Kennedy's One-Note Message

He is banking on the economic issue--with mixed returns

His face red, his beefy right fist chopping the air, Ted Kennedy roared his litany: "And I say the only fair way, the only equitable way, the only effective way to break the back of inflation is to put a freeze on, right across the board, on prices, on wages, on interest rates, on profits and dividends and rents. I say enough is enough." The sparse crowd in Skokie, Ill., roared back its approval one snowy night last week. But earlier that same day in Chicago, the same Kennedy line had fallen flat.

The state of the economy has become the one-note message of Kennedy's troubled presidential campaign; it brings frustration, but he hopes it may bring salvation.

"We must not fight the battle of inflation on the backs of the poor and black and Hispanic and inner-city youth," Kennedy cried to a crowd of Hispanics in Chicago. And when a TV interviewer asked about other things, Kennedy sidestepped six questions in a row about his "character" and kept saying, "Economic issues are going to be the decisive issues."

That remains to be seen. Apart from the wage-price freeze, Kennedy seldom spells out his economic plans. He says that Congress should "breathe new life into the supply side" and that Government should "retool the American economy." When Kennedy is preaching to the converted, he sounds fiery and persuasive; when he encounters a skeptical middle-class audience, his voice goes flat and he often seems to lose interest. Kennedy's fervent defense of Government programs such as nutrition for the elderly and low-income housing please those directly affected, but they also confirm his image as a big spender. Alone among all major candidates, Kennedy denounces the resolve to have a balanced budget as the pursuit of a "myth."

In this, as in foreign policy, Kennedy has been unable to overcome the White House domination of the news, to translate popular concern with Administration policies into votes for himself. "Everybody's watching the White House to see what Carter will do," says a Kennedy aide, "so they are not really listening to us."

But another reason "they are not listening" is the unshakable problem of Kennedy's credibility. Even when he campaigns with Joan at his side, people keep expressing doubts about Chappaquiddick. Says one key adviser: "Until we can shake the moral issue, it is damn hard to make our substantive case." It may be unshakable. The New York Times last week front-paged a story on phone call records that apparently should have been part of the Chappaquiddick investigation but were not. Said an angry Kennedy: "There has been no family whose personal lives have been investigated as much as my life, the life of my wife, my children, my nieces and nephews."

Kennedy's economic views were of no help in last week's primaries in Jimmy Carter's Southern stronghold. The President overwhelmed the Senator by 10 to 1 in his native Georgia, 6 to 1 in neigh boring Alabama, and nearly 3 to 1 in Florida. Carter ran badly in sections of south Florida's Gold Coast, where many Jewish voters, upset over the Administration's inept handling of the United Nations resolution condemning Israel for its settlement policy, cast ballots for Kennedy or "no preference." In all, Carter picked up at least 178 of the 208 delegates at stake in last week's contests so far, for a total of 222 to Kennedy's 113. The President also swept Democratic caucuses in Delaware, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Washington. He lost to Kennedy only in Alaska's caucuses. Chortled Carter to Georgia Governor George Busbee: "We whipped him."

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