They're Pinched

In San Francisco, a new campaign worker reached for a headquarters telephone--and found it was coin-operated. At another campaign office, an order for bumper stickers was held up until enough cash was on hand to pay for it. On one recent campaign flight from Milwaukee, "dinner aboard" meant beer and Fritos.

To compare spending this year with earlier, freewheeling election years, notably 1972, is like contrasting a Volkswagen with a Rolls-Royce. A little frugality is clearly in order--but not the cutoff of federal matching funds to candidates, which has sent several campaigns reeling and has all of them hurting. Most desperate is the plight of Democratic Rear-Runner Fred Harris. But more serious contenders for the nominations, such as Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Mo Udall, who failed to win early primary tests, are being severely handicapped.

Simple Solution. Their hand-to-mouth existence results partly from new federal laws that, politically speaking, make fat cats almost an extinct species by limiting political contributions to $1,000 from each donor. More immediately responsible is congressional failure so far to rescue the Federal Election Commission from its court-imposed limbo. Under the new laws, the commission was to distribute federal funds to the candidates according to a simple formula: every dollar a candidate could raise in contributions of $250 or less would be matched by the Federal Government. In January, the Supreme Court held that the commission could not constitutionally perform this function (which is reserved to the Executive Branch) as long as some of its members were appointed by Congress.

A simple solution would be for Congress to allow President Ford to appoint all of the commissioners. Bills passed by the House and Senate do that--but they also make other widely disputed revisions in the election law, including provisions limiting corporate and union efforts in fund raising. While conferees haggle over differences in the two bills, the presidential campaigners thirst for cash.

Sighs Udall's campaign administrative director Edward Coyle: "Money that comes in during the morning is spent by afternoon." Much the same is true of once flush Scoop Jackson. He has less than $200,000 on hand. Jimmy Carter had only some $25,000 in cash at last count and was living from week to week. Like other candidates, Carter is not broke--but he keeps an eye on the morning mail.

On the Republican side, Reagan has raised $5.5 million, including $1.6 million in matching funds, but he has spent virtually every penny of it. Last week he canceled his Boeing 727 charter plane because of the Government's delay in paying federal grants. He has a bid in for $203,000 and will soon request $300,000 more to match the money he raised privately in March and April. Even President Ford, who has raised $7,724,033, including $1,952,615 in federal matching grants, is waiting for the FEC to hand over another $745,000 to which he is entitled.

With the federal spigot turned off, and only so many $1,000 contributors to be found,* candidates are resorting more and more to "events" to raise cash. Arlo Guthrie is arranging concerts in 22 cities to drum up $250,000 for the faltering Harris campaign. Other candidates are relying on telethons, rock concerts, breakfasts and dinners to which they try to send their wives or children if they cannot attend themselves. Udall has forced himself to attend as many as three fund-raising parties a night despite being bone-weary from full days of campaigning.

Congress hopes to send a bill to President Ford next week restoring the flow of federal cash. Ford will be under great pressure to sign it. A veto would bring accusations that the President is trying to starve less affluent campaigners. In fact, it is a dilatory Congress that has brought about their present plight.

* The law permits any citizen to spend as much money as he wishes to promote a candidacy--provided there is no collusion between contributor and candidate. Thus far no one has dared to take significant advantage of the provision--or the electorate's naivete.

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