Brock v. Sasser

When the music begins at one of his rallies, Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Brock appears to be mildly annoyed at all the noise. James Sasser, the Democrat who hopes to unseat Brock, joyfully picks up the beat by stomping his foot. When the rivals appeared recently at the Dyer County Fair, Brock shook a few hands, then disappeared, without taking a single ride, before most fairgoers were even aware he had been there. Grinning broadly, the shirtsleeved Sasser eagerly took over, leaving scarcely a hand unshaken, delivering a rip-roaring speech--and getting down on his knees to play with the kids. Sasser frequently twits his dignified opponent by referring to him grandly as "William E. Brock the Third" and "the candy man from Lookout Mountain" to underscore Brock's wealth as heir to a candy fortune and his place of residence: the posh blueblood area of Chattanooga. Bill Brock may wince at such mischief, but the ploy is hardly sufficient in itself to frustrate the conservative's bid for a second term. However, a looming Carter landslide in the state and Sasser's tireless and folksy campaign are genuinely formidable obstacles for Brock to overcome.

With a Kennedyesque head of hair complete with untamed forelock, Sasser, 40, parlayed an infectious grin, native acumen and political apprenticeship with Democrats Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore into an upset primary victory. Now he stalks voters relentlessly, grasping hands, patting farmers' backs and children's heads, spouting a Carter-like populism and depicting the beleaguered Brock as a patrician far removed from the concerns of ordinary people.

Cries Sasser, a lawyer and former state Democratic chairman who grew up on a Tennessee farm, "How can a millionaire know the plight of the poor, the uneducated, the jobless, the sick?" His adroit use of sarcasm against the low-keyed Brock has been withering. When the Republican tried to link Sasser to minor scandals in the Democratic state administration, Sasser smiled: "I didn't know William E. Brock the Third was running for Governor." At a joint appearance, Brock declared he intended to run on his record. Quipped Sasser: "That's the best news I've heard."

In near-total contrast to his foe, the urbane Brock, 45, is a reserved, colorless campaigner, a politician who often seems ill at ease at his own rallies. He owes his past victories (four House races and his 1970 conquest of Senator Albert Gore) to his superb organizational skills, on which his hopes for re-election also rest. Brock's conservatism goes down well in Tennessee; he has 15,000 volunteers at work, and he will probably spend more than $1 million by Nov. 2, compared with $500,000 by Sasser. But Tennesseans traditionally cotton more to the down-to-earth, easy-mixing type of campaigning practiced by Brock's colleague, Howard Baker, and by Kefauver, who until Sasser came along probably held the Tennessee record for the most hands shaken in the least time.

As to humor, Sasser likewise has a clear edge. He jokes that he raised peanuts on his grandfather's farm as a boy and allows that "if I had kept on raising peanuts, I might be running for President instead of the Senate." Brock tells about the federal agency that wanted to compel farmers to provide privies within a five-minute walk of any place on the farm, then adds, "Next thing you know they'll be telling us when to go."

In the essentially issueless campaign (both candidates oppose busing and abortion), Sasser is concentrating his firepower on Brock's refusal to make a complete financial disclosure--as Sasser, along with Ford and Carter, has done. The Democrat hints that Brock may be one of those extremely wealthy individuals who pay little or no income tax. Insisting that he placed all of his assets in a blind trust three years ago, Brock asks, "How can I have a conflict of interest when I don't know what's in the blind trust or what's being done with it?" Sasser's rejoinder: "That blind trust has 20-20 vision." He notes that the trustee is a longtime close friend of Brock's whose wife was on the Senator's payroll; she is now a key official in his campaign. In a year when candor and openness are politically advantageous, Brock is uneasy.

A recent poll showed the two running neck and neck; one last week gave Brock a narrow lead. The crucial battleground will probably be Shelby County (Memphis), where the well-organized Brock currently leads but where the important black vote has yet to be marshaled behind Sasser. A popular black Congressman, Harold Ford, is expected to help his fellow Democrat with the blacks as soon as he feels his own reelection bid has been shored up.

In the end, however, the election may turn less on the campaigning, the personalities and Brock's finances than on a factor that is everywhere evident in the Volunteer State as Election Day draws near. Wherever he appears, Brock avoids mention of the name Gerald Ford and the word Republican. Sasser makes no attempt to obscure his party affiliation, and he talks a great deal about Jimmy Carter, whom he has supported since the earliest days of Carter's presidential bid. The opposite approaches show plainly that both men are aware that Ford probably lost Tennessee the day Carter was nominated. Even Brock concedes that if Carter wins 60% of the vote--a possibility--he will sweep Sasser to victory on his coattails. To which Sasser huffs: "Carter can help, but the burden is on me." That burden is as nothing compared with the one weighing down Brock and other Republicans forced to campaign this year in Jimmy Carter's South.

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