The House: Spirited Still
The House: Spirited Still
The House of Representatives underwent some plastic surgery at the polls, emerging with a somewhat younger and more attractive look. But beneath the cosmetic changes, the House remains heavily Democratic in soul and spirit. The so-called Watergate babies generally survived, and Democrats showed a net gain of one seat (to 292, against 143 Republicans).
TIME TO RETIRE
For reasons ranging from age to political weariness to lust for higher office, a record number of incumbent Congressmen--37 Democrats and 17 Republicans--did not even run for reelection. Perhaps the best-known member to retire was House Speaker Carl Albert, 68, the only nationally known native of Bug Tussle, Okla. The seat he held for 15 terms (but not, of course, his role as Speaker) will be more or less filled by State Senator Wes Watkins, 37, of Ada, Okla., who had a harder job defeating five other Democrats in the primary than he did in whomping Republican Challenger Dr. Gerald Beasley Jr., 50. The new Speaker of the House will be Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill Jr., 63, the burly, Boston-area Irish politician who had been Majority Leader. As usual, O'Neill had only token G.O.P. opposition in winning his 13th term.
In one of the stunning primary upsets of 1976, Louisiana Democrat Otto Passman, an anti-foreign aid ideologue for 15 House terms, lost to a 34-year-old farmer, Jerry Huckaby. Alabama Democrat Robert E. Jones Jr., who spent 29 years in the House without even winning the nickname Bobby Jones, retired. He will be succeeded by another Democrat, Ronnie Flippo, 38, a C.P.A. and member of the state senate, which passed a dubiously congratulatory resolution asserting that the "intellectual quality" of that body as well as the House would be improved if he were elected.
HOLDING THE LINE
There were 18 women (13 Democrats and five Republicans) in the old House and 17 in the new. Two star-quality Democrats--New York's brassy Bella Abzug and Hawaii's pert Patsy Mink--gave up their seats in unsuccessful attempts to win Senate nominations. Abzug will be replaced by New York City Councilman Theodore S. Weiss, 48, who rejected suggestions that he vacate his Democratic nomination and let Abzug reclaim her old job. Mink's successor is Democrat Daniel Akaka, 51, a former aide to Hawaii's Governor George Ariyoshi.
In New Jersey, incumbent Democrat Helen Meyner, 47, wife of a former Governor, won her second term after a campaign in which she graciously told voters, "Let the best man win, whomever she may be." Republican Challenger William Schluter passed out thousands Of I'M A SCHLUTER ROOTER buttons, in hopes that the voters might learn how to pronounce his name--even though he had served eight years in the state senate.
Also in Ohio, Cleveland's Democratic city councilwoman Mary Rose Oakar, 36, took over the vacated seat of Democrat James V. Stanton (who lost in his try for a Senate nomination) without Republican opposition. Oakar won her decisive Democratic primary nomination by pointing out that among several major candidates, she was the only non-lawyer and the only woman.
In Maryland, Democrat Barbara A. Mikulski, 40, captured the seat vacated by Paul Sarbanes in his successful Senate run, and she promises to enliven the House for years. A fiery activist who got her political start by organizing community groups in southeast Baltimore, Mikulski insists that she has calmed down. But not by much. "Some people like to raise flowers; I like to raise hell," she says, adding, "I want to be the Amelia Earhart of Congress. I want to fly into the areas of the unknown, like she did, for the fun of it."
Despite increased voter participation, especially in the South, blacks failed to make any dramatic inroads. There were 16 blacks in the last House, and although 41 ran this time, the number of winners remains about the same. Georgia's Democrat Andrew Young, 44. one of the brightest members of the House and one of Jimmy Carter's closest associates, Texas' stentorian Democrat Barbara Jordan, 40, and aggressive Democrat Shirley Chisholm, 51, of New York all won re-election handily--as expected. Another easy winner: Memphis Democrat Harold E. Ford, 31, heir to a family undertaking business, who had eked out a 1974 victory by less than 1,000 votes. This time he won by 60% of the vote.
PLENTY OF SCANDALS
Personal scandal clearly hurt some candidates, but not others. Arkansas' Democratic Representative Wilbur Mills, longtime chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, retired after drowning his career in Washington's Tidal Basin. His successor is State Attorney General Jim Guy Tucker, 32, a moderate, New South Democrat who is considered to be a rising political star. Ohio's power-minded Democrat Wayne L. Hays, 65, was undone by his tattletale mistress, Elizabeth Ray; Democratic State Senator Douglas Applegate, 48, was elected in a tough fight against Republican Ralph R. McCoy, an engineer by profession, and Steubenville Mayor William Crabbe, an Independent.
In New Jersey, Democratic Incumbent Henry Helstoski, 51, who is under indictment on charges that he accepted bribes to help illegal aliens remain in the U.S., lost in an upset. The winner: Republican Harold C. Hollenbeck, 38, a former state representative who studied seventh-grade English under Helstoski, then a teacher, in East Rutherford.
Utah Democrat Allan T. Howe, 49, at least had the courage of his conviction --on charges of having. propositioned two Salt Lake City streetwalkers (both of whom, as it turned out, were police decoys). A Mormon, Howe refused to withdraw and ended up sharing the Democratic vote with another Democrat, Daryl McCarty, a write-in candidate with organization support. Both men lost to Republican Dan Marriott, 37, a political novice who grew up with a severe speech impediment. "When I was in the sixth grade," he recalls, "I was in a play, and I rode out on the stage as Paul Revere and announced, 'The Bwit-ish awe coming acwoss the wiver.' Then I tripped over my stick horse and fell down." Marriott overcame his handicap to become a $1 million-a-year insurance salesman.
Another loser was Missouri Democrat Morgan Maxfield, 35, who ran a campaign in which he gave voters the impression that he was 1) a self-made man, 2) a graduate of Harvard Business School and 3) a swinging bachelor. During the closing weeks of the campaign it was disclosed that Maxfield 1) was the son of a prosperous Texas physician, 2) had only attended a six-week business course at Harvard and 3) was married and the father of two children. He was defeated by Republican Thomas Coleman, 33, a lawyer and state representative.
On the other hand, Florida Democrat Robert L.F. Sikes, 70, who earlier this year was reprimanded by his House colleagues for "financial misconduct," won a 19th term without Republican opposition. California's seven-term Democratic Representative Robert L. Leggett, 50, got lucky beyond belief: under investigation for alleged payments from the South Korean government, he also admitted that he had supported his mistress and their two children in Washington. But the disclosure came after his district primary, in which he was easily renominated, and Republicans had put up only token opposition. Leggett thus won two more years of breathing space.
Among once familiar House names who were attempting a comeback was Long Island Democrat Allard Lowenstein, 47. He led the "Dump Johnson" movement in protest against the Viet Nam War in 1968 but lost his seat in 1970--and has been losing ever since. He was defeated by the same man who beat him in 1974: Republican John Wydler, 52, who described Lowenstein as "an ultralibeal, a constant loser and a notorious carpetbagger." Another comeback effort fell short in North Carolina, where former National League Pitcher Wilmer ("Vinegar Bend") Mizell, 45, a Republican Congressman from 1968 to 1974, was defeated again by Democrat Stephen L. Neal, 42, an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune.
Finally, the most prominent citizen of Grand Rapids could at least take consolation from the fact that his old House seat will again be held by a Republican. Democrat Richard F. Vander Veen, 53, who succeeded Gerald Ford in a special 1974 election, was defeated by the G.O.P.'s Harold Sawyer, 56, who had been an aggressive county prosecutor.
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