FAMOUS FACES IN THE RACES

On a campaign swing through the South, President Ford turned up one day with Alabama Football Coach Paul ("Bear") Bryant at his side. While a crowd watched and TV cameras whirred, Bryant smiled benevolently, reached over and patted the President on the head. "That was worth 100,000 votes in football-crazy Mississippi," said a happy Ford aide later.

Political candidates have always welcomed a pat on the back, or even the head, if it came from a celebrity who could swing some votes. So, too, this year. Lest Big Ten football fans feel slighted, the Republicans signed up Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes for a series of pro-Ford radio commercials in the Midwest, and Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry is plugging the President in Texas. In all, more than 100 "Jocks for Jerry"--ranging from Tennis Star Chris Evert and Skater Peggy Fleming to Jockey Willie Shoemaker and New York Yankee Manager Billy Martin--have lent their name to the President's cause.

Carter, too, has his locker-room luminaries--like Tommy Nobis of the Atlanta Falcons and Homer Hero Henry Aaron. When Jimmy's Atlanta staff phoned to recruit Boston Red Sox Slugger Carl Yastrzemski, however, their pitch went awry. Yaz said he was pretty busy with the Massachusetts campaign of Thomas ("Tip") O'Neill, a leading candidate for Speaker of the House. "Is he a Republican or a Democrat?" asked the Carter scout in Atlanta. "Democrat," replied an incredulous Yaz. "Well, tell him he'd better get on the Carter bandwagon," said the staffer. "In Boston," snapped Yastrzemski, "we think Carter better get on the O'Neill bandwagon."

The Democratic team has scored better with rock stars. Fund-raising concerts by fellow Georgian Gregg Allman helped pay Carter's way in the primaries, and Linda Ronstadt has sung for Jimmy in Southern California. Ford's back-up musicians play more to the Lawrence Welk set; his boosters include Singers Tony Martin, Pat Boone and Vicki Carr. "Jimmy Carter is weird like musicians are supposed to be weird," says Jazz Trumpeter Al Hirt, "and I don't want anyone like me running the country."

Although the presidential race still looks like a celebrity sweepstakes at times, this campaign differs substantially from those in the past. Star-spangled benefits, which once filled concert halls and provided candidates with quick revenues, have gone the way of Nixon bumper stickers. The reason? The new campaign spending law makes such fund raisers useless.

Apart from a couple of Beverly Hills get-togethers (Actor Warren Beatty was host at one), Carter has steered clear of Hollywood. Such tactics have not pleased the candidate's mother. Robert Redford, who endorses neither candidate, flew to Plains and talked with Miss Lillian, 78. She laments that Paul Newman has not followed suit.

Deprived of their role as political moneymakers, the big names still play the part of crowd pleasers. Earlier this month, G.O.P. Standbys Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne took their bows at Republican National Committee dinners across the country. Last week Woody Allen and Lauren Bacall went to Carter headquarters in New York for some ceremonial phone calling and picture taking. But the effect of the stars on the destiny of candidates is waning. Quipped one Ford worker in Maine: "The only actor we've heard who's doing anything is Ronald Reagan, and he's not coming here."

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