San Francisco Squeaker

When they went to the polls to choose a new mayor in a runoff election last week, San Franciscans seemed preoccupied with the plight of a city 3,000 miles away. Both candidates were survivors of a Nov. 4 election that had eleven names on the ballot. Both--Democratic State Senator George Moscone and Republican John J. Barbagelata, a member of the city's board of supervisors--agreed hat the overriding issue of the campaign was not San Francisco's woes but New York City's. "The day of the giveaway is over," said Moscone, 46. Said the conservative Barbagelata, 56: "New York was the shocker that woke up the silent majority in this city." With a 3-to-l edge in Democratic registration, Moscone should have been a shoo-in. Thanks to New York, he was not.

Warning of Peril. From the beginning, the race was between Barbagelata's belt-tightening oratory and Mascone's smoother campaign organization and personal style. The dollar-conscious Barbagelata, a businessman who keeps a pocket calculator at the ready during board of supervisors meetings, counted on support from San Franciscans who feared their city might suffer the fate of New York. A four-day police and firemen's strike in August showed citizens how determined unions might bully a city into submission. Over the supervisors' protests, outgoing Mayor Joseph Alioto finally caved in and granted raises to end the strike.

Both Moscone and Barbagelata opposed the mayor's action, and both men acknowledged that New York's fiscal crisis was what the voters wanted most to avoid. Barbagelata campaigned almost exclusively in conservative middle-and upper-middle income areas, and during the last week of his campaign widely distributed a newsletter warning of the perils of a New York-crisis. Moscone countered with pledges that he would carefully weigh union demands without knuckling under to organized labor.

Runoff day brought a respectable turnout of 65.7%. Moscone picked up a slim early lead, and never led Barbagelata by more than 5,000 votes. In the end, he squeaked through by a count of 101,528 to 97,213--nothing to shout about in what Barbagelata describes as "the most liberal city in the nation."

California Pollster Mervin Field interpreted the election results as a "checkerboard pattern." Property owners, the elderly and people on fixed incomes voted for Barbagelata. Minorities, renters, and the relatively young opted for Moscone. The election, said Field, shows two kinds of tides. "One is the ebbing tide of traditional liberal, labor and cultural concepts--the idea that government can do it for you. Against this is the rising tide of the 'new conservatism'--which is related to fear about crime, the inability to get services from government, and fiscal responsibility." Both candidates agreed that the election showed a moderate trend emerging in the country. If the race foretells anything for presidential politics in 1976, it is probably that the candidates closest to the center will stand the best chance of gaining a clear, if not altogether enthusiastic majority.

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