Carter: His Rival Plays Tease

So, to force Kennedy to run, dissident Democrats plan a draft

AJ he began his commencement address last week at Boston University, Senator Edward Kennedy announced that he was going to refrain from needling any presidents, either Jimmy Carter, whom he has criticized frequently, or the controversial John Silber, head of the university. "It is hard enough being a president these days. At least that is what I am told," bellowed the senior Senator from Massachusetts. "I, of course, don't have any firsthand experience at it." He paused a few seconds as the silent audience waited. Then he added what they all suspected he would: "Yet!" The crowd erupted with a roar of approval.

Such are the coy ways of Ted Kennedy less than a year before the first 1980 presidential primary. He has become the biggest tease in American politics, announcing his support for Jimmy Carter's re-election one moment, hinting at his own ambitions the next, and all the while avoiding a categorical denial that he will run. Even House Speaker Tip O'Neill, an old friend, is not sure whether the Senator will end up declaring, but he is convinced of one thing: "If Kennedy were to run, Carter wouldn't get the nomination."

A growing band of Democrats agree and are trying to encourage Kennedy to get into the race. Last week five members of Congress announced the formation of the Coalition of Democratic Alternatives, which will oppose Carter's renomination. Four of the five say they want Kennedy to be the Democratic nominee. Declared Representative Richard L. Ottinger of New York: "To those who say Senator Kennedy will not run, we say let us develop a national mandate for his candidacy that is irresistible."

Joining Ottinger were Edward P. Beard of Rhode Island, Fortney H. Stark of California, John Conyers of Michigan, the only member of the quintet not to back Kennedy, and Richard Nolan, a onetime protege of Vice President Walter Mondale's, who has organized his own Draft Kennedy movement in Minnesota. The group was opposing Carter, Nolan said, "because we feel betrayed. All our hopes and all our aspirations for a better America in 1976 have resulted in disappointment and despair in 1979."

The move on Capitol Hill angered the White House. After conferring with top Carter aides, Democratic National Committee Chairman John C. White charged that the coalition was dividing the party. Said he: "The continued activities of people like the five Congressmen are going to almost surely hand over the presidency on a silver platter to John Connally or Ronald Reagan."

Still, pro-Kennedy efforts in a number of crucial primary states were going forward. In New Hampshire, which has the earliest of regular primaries and thus a disproportionate say in presidential selection, half a dozen scattered Draft Ted efforts have been pulled together. Dudley Dudley, a member of the Governor's executive council and a leader of the movement, claims she will not be dissuaded even if Kennedy strongly vows his unavailability. Says she: "This is a draft movement, and the nature of a draft is to persuade a reluctant candidate he must run." Polls in the Granite State show that if the Senator does enter, even as a write-in, he would easily defeat the President.

In his home state, Kennedy is understandably even stronger. A poll taken last week at the Massachusetts Democratic convention showed the Senator beating Carter 5 to 1. After the poll, 15 members of the state house of representatives announced that they would organize a committee to find an alternative to Carter in 1980. Their first choice: Kennedy. Fearing back-to-back defeats in New Hampshire and then in Massachusetts' week-later primary, Carter's operatives last week were in the state trying to postpone the date. There is little prospect, however, that they will succeed.

A Kennedy group in Iowa hopes to swing the January Democratic caucus, which launched Carter in 1976, to support their man. They have placed a $1,000 order for red-white-and-blue TED K buttons.

In Florida, 70 pro-Kennedy Democrats, including some key early supporters of Carter in 1975, gathered to begin fund raising and to make plans to win a straw vote of the state party convention in November. At the state convention in 1975, Carter began his successful campaign to win the Florida primary and thus end George Wallace's presidential candidacy. Said Organizer Mike Abrams: "The country is starving for leadership in 1980."

In Minnesota, Congressman Nolan is planning to host later this month what may amount to a national convention of pro-Kennedy groups. In New York, State Attorney General Robert Abrams listened to Kennedy recite his well-rehearsed "I expect the President to be nominated and I expect to support his re-election" and then started making some plans for his own Draft Ted organization.

Neither the non-candidate nor his aides seem to be encouraging or coordinating these efforts. Kennedy feels strongly that a direct challenge to Carter would seriously split the party, as Chairman White warns, but the draft efforts and his refusal to disavow, once and for all, his candidacy have already begun dividing Democrats. By his ambivalence, Kennedy is also helping to undermine Carter's political strength. Ironically, a weakened President will have trouble passing such an important measure as the SALT II treaty, which Kennedy himself favors. Although exaggerating Carter's problem, New York Senator Patrick Moynihan summed up the President's growing dilemma at his outspoken press conference:

"It's beginning to be an open scandal in Washington that the Administration makes its decisions on how Kennedy will react. The President is governing at the sufferance of Senator Kennedy."

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