Kennedy: Ready, Set...

Go! That's what his followers say, and Teddy seems to agree

He has not said so yet, but he is about the only one who has not. And his supporters are fairly screaming it. As far as they are concerned, Senator Edward M. Kennedy has entered the race for the presidency, and they are working for him with that special kind of zeal that has not been seen since the days of his two older brothers. Ideology does not seem to count, as Democrats of all persuasions --and many independents too--are urging on the man who they think could restore leadership to an ineffectual White House. Draft-Kennedy movements are springing up everywhere, some of them led by former Carter supporters, and Kennedy's own elated staff members are beginning to jockey for positions in the would-be, might-be, soon-to-be campaign. Says an enthusiastic aide to California Senator Alan Cran- ston, the Senate whip and a top member of the Democratic establishment: "Everybody in California is just sitting and waiting for Kennedy. He has the Machinists Union, the United Auto Workers and the Beverly Hills crowd. What else is there?"

Even President Carter had to admit last week that Kennedy's strategy at the moment is "brilliant." While building support with broad hints that he is available to run, the Senator has so far refrained from openly challenging the President and thus risking a bloody party brawl. He would prefer to see Carter pushed out of the race by pressure from the party and the dismal evidence of the polls. Late last week the President was hit with the most staggering poll news to date: an Associated Press-NBC News survey indicated that only 19% of the Americans polled thought Carter was doing an excellent or good job. That was the lowest approval rating for any President since such polls began in the 1930s -- including Richard Nixon's 24% just before his resignation.

The Kennedy momentum has been soaring for the past fortnight as the Senator has sent out a series of unmistakable signals. First he dropped the remark that his mother Rose and his wife Joan had given him the go-ahead to make the race, not a startling revelation since the Senator is the head of his clan. But family considerations have been a major hindrance to his running for President. Next came a lunch with Carter and Rosalynn at the White House. "I am seriously considering entering the race," Kennedy told the President. Replied Carter: "I am definitely planning to run." Later Carter said to his advisers: "Kennedy understands that if he comes in, he will have a fight on his hands."

The Senator moved still closer to an announcement when he found himself holding an impromptu press conference at a Kennedy Center benefit. He indicated that he would be willing to run even if it meant a primary fight, and he pledged to decide before the primary deadlines (the first is Jan. 11). Said Kennedy: "I've always believed in the primary system. I think it would be a hard-fought battle, both the nomination and the election. I think this will be an opportunity to discuss the issues and the alternatives to problems."

The draft-Kennedy movement has by now probably gone too far for the Senator to pull out, even if he wanted to. As a staunch Republican once remarked about Teddy Roosevelt, "We're going to nominate him by assault." In a way, it is now or never for Kennedy. Democratic Party leaders think they need him more than ever before; he must heed their call or risk mortally offending them. Democratic officeholders are showing signs of panic at the prospect of running on a ticket headed by Carter. A New England poll indicates that there would be a 16-point difference in the number of Democrats who turn out to vote if Kennedy is at the top instead of Carter. Democratic Senators, in particular, feel endangered. Next year 24 of them are up for re-election out of the 34 seats at stake, and many are the kind of liberals who went down to defeat in 1978. It is even conceivable that the G.O.P. might win control of the Senate in 1980 or '82. Democrats have such recurring nightmares as finding Strom Thurmond the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, while the current chairman, Kennedy, becomes merely the ranking minority member.

So far, few members of Congress have formally endorsed Kennedy, but many have done so in private. Says one Democrat: "House members are dropping Carter one by one. They're scared." Various members have approached Massachusetts Democrat Joe Moakley, a friend of Kennedy's. They give him a wink, a slap on the back, a word in confidence. The message: "When Kennedy's ready, I'll be with you."

But if embattled Jimmy Carter has proved anything, it is that he savors a political fight. "It's a challenge," says a top White House staffer. "We fought a tougher fight in 1976 and won, and we're going to win this one too." Carter promises to battle to the last delegate. "It may be an Armageddon," warns an aide. "But he's never going to pull out."

Though Carter rebuked Gerald Ford for using his patronage powers in the 1976 campaign, the President has lately resorted to the same practice. He has made scores of influential federal appointments in the states where early caucuses and primaries are being held. He has deluged deserving Democrats with invitations to official functions. Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne, for example, was invited to represent the President at Lord Mountbatten's funeral. Iowa Catholics have been put on the guest list for the White House reception for Pope John Paul II next month. Carter last week named two Hispanics to top posts: Edward Hidalgo as Secretary of the Navy and Abelardo Lopez Valdez as chief of protocol.

While Kennedy quietly presided over Judiciary Committee hearings on the potential dangers of Valium last week. Carter tried to revive his faltering presidency by campaigning for his energy program, which he thinks may be the key to his salvation. In response to congressional objections, he agreed' to compromise on a basic issue. He withdrew his proposal for an $88 billion, ten-year program to develop synthetic fuels and settled for a more modest funding of $22 billion for a two-year plan. He also stopped insisting that the Federal Government operate synthetic fuel plants; they would remain in private hands, with advice and assistance from the Government.

These concessions were cordially received by Congress, but another compromise provoked an uproar. In an effort to win approval of the Energy Mobilization Board, which will speed up energy production by cutting red tape, Carter abandoned a demand that the board be empowered to override federal and state law. Unfortunately, the House Commerce Committee had not been informed by Carter operatives and had approved a bill with these powers intact. When Committee Member John Dingell learned of Carter's switch, he acidly remarked: "The Administration has the capacity to surprise its friends and please its enemies."

