Not-So-Favorite Son

Ronald Reagan was a long way from Hollywood and Vine last weekend, helping with Republican fund-raising affairs across the South. But just three blocks south of the famous old intersection, in a rambling warehouse, dedicated volunteers were running an eight-day "Recall-a-thon" aimed at removing Reagan from his starring role in Sacramento.

Though the Governor is not due for re-election until 1970, California is one of 13 states that allow state officers to face recall, a turn-of-the-century device designed to evict officeholders before their terms are up. The Recall-a-thon climaxes a six-month attempt to exercise that privilege.

The law varies for different offices, but California requires a Governor to face a special election if petitioners collect signatures amounting to at least 12% of the last gubernatorial vote. On the ballot, alternate candidates are offered in case the official is turned out. In California, such efforts have always failed before. Since the tactic was first applied statewide in 1911,* petitions have been circulated against three Governors, but never were enough signatures collected. Political experts doubt that this drive against Reagan will have much better luck. Even so, the Governor has conceded that the effort alone could be "embarrassing."

The campaign was launched by Ed Koupal, a 40-year-old automobile salesman, and his wife Joyce, after an earlier attempt failed last year. By the end of last week, the Koupals claimed that their 18,000 volunteers had gathered some 800,000 signatures. They are shooting for more than 1,000,000 by July 31, when the allowed six months of petitioning is up. Though only 780,414 valid signatures are needed, up to 40% could be invalidated because signers are not properly registered voters.

The language of the indictment encompasses most criticism. It charges, among other things, that Reagan "is not competent in matters of government . . . has undermined and demoralized the entire California health program . . . has injured the university and state college system [and] is attempting to further his personal ambitions at the expense of the people."

So far, the Recall-a-thon has failed to produce any last-minute surge of activity. A county-fair booth in ultra-conservative Orange County has garnered some signatures--but, says Koupal, has also caused one volunteer there to be beaten up. Whatever the ultimate outcome, the signature validating will scarcely have begun when the Republicans meet in Miami Beach, and the campaign could thus damage Reagan's hope for the nomination. In any case, Reagan is not likely to lose all that much luster at home. A Mervin Field Poll last week showed that if a recall election were actually held, Reagan would be returned to office with a 2-to-l plurality, higher than the one that made him Governor two years ago.

* First adopted in the U.S. by the city of Los Angeles in 1903, the recall has been used to topple two mayors there and to unseat city officers elsewhere. Only North Dakota has ever ousted a Governor--Lynn Joseph Frazier, in 1921, because of a bank scandal. The same electorate sent him to the U.S. Senate the very next year.

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