Stevenson III and John Tunney are exploiting their famous names and their foes' drab records; they may well pick up Republican-held seats. In New York and Vermont, Democrats Richard Ottinger and Philip Hoff are given good chances to offset party losses elsewhere by ousting Incumbents Charles Goodell and Winston Prouty.

Republicans, who must make a gain of seven to control the Senate, are concentrating on Democratic-held seats in Tennessee, Florida, New Jersey, Indiana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, North Dakota and New Mexico. In Maryland, where Democrat Joseph D. Tydings once seemed invulnerable, the Republicans also have a chance with J. Glenn Beall Jr. Tydings was renominated last week, but made a poor showing against George Mahoney, a nine-time loser.

Tardy Revere. How the more prominent Democrats fare this fall, both as individual candidates and as campaigners for other nominees, will establish the early form for the 1972 nominating competition. No one doubts that, as a freshman Senator, Humphrey will be an available--but hardly compelling--contender. Muskie is easily the current favorite. Last week he flew to Illinois, back to Washington, and out again to California in quest of money and votes for fellow Democrats and exposure for himself. He still suffers from an aura of passivity. A taunt from Eugene McCarthy last week summed it up: "If Muskie had been Paul Revere, he'd have shouted during the warning ride, 'The British have been here for the past four days.'"

Sargent Shriver has already visited 17 states and will appear in 19 more on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates. Though he has never held an important elective office, he has obviously begun to have ideas about starting at the top. "I don't dwell on the presidency," he insists, "but I don't exactly dismiss it, either."

Senator George McGovern is again fanning his fragile presidential hopes. He has opened an office in Washington and is sounding out sentiment in key states. Senators Birch Bayh, Walter F. Mondale and Harold Hughes occupy the dark-horse stable; former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and New York Mayor John Lindsay, a tenuous Republican, may rent stalls in it. Though a great deal can happen before 1972, they will find Ed Muskie a considerable way around the track.

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