Methods Tried And True

Wealth and work still pay off

Politics can still be predictable. That was the message, if any, of last week's primary elections in Kansas and Tennessee. They proved once again that money counts; so do family name, hard work, good looks and--increasingly among a tax-and-inflation-weary electorate--a pledge to be frugal. From a national standpoint, the week's biggest winner was Republican Senator Howard Baker, 52, who clobbered five lackluster opponents in Tennessee by garnering 84% of the vote--a larger share than even he expected and one that fortifies his presidential ambitions. Highlights of the races:

KANSAS. The Republican Senate primary was a triumph of sentimentality, a belated vicarious victory for native son Alfred Landon, who lost so spectacularly to Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 Presidential Election. Landon's daughter, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, 46, a separated mother of four and former aide to incumbent Senator James Pearson, who is retiring, outpolled eight rivals, all of whom grumbled that they did not have her name. Indeed, she made the most of it. "A fresh voice," proclaimed her TV ads, "and a trusted name." Her father, a spry 90, did not participate much in the campaign, but he joined Nancy in one TV ad. Said Nancy: "Don't you think the President has shown a lack of leadership?" Replied Alf: "When the trumpet sounds uncertain, how can you go into battle?" Remarked Nancy with cheerful candor: "It has been said that I am riding on the coattails of my dad. I can't think of any better coattails to ride on." She will doubtless continue to use them when she faces the Democratic primary winner, Bill Roy, 52, a former Congressman and a physician who boasts that he has delivered 5,500 babies.

Republican Governor Robert Bennett, 51, brushed aside two token primary opponents. Even Republicans, however, complain that he does not seem to be much of a Kansan with his beard and his officious manner. He is also under attack for the rise in property taxes. But his Democratic opponent, John Carlin, 38, the boyish-looking speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, is still relatively unknown in a state where Republicans out-number Democrats three to two.

TENNESSEE. Jake Butcher, 42, won the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary largely by spending more than his opponents--$2 million. His wealth became a campaign issue, but Butcher was not exactly apologetic. Supporters wore t-shirts with the inscription IT'S NO SIN TO BE RICH. The candidate liked to talk about the 14 bathrooms in his posh home--one for each year he had to do without indoor plumbing as a boy on the family farm. An aggressive banker who built his empire by heavy borrowing, Butcher told voters: "There are only three ways to make money. I didn't inherit it. I didn't steal it. So I had to borrow it." His tactics resembled those of his friend, go-go banker Bert Lance, who, in fact, borrowed $443,000 from Butcher in 1976 to buy stock in the National Bank of Georgia. Butcher regularly hacks at the King's English, as his wife Sonja admits: "Four years ago, he didn't even know how to say 'gubernatorial' properly." But many of his fans do not care what the slim, silver-haired, smartly dressed candidate says when he flashes his smile. Asked why she was voting for him, a woman with a beehive hairdo gushed: "Lord, honey, them looks!"

Butcher barely got by his closest opponent, Robert Clement, 34, dubbed "Baby Bob" partly because he kept reminding voters that he was the son of Frank Clement, a popular former Governor. Clement's brochures emphasized the connection: "Like father, like son." A born-again Christian, Baby Bob even copied his father's arm-flailing oratory.

Butcher may have a tougher fight against the Republican nominee, Lamar Alexander, 38. A one-time aide to President Nixon, understated Alexander played down his image as a Nashville attorney by exchanging his Brooks Brothers suit for a plaid shirt, khaki pants and hiking boots and trekking 1,000 miles across the state on foot.

Howard Baker proved that in Tennessee, at least, his vote for the Panama Canal treaty hardly nicked him with the voters, even though his conservative opponents attempted to exploit the issue. One made the headlines by printing up fake $100 bills to illustrate his campaign against taxes, only to have the Secret Service confiscate them. Jane Eskind, 45, a long-time Democratic Activist, won her party's nomination and thus became the first woman from a major party to run for the Senate in Tennessee. But she faces one of the most popular votegetters in the history of the state. -

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