The Senate: Issues of Personality

A Senator unexpectedly finds himself running against a woman who is famous for winning uphill battles. A liberal suddenly discovers that his biggest rival is the Roman Catholic hierarchy. A classic confrontation between the opposite ends of an industrial state. A Congressman uses his acquittal on vote-buying charges to calculated advantage. All are part of this year's House and Senate races, as illustrated by TIME'S continuing series on the congressional contests.

The Gary and Mary Show

"You cannot label Gary Hart," boasts an ebullient supporter of the Democratic Senator from Colorado. Indeed, Hart first achieved national prominence as the manager of George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. But then Hart won election to the Senate in 1974, with 59% of the vote, and quickly established himself as neither liberal nor conservative on key issues. For instance, he favors increasing the Pentagon budget, especially for more small ships and more fighter-bombers that can operate from small airfields. He also backs nuclear plants, though he thinks that atomic power will eventually be abandoned as too expensive. In a normal political year, Hart would be a clear favorite for reelection.

But Colorado voters this year are leaning heavily toward Ronald Reagan, and the Senator's Republican opponent is no ordinary politician. At 22, Mary Estill Buchanan was widowed, gave birth to her second child and graduated from Wellesley College, all within twelve months. The petite Buchanan (5 ft. 2 in.) went on to Harvard Business School (M.B.A. '62), a career as a labor-management consultant, a second marriage and four more children before her divorce in 1976.

After serving on several state advisory boards, she was elected Colorado's secretary of state in 1974 and four years later was re-elected by a record 522,000 votes. This year at 45, she set her sights on Hart's seat and beat Runner-Up Howard ("Bo") Callaway, the former Georgia Congressman and Secretary of the Army, who owns an elegant ski resort in Crested Butte, Colo., by 1,603 votes for the Republican nomination.

Since then, Buchanan has hit Hart hard for supporting the Panama Canal Treaties and for backing Jimmy Carter in 80% of his Senate votes. Says she: "He votes one way and talks another when he is back here. He is a liberal, McGovernite carpetbagger." Hart retorts that Buchanan's charges reflect her narrow viewpoint and insists that his campaign will rise above partisanship. Says he: "I will not ignore her. We will interact and debate, but I am going to run a campaign for the 1980s. What is her plan for the environment? For national defense? For the economy? It took me a year or so to formulate my ideas."

While Buchanan is scrambling to raise a modest war chest of $200,000. Hart has had no trouble collecting $600,000 for his campaign. Says he: "I don't feel vulnerable at all."

An East-West Game

East is east and west is west, as Kipling knew, but in Pennsylvania the twain meet regularly, in bitter contests for public office between politicians from Philadelphia and those from the Pittsburgh area. This year the prize is the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Richard Schweiker. The contestants are Democratic former Mayor Peter Flaherty, 55, of Pittsburgh and Republican former District Attorney Arlen Specter, 50, of Philadelphia.

The candidates both have a history of losing. Flaherty, despite plaudits from many western Pennsylvania voters for having faced down Pittsburgh's municipal unions and cut the city payroll by about 25% while he was mayor in 1970-77, lost the Senate race against Schweiker in 1974 and the Governor's race against Republican Richard Thornburgh in 1978, partly because of insufficient support in Philadelphia. Specter, a household name in Philadelphia as a crusading district attorney in 1966-74, lost the 1976 Republican Senate primary to John Heinz and the 1978 gubernatorial primary to Thornburgh, partly because he could not attract enough votes in western Pennsylvania.

The candidates differ little on the issues. Both promise to back measures that would revive Pennsylvania's coal and steel industries. Both have endorsed a mixture of tax cuts and "supply side" incentives to improve the national economy. Both back the MX mobile missile system; Specter charges that Flaherty is "soft on national defense" because he opposes the defunct B-l bomber and neutron bomber programs, but Flaherty counters that he supports the cruise missile and Trident submarine programs.

The race thus boils down mostly to a choice between personalities. Specter has hired Campaign Consultant David Garth, who has put together a series of TV ads that portray the ex-D.A. as a man who would serve all Pennsylvanians, from the poor in Philadelphia to the steelworkers in Pittsburgh. Specter has also amassed a war chest of $1 million, including $525,000 from state and national Republican committees. Flaherty, whose previous campaigns were managed by his wife, has taken elocution lessons from a college debate coach and hired Washington Pollster Peter Hart, who advised him to stress his record as mayor, particularly when campaigning in Philadelphia, where the contest will probably be settled.

Two years ago, Flaherty was torpedoed in Philadelphia's black wards by Republican claims that as Pittsburgh's mayor he had neglected the city's ghettos and opposed busing as a way to desegregate schools. This year he has carefully cultivated Philadelphia's black leaders. Moreover, he has the support of two popular vote getters: Philadelphia Mayor William Green and Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who could provide him with the edge he needs to beat Specter on his home ground.

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