A Delicate Business

As the star of a Republican gathering in Hastings, Neb., Illinois' junior Senator, Charles Percy, made the expectable gibes at Bobby Kennedy and the familiar pleas for party unity. Though he is a liberal on most issues, and at 47 a symbol of the G.O.P.'s rising generation, Percy heaped praise on Nebraska's venerable conservative Senators, Carl Curtis and Roman Hruska--with whom he had just parted company over ratification of the Soviet consular treaty. "I've learned a lot by listening to them," professed Percy. "Even when we don't vote together, we walk out of the Senate chamber arm in arm." Beamed Hruska: "That's my kind of Republican."

If the occasion and the oratory seemed routine, the response to Percy's adroit performance--in Nebraska and elsewhere--was considerably warmer than he could have anticipated. In fact, an increasing number of moderate-to-liberal Republicans fear that Michigan's Governor George Romney--still the pick of most G.O.P. centrists--may fade long before the convention. They are beginning to regard Chuck Percy as a potential candidate for the G.O.P. presidential nomination next year.

Occlusive Reaction. Romney continues to lead in polls matching him against Lyndon Johnson. Yet he has consistently failed to persuade some party professionals that he possesses the deftness and decision-making capacity--particularly on the overriding issue of Viet Nam--to win. Percy, on the other hand, has pretty clearly marked out his own position. He argues that the U.S. should unilaterally set the time and place for peace negotiations, promising the North Vietnamese a bombing halt if and when they show up at the conference table. While a shade different from the Administration's fundamental quid pro quo stance, the Percy approach is not incompatible with Johnson's.

In the Senate, Percy has been the most active of the freshman Republicans, giving energetic support to ratification of the consular treaty and introducing a pet program to stimulate home ownership among low-income groups. His housing proposal attracted 27 cosponsors, rare backing for a Senate neophyte.

Percy's cause has been indirectly strengthened by Romney's imperviousness to advice from seasoned professionals. Kentucky's Senator Thruston Morton, an astute former Republican national chairman, is one who has tried to point out to Romney some of his tactical problems. Romney's reaction was so occlusive that Morton is now concentrating his counsel on Percy.

Geometric Progression. More than any of the other liberal Republicans, Percy can get a sympathetic hearing from the Republican right. He supported Barry Goldwater after the 1964 convention--though he later regretted it--while Romney rejected the national ticket. Goldwater never forgave Romney, and said of Percy last month: "I like Chuck. I've worked for him; he's worked for me. I'd support him."

Percy, of course, realizes that because of his novice status he must be more circumspect than the most remote crypto-candidate. It is a delicate business at best for him to maintain his visibility, enhance his reputation and at the same time appear unconsumed by ambition. So far, Percy has played it well. He chooses judiciously from the 50 to 75 speaking invitations he gets each week. Besides Nebraska, he has appeared recently in New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania with no hint of delegate hunting. His stops next month include New Hampshire, which, like Nebraska, has an early presidential primary next year. He vehemently denies any desire to be a candidate. Yet he has so far refused to declare himself out of the Nebraska primary, pointing out reasonably enough that he has plenty of time to demur. He says he prefers to "take life in its progression." The coming months will tell whether his progression will be geometric.

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