Playing the Florida Game

Carter and Kennedy face off in a quirky contest

Some day it may be a case history in the politics of much ado about nothing; of the latter-day American penchant to be first, even if it is with the least, to launch the presidential sweepstakes; to invent a game if there is no game in town. Welcome, fans, to Florida's theater of the absurd, where on Oct. 13 an unannounced candidate for re-election (Jimmy Carter) is pitted against an unannounced challenger (Edward Kennedy) in a dog-and-pony show without substance beyond what is made of--or made up about--it. A mere 1% of the state's 2.8 million registered Democrats are expected to turn out to vote in 67 county caucuses for slates of people who will have absolutely nothing to say about the delegates that Florida will eventually send to the 1980 Democratic National Convention. No matter. For weeks the money, the press, the cameras, the organizers have been pouring into Florida to blanket this nonevent, ensuring that at the very least one of the contenders will emerge grinning with "momentum" and the other with an Aesopian disclaimer that the outcome was, after all, meaningless. Probably both, alas, will be right. TIME Correspondent Richard Woodbury reports:

In a tiny, windowless office on West Palm Beach's Datura Street, Erica Bennett last week made one phone call after another to musical booking agents. Finally, she lined up the Gwen McCray group for a free performance at Gains Park next Saturday afternoon for 1,000 young people. But this will be disco with a difference: before going to the dance, each guest will be expected to stop by Forest Hill High School and cast a vote of confidence for Jimmy Carter.

While Bennett was making phone calls, three volunteers in a stark union hall eight miles northwest of Datura Street were preparing 3-in. by 5-in. cards for mailing to 1,800 members of the local branch of the machinists' union. The cards urged them to stop by Forest Hill High, but not to vote for Carter. Read the message: "Be there, Kennedy Democrats, October 13th."

From the populous Gold Coast to the rural panhandle, Florida Democrats these days are flushed with a premature case of presidential campaign fever. The cause is the round of caucuses on Oct. 13 at which Democrats will choose 878 delegates to a convention on Nov. 16-18 in St. Petersburg. There they will be joined by 839 other delegates, including party officials and officeholders, and cast a straw vote on their preference for the Democratic presidential nominee in 1980. It is one of the quirkier contests in the history of American politics, since it has a theoretical significance rating of about minus ten. Not until after a primary on March 11 will Florida Democrats select their 100 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Nonetheless, the Carter and Kennedy forces are waging an all-out battle over the caucuses, for the real target is not the hearts and minds of Florida's Democrats but the national newspaper headlines.

Carter Coordinator Jay Hakes understates matters when he notes that "the perception is as important as the reality." The Carter supporters want to demonstrate that Kennedy can be defeated. On the other hand, says Sergio Bendixen, co-director of the Kennedy forces, "if we can beat an incumbent President with an unannounced candidate, it's a stunning accomplishment.''

The sides seem evenly matched. Carter's forces have a larger organization, including control of the party machinery and loyal party officials in each county, and more money (total budget: $250,000). For the past several months the White House has been raining appointments and grants on the state. For example, ex-Governor Reubin Askew was made Carter's special trade negotiator, and Miami was awarded a $2 million grant to rejuvenate the Little Havana district. In addition, the President's people in Washington have dispatched a steady stream of high-level visitors, starting with the President and Rosalynn Carter in late August. Mrs. Carter has been back twice.

What the draft-Kennedy forces lack in money (total budget: $175,000) and big-name resources, they make up for in youthful spirits and shoe leather. They have hundreds of volunteers, directed by a small but experienced team of campaign veterans. It is a bare-knuckle fight. Observes A.J. Boland, Democratic chairman in Escambia County in the panhandle: "They're shooting to kill here, fighting like cats and dogs. The Kennedy people in the county intend to march their slate, 32 strong, to the voting place in a mass, to prevent last-minute defections."

The bloodiest battlegrounds are the urban areas. In Broward County, Carter Chairman Larry Hochendoner has set up a bank of phones, manned by six women volunteers, in his Fort Lauderdale headquarters. Last week they were in the midst of calling 20,000 registered Democrats. "This is not a conversion process," observed Hochendoner. "The name of the game is identifying and delivering votes." The phone calls went like this: "Hello, I'm calling for the President. How do you intend to vote on the 13th?" If the answer was for Kennedy, the conversation was ended. If the Democrat seemed to favor Carter, the volunteer noted the voter's name on a white legal pad. For those who need transportation, Hochendoner has lined up 50 buses, at an average cost of $100 each.

Even so, voting will require considerable stamina. Some Democrats will have to travel 30 miles to a polling place --there is only one in each county --and wait up to two hours for their ballots, which can be a yard long and contain as many as 800 names. Just to make matters more complicated, the candidates will be listed in alphabetical order, with nothing to indicate whether they support Carter or Kennedy. As a result, each camp is passing out lists of delegates to supporters, so they will know how to mark their ballots.

On the other side of Fort Lauderdale, in a loft on U.S. Highway 1, volunteers in blue Kennedy T shirts were also working at a bank of phones, trying to line up blocs of voters--from elderly residents of condominiums to youthful opponents of nuclear power. The volunteers are fired up with a sense of mission. Said Salesman John Adams: "The whole world is watching. We have a chance to bring big change in the country, right from this county."

Nowhere is the battle between the two camps fiercer than in Dade County, which includes Miami and will select the most delegates, 188. The Kennedy side is led by Mike Abrams, who operates out of a public relations agency on Biscayne Boulevard. At a meeting of 400 workers in the grand ballroom of the Dupont Plaza Hotel, he announced that the Kennedy workers would wear "K" stickers on caucus day so that they can be identified and served Cokes as they wait in line. Joked he: "The other side will probably have caviar, but all of you bring 25 people and we will win." His fleet of caucus-day vehicles includes seven black limousines from funeral homes.

Abrams' former wife Nancy is a leader of the Carter forces in Dade County. She is a veteran of the 1976 Carter presidential campaign and works out of her own public relations agency in Miami. Said she: "Mike is a good organizer, but we have most of the party organization, and we are outmaneuvering him." Her chief complaint is that Mike took a list of 3,000 activist party people with him when he joined the Kennedy side and refuses to share it with her. Griped Nancy: "We need those badly. We're denied access." To which Mike and the other Kennedy people replied in effect: "Hogwash."

Be that as it may, Nancy Abrams and crew were doing their best to out-cola the Kennedy people in taking care of the voters on caucus day. Said Nancy: "Whoever takes care of them best has the key." In addition to cold drinks, she and her workers will offer them umbrellas and seats. She boasted: "We have plenty of buses, all air conditioned." Said she of her side's supporters: "Sure there's dissatisfaction with Carter, but people aren't ready to switch. There are underlying bad feelings about Kennedy."

Given the small turnout that is expected, as few as 100 votes could decide many of the contests, even in the big counties. In any event, no matter who wins the caucuses, President Carter is the heavy favorite to carry the straw vote in November, because his followers dominate the party machinery and hold most of the elective offices. Of 135 seats at the convention already assigned by party executive committees, Carterites claim they have all but ten. Said Carter volunteer Chip Ford of Miami of the caucus results: "Who is to say who has won? The true meaning of it all, who knows?" On the other hand, observed Lawyer Bill McCarthy, a Kennedy backer in Miami: "Since everyone is looking, what we are doing is important."

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