In Search of Enthusiasm

"I think I will win the Republican nomination," Richard Nixon mused last week. "But I think it will be an exciting and spirited contest right up until the last." Nixon did his bit to support the first half of his prediction by attracting an impressive total of 502,000 votes in the Indiana Republican primary, where his only opponent in the uncontested race was G.O.P. ennui. Nelson Rockefeller was trying manfully to supply the excitement elsewhere.

ROCK IT TO 'EM, said the placards at the University of Minnesota. At the University of Kansas, it was TO HELL WITH NIXON. In his visits to the two states, Rockefeller seemed to be establishing his campaign pattern: forays to key non-primary states in which he combines attention-getting campus capers with sedate wooing of convention delegates. How many delegates he swayed was uncertain, but the Governor did famously among the students.

Perky Style. Rockefeller's long, prepared speeches in more formal settings often underwhelm his audiences, but his peppy little talks followed by question periods show a perky platform style. "Believe me," he told his University of Kansas audience of 15,000, "it's a shame this isn't the convention. I may be late getting in, but I'm going to make up for lost time." He renewed his endorsement of a Selective Service lottery. He demanded "positive action to bring an honorable peace in Viet Nam." When one student asked if Rockefeller, as President, would tolerate a Communist government in South Viet Nam, he indicated he would: "These people have got to have the right to choose what kind of government they want. That's their own choice and self-determination."

Constantly stressing the need for "more positive action and less anguished oratory," Rockefeller contrasted himself with Nixon: "He's been a legislator, and I've been an administrator. I have great respect for legislators. I'm fully aware of the importance of laws. But I think government has a tremendous role to play of a positive character. I think maybe I'm a bit more aggressive about it than Mr. Nixon."

P-Shooter. Nixon, as behooves the man out in front, reserved his ammunition for the Democrats. In a rather leisurely two-day stint in Nebraska, where in this week's primary he faced opposition from Ronald Reagan (who was on the ballot) and Rockefeller (who was not). Nixon aimed a P-Shooter at Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey: "three peas in a pod, prisoners of the policies of the past." And in a 6,000-word formal statement, he attacked the Johnson Administration for failing to reverse the rising crime rate. Nixon proposed a broad program aimed at both organized crime and what he called "street crime," including legalized wiretapping, legislation to offset Supreme Court decisions that have limited the use of confessions, establishment of a congressional committee on crime, and the upgrading of police, judicial and penal systems.

Nixon was careful to divorce the crime problem from rioting and racial tension. He had dealt with that in an earlier position paper stressing the need for black economic progress (TIME, May 3). Last week his statement on racial accommodation drew praise from an unexpected source--the militant Congress of Racial Equality, which put forward its own plan for Negro selfhelp. Roy Innis, CORE associate national director, said Nixon's speech "opened the eyes of a lot of people" and made him a "contender for the black vote." Until now Nixon has not been particularly popular among Negro leaders. If Innis starts a trend, the Republican campaign may generate support that even Nixon has not banked on.

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