Raucous Round 1 in New York

Saying phooey on the polls, the voters turn to fresh faces

Even in good times, New York City's mayoralty is described as the second toughest job in the country, a killer of political dreams that sentences its alumni to the dark corner of public indifference. Though the city has just begun to recuperate from the worst of times, more Democrats than ever sought their party's nomination this year. Voters last week confounded conventional wisdom and the pollsters by turning out in record numbers, rejecting both Incumbent Mayor Abe Beame and his ostensibly strongest challenger, Bella Abzug. In the process, the Democrats plucked from a cast of seven hopefuls two fresh faces: Congressman Edward Koch and New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo. They must still battle through a runoff next week for the nomination, but it is virtually certain that one of them will emerge from November's general election as New York's 105th mayor.

Last winter Koch's own surveys showed that only 7% of the public had a firm idea of who he was. Cuomo's "hard recognition factor" was a bare 2%. Both overcame obscurity through heavy spending on TV; Cuomo invested $600,000 on commercials, while Koch laid out $500,000--far more than their adversaries.

Abzug and Beame had led all the opinion polls from Christmas right up through late August. But Beame's fatal burden was his poor record as a fiscal manager; although he claimed he had "made the tough decisions" that saved the city from bankruptcy, his chances for political survival were dashed last month when the Securities and Exchange Commission published a staff report damning his performance as deceptive and inept.

Abzug, who had been the front runner in the polls for nine months, was the most passionate and liberal of the candidates. She backed up her promise to fight the city's economic shrinkage with detailed proposals, campaigning with her usual brio in every neighborhood. In a more conventional race, she would probably have finished at or close to the top. But instead of the predicted one-third turnout, a record 48% of the city's 1.9 million eligible Democratic voters went to the polls, and in the process made a hash of the pre-election surveys. Both Congressman Herman Badillo, who was born in Puerto Rico, and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, a black, ran better than expected, carrying districts that would otherwise have been Abzug's.

At the end of the long election night, only three percentage points separated the top four candidates: Koch, 20%; Cuomo, 19%; Beame, 18%; Abzug, 17%. For Koch, 52, and Cuomo, 45, the first-round results meant a tough play-off for their party's nomination. The two come from similar backgrounds, agree on more substantive questions than not, and contrast mostly in their personalities and styles.

Both are the sons of immigrants. Koch's parents were Polish Jews who worked in garment-center sweatshops as youngsters. Cuomo's parents, illiterate in their own language, ran a grocery after emigrating from Italy. Both young men became lawyers before entering politics.

Koch is the more experienced campaigner by far. He fought successful battles with Tammany Hall in the days when Tammany was still a force, won a spot on the city council and then took five consecutive congressional elections in a previously Republican district. In Congress he lives up to his liberal label on nearly all issues and still claims the title, although he hardly campaigned as a liberal. Candidates Koch and Cuomo shared the middle ground on crucial fiscal issues. But Koch, with his crisp delivery and the guidance of his media consultant, David Garth, has managed to come across as the tougher and more explicit.

Garth, who has handled many successful campaigns, including those of Hugh Carey, John Lindsay and Thomas Bradley, urged Cuomo to run early. When Cuomo delayed, Garth signed on with Koch and decided that a blunt approach would be the key. Hence Koch's barbed slogan attacking both John Lindsay and Abe Beame: "After eight years of charisma and four years of the clubhouse why not try competence." With the city shaken by the Son of Sam murders, Koch was the first to call for restoration of capital punishment--while granting that the death penalty is a state rather than a city issue. When looters ran amok during the blackout, Koch said the National Guard should have been called in. While all candidates agreed that the city needed more federal and state aid, Koch insisted that the city must earn such assistance with even sterner management reforms.

A lifelong bachelor, Koch lives politics and thrives on sidewalk campaigning. His "Hi, I'm Ed Koch and I'm running for ..." routine, backed by an avuncular smile, is potent. He has the ability to sound hard without sounding harsh. "The big difference between Cuomo and me is that he is the great compromiser, the great conciliator. That's not what people want. There has got to be a mayor who can make tough decisions and not simply cut the baby in two."

It is a neat role reversal. Koch, the limousine liberal from Manhattan who invites criticism by defending gay rights managed to position himself to the right of Cuomo, the champion of blue-collar neighborhoods, who still has the build of the outfielder once signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates (an injury ended his farm-team career).

Cuomo insists that Koch's "toughness is a fac,ade created by Garth. He considers capital punishment immoral and use of it as an issue a "debasement" of the campaign. He too favors stringent management reforms and has drawn the wrath of civil service unions by promising tough bargaining over new contracts.

Yet Cuomo makes himself vulnerable to Koch's attack by often acting the deliberative law professor he once was. He wavered before yielding to Governor Hugh Carey's pleading that he enter the race; he agreed only after reconciling his wife and five children to the decision.

Carey had to play an active part in Cuomo's fund drive, which ultimately collected $1.3 million, nearly twice Koch's haul. Though he understands the need for TV and street campaigning, Cuomo dislikes both. Trying to discuss the budget in 40 seconds on the tube offends his sense propriety. "I can't watch it," he says of one of his commercials. "I leave the room when it comes on. It's such hyperbole."

When greeting voters, he would rather spend ten minutes talking to one citizen seriously than one minute shaking ten hands. He complains about missing meals. On election morning, he said: "I feel tired, exhausted, terrible." He spent the day at home, while Koch headed out in his campaign van one more time.

If he loses the Democratic runoff, Koch is out of the race. Cuomo could lose the primary but would still remain in the general election as the Liberal Party candidate. In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 4 to 1, either Koch or Cuomo should have little trouble beating State Senator Roy Goodman who won the G.O.P. nomination Goodman's slim chances are further weakened by the fact that Barry Farber, a former radio talk-show host whom he beat in the Republican primary, will stay in the battle as the Conservative Party nominee. Preparing for the runoff, political buffs could savor one particularly choice irony. Both Koch and Cuomo had hoped to oppose Beame or Abzug in Round 2. Each of the finalists knew that the other would be his toughest adversary -

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