Freeport Journal-Standard from Freeport, Illinois • Page 11

Sen. Muskie Still Has Hopes Freeport (III.) Journal-Standard, Monday, July 3, 1972 Page 11 WASHINGTON (AP) Acknowledging the Democratic presidential nomination will likely elude him, Sen. Edmund S. Muskie says it is vital "to avoid the appearance of the will of the convention being frustrated by some backroom cabal" against Sen. George McGovern.

Muskie said he still is convinced he would have a better chance of defeating President Nixon than either McGovern or Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey although he conceded "I have no recent evidence to support that." In an interview with The Associated Press, the Maine senator who once led the Democratic field said he is continuing his campaign to "the end of the road," because while the odds are against him, "the nomination isn't nailed down until the votes are cast." The interview was conducted before the Democratic Credentials Committee voted to strip McGovern of 151 California nominating votes, a move that set back McGovern's effort to assemble a first-ballot convention majority. Here is a partial transcript of the interview: Q. Sen.

Muskie, based on your own experience as a former frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, what happened this year to conventional political wisdom? A. It is true the candidates and their advisers, and observers, did not anticipate what has happened. Nevertheless, if what is meant by conventional wisdom is the capacity to identify the forces that are moving and what people are there is a mood for change. The electorate is willing to rock the boat-they made that clear- and there is likely to be when this election is finished a new road map for the government of this country. Q.

If you were the nominee, could you defeat President Nixon in November? A. I think Q. Could your oppponents for the nomination defeat him? A. Well, I would hope so. The reasons why the President is vulnerable are the same whoever the Democratic nominee may be.

He's vulnerable on his domestic policies and he may still be vulnerable on the Now with respect to Sen. McGovern, his problem is that at the moment his constituency is viewed as a very narrow one. And there are indications he himself realizes this and the need to broaden his constituency. In respect to Sen. Humphrey, his problem is that he has the image of being a loser at this point, fairly or unfairly.

Q. Do you still feel that you have a better chance than either of the others to defeat Nixon if you get the nomination? A. Yes I do. I realize of course that I have no recent evidence to support that And of course the polls reflect the fact I've dropped out of Q. Is it possible to.

stop Sen. McGovern from receiving the nomination and how could that be done? A. Well, I'd rather have the question put this way: Is it possible for Ed Mus- kie to receive the nomination? I don't conceive the active pursuit of my own candidacy to be an essentially stop- movement of any I have the re' sponsibility to continue to the end of the road. Obviously the odds are against my getting down until the votes are Q. If you did get the nomination, how would you prevent a walkout by the more-serious supporters of Sen.

McGovern? A. I don't see why one should pose that possibility as being a necessary result at all. If the followers of every Sen. Edmund Muskie candidate were to take that attitude, you know, there isn't a viable political process. There will be one winner and several losers.

If the supporters of all the losers walk out of this convention, then nobody can win-whoever the nominee Q. Could the many challenges to the credentials of McGovern delegates prevent him from getting the nomination on the first ballot? A. Since more than 40 per cent of all delegates are under challenge, I would assume it's conceivable that the results of those challenges could have a serious Q. As president, exactly how and when would you end the war and how would you get the prisoners back? A. I think our negotiating stance ought to be a willingness to completely withdraw, to end all military activity in Vietnam conditioned upon a return of our prisoners.

Q. Sen. McGovern has indicated he would be willing to withdraw without any conditions. A. Well, that's not my position.

Q. Under President Nixon the economy is expanding, inflation appears to be easing somewhat and new jobs have been created. What would you do to improve the things he's done economically? A. Well, he's reversed himself so often that its very difficult for a person on the outside, standing on the sidelines, to suggest patchwork measures for policies that were wrong in the first I think he has mismanaged a way that has failed to come to grips with pressures upon food prices-on prices generally-while exercising restraints on wages. That's wrong.

I think it's undermined the credibility of his whole policy. Secondly, he hasn't done a thing about His program of tax incentives for business has not produced I've argued for incentives aimed at the consumer more public service jobs, more adequate training programs and other approaches of this Again, President Nixon has resisted He just doesn't believe in those approaches. So, at the end of the year the picture is going to be continued high unemployment and no real dampening of the basic inflationary pressures. Q. Senator, are there any conditions whatsoever-the success of the Democratic ticket in November, for example-that would make you once again accept your party's vice-presidential nomination? A.

I suppose it might be possible to pose hypothetical situations which might make me more receptive to the notion. But then Itlon't see them coming along. Q. Would you accept, in a Democratic administration, a seat on the Cabinet, or even a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court? A.

I never respond to invitations that haven't been made. I see no reason to I am seeking the presidency on the skills and experience I have put together in public life. If that eludes me, as it seems quite likely it will, my next objective is to return to the Q. Does Sen. McGovern's proposed cut of the military budget in fiscal 1975 to about $55 billion jeopardize national defense and how much if any would you trim the defense establishment? A.

I'm not projecting cuts for three I have reached the conclusion you could cut $11.5 or $12 billion from the fiscal 1973 budget. I think projecting beyond 1973 requires an evaluation of what the state of the world might be in three years. And I simply haven't quantified Q. Is there any possibility you and Humphrey or Jackson and Wallace or others might make common cause to prevent the nomination of McGovern- or to assure the nomination of someone else? A. I'm not part of any such agreement or coordinated activity at the present time.

I don't know if the others are. I don't think that's the only way the convention can effectively consider another candidate. After all, if each candidate retains his own support and that support is sufficient in and of itself to hold more than a majority of the delegates away from Sen. McGovern, I don't see that any backroom meetings between the principals is going to add to that number. If at some point down the road if Sen.

McGovern doesn't make it on the first or second ballot and the convention begins to turn to consideration of others, obviously the candidates are going to be vying for delegate support and there could well be then a pooling of support behind one or another candidate. I think it's very important, so far as this convention is concerned, to avoid the appearance of the will of the convention being frustrated by some backroom cabal when the whole purpose of this process is a convention of free I think that to leave the idea that a smoke-filled room is going to decide this nomination, that I think would be very bad. Q. What cost you your position as front runner? A. I don't have all the answers to that.

I play with it once in awhile. I think the basic problem was that I never find a way to convert broad general appeal-many instances second- choice support- with results that were visible in the primaries. I think, secondly that expectations with respect to my performance in the primaries were raised to an unrealizable level. And when I failed to meet those expectations the results I did achieve were I was the second choice of too many voters and the first choice of too Because the high level of expectations wasn't met, not only was my track record put in a bad light, worse than it was, but supporters and potential contributors were discouraged too. If we'd started with a much lower level of expectations, we might have been able 'to build on what we did and peak later.

Q. Are you still getting contributions? A. Yes. Q. Are you in debt? A.

Oh yes. I don't know of a candidate who isn't Q. Has Sen. McGovern promised the voters more than he can deliver? A. Well it's clear that he's advanced proposals that weren't thought through.

And notably among those is his welfare proposals which, if you understand anything about it, is the most controversial and most I would say that as it is now perceived, it couldn't be delivered. HEKE IS A BUSINESS BUILDER Advertise your service in the Want Ads You'll be glad you did 232-1176. World Chess Meet Postponed Two Days How to make twice as much as a typical high school graduate without going to college for 4 years. 25 technical careers you can learn in 2 years or less. REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) The International'Chess Federation postponed the start of the Bobby Fischer- Boris Spassky world championship series until Tuesday after Fischer failed to arrive in Iceland over the weekend.

The American champion was believed still in New York. Fischer's 24-game match with the Russian world's champion was to have begun Sunