No Show: No Shows

When Jimmy Carter breezed into Clinton, Mass., on March 16 for an honest-to-goodness staged New England town meeting, more than half of the town's 7,400 registered voters scrambled for tickets and a place under national television lights. Now that the President is more concerned with the global village, the real Clinton has stood up. Early last week the genuine town meeting was scheduled to discuss, among other items, Clinton's $6.5 million budget. The attendance: 268. Police beat the streets in an effort to flush out enough folks to reach the total of 300 needed for a quorum. No luck.

Lamented Selectman Martin H. MacNamara: "Apathy has crawled back into the system." Said local P.T.A. Representative Edward Mclntyre: "We should have invited Billy Carter." But for at least one Clintonian, what loomed largest was a possible reproach from on high. Said he: "I just hope Jimmy doesn't find out." On Thursday Clinton tried again, and this time drew 650. One reason: the local newspaper's warning that "TV will be there even if you're not."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.