Then the President took to the road to lobby for his energy proposals. But wherever he went, he was never able to escape the long shadow of his rival, not even aboard Air Force One on the way to his first stop, Hartford, Conn. As a courtesy he had invited Connecticut Senator Lowell Weicker, a Republican, to join him on the plane. When reporters asked Weicker about Kennedy, he replied that all Republican officeholders were hoping that Carter would head the ticket. Said Weicker: "If Kennedy runs in Connecticut, he threatens to take the whole shebang with him. He would win in a landslide." Complained White House Press Secretary Jody Powell of Weicker: "Courtesy is a two-way street. I always thought that anyone who was born rich would also have been brought up with some manners."

Addressing some 1,000 retired people in Hartford, Carter cracked, "As much as I admire you as retired persons, I must admit that I am not yet tempted to join your ranks any time soon." Then he assured the audience that there would be sufficient heating oil on hand for the winter, an issue of special concern for New Englanders, and announced the creation of an office in Boston to coordinate the handling of emergency fuel oil shortages, should any arise. He also said that he had asked the nation's largest oil companies to freeze the price of home heating fuel and to extend credit to wholesalers and retailers. Two had agreed to comply, and he expected the other majors to go along as well. Carter tried to concentrate on energy, but his audience insisted on questioning him about Kennedy's health insurance plan. The President played up his own, less costly bill. Said Carter: "Both proposals have a lot in common. The difference in my opinion is that mine can pass."

Carter next went to Steubenville, Ohio (pop. 30,771), a steel-and-coal town. The trip got off to an unpromising start when Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum, a Kennedy ally, did not show up. The state's other Democratic Senator, John Glenn, rode with the President through town but did not join him on the stage when he spoke. Asked if he was keeping his distance from the President. Glenn replied: "I'm neither keeping my distance nor getting close."

Even so, Carter was encouraged by the cheering crowds lined six and seven deep along the road; some people waved signs proclaiming JIMMY, NOT TEDDY. In the Steubenville high school auditorium. Carter shed his coat, mopped his perspiring face and promised that coal production would be tripled by 1995. The windfall-profits tax, he pledged, would amount to $88 billion in revenues, and $75 billion would be spent on coal.

At the end of the week. Carter flew south to inspect the damage wreaked on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Frederic. Arriving in Mobile, Ala., outfitted in work boots to combat the mud, he pledged that the Government would supply mobile homes for people who have been forced out of their own residences.

Two other veteran Carter campaigners also set forth to support the President: Rosalynn and Miss Lillian. Both made forays into New Hampshire with indifferent results. Miss Lillian attended a Democratic picnic at Pulaski Park in Nashua, but she was overshadowed by stirrings of Kennedy support and by California Governor Jerry Brown, who was spending a day campaigning in the Granite State. Brown had originally intended to stay four days, but had to rush back home to keep his rambunctious Republican Lieutenant Governor, Mike Curb, from making any more trouble in the statehouse. (Brown has filed suit to restrain Curb from contravening his own policies when Brown is away.) Brown's speech won applause. Said he: "The Government is spending millions to move missiles around Utah. I think we could use that money to move people." But Dudley W. Dudley, the blond who heads the Kennedy drive in New Hampshire, got a bigger hand.

When it was Miss Lillian's turn to speak, she sweetly told the audience that if Kennedy runs,"I hope to goodness nothing happens to him. I really do." There was silence at the tactless reference to the Kennedy assassinations. Later Miss Lillian apologized to Carter staffers, who do not need any further mishaps.

The remark did nothing to warm up Rosalynn's rather chilly reception in the state. At her four stops, she may have felt as if she were confronting the same scenes she faced back in the days of Jimmy Who?small, undemonstrative, show crowds. Beneath a brilliant autumn sky, a tense-faced Rosalynn offered her usual blend of sugar and steel. "I'm very proud of Jimmy." she said in her soft drawl. "He has a solid record of achievement. He's proved his leadership." Pestered all day with questions about Kennedy, Rosalynn said repeatedly: "The last thing I heard the Senator say was that he expected the President to be renominated. I take him at his word. If he changes it maybe I'll take him at his other word."

Kennedy is expected to be nearly unbeatable in the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 26 and the Massachusetts primary on March 4, so Carter aides are concentrating their efforts on the next big test, the Florida primary on March 11. Says a top Carter aide: "If Kennedy beats us there--and it's a damn sight easier to beat us there than elsewhere in the South --he's got the big ring to grab."

Carter supporters are now anxious for Kennedy to declare, because as soon as he does he may become more vulnerable. "We could at least make comparisons," says a White House aide. "Now you take a poke and there's nothing there." Once Kennedy is forced to start speaking out on the issues, his support is almost sure to fall off. His current dazzling charisma is obscuring for the moment his liberal views, which could alienate moderates and conservatives when they become better known. Conversely, Kennedy might antagonize his liberal supporters if he starts taking more conservative positions in keeping with the national mood. Though he has championed deregulation and revision of the U.S. criminal code, he is to the left of the Administration and the country on many issues. He remains strongly committed to such ambitious federal programs as his cradle-to-grave national health insurance. Unlike the President, he opposes decontrol of oil prices and restricting the money supply to combat inflation. He is in a bigger hurry than Carter to stimulate the economy in the hope of lessening the impact of the recession. He is likely to favor a payroll and business tax cut, but he would enforce wage and price guidelines more rigorously than the President.

In many respects, Kennedy seems to be an inappropriate candidate for the 1980s. He has a checkered personal history at a time when politicians' private lives are scrutinized more closely than ever before. To some extent, his politics are out of sync with current conservative trends. His ability to lead is untested and taken on faith. Yet supporting his candidacy is the irrepressible Kennedy mystique, the lingering regret for the assassination of his two brothers, his own hard, near obsessive work in the Senate, where he is rated one of the most distinguished members, and the voters' yearning for "leadership." Even if he is a man of considerable contradictions, that is true of the national mood as well.

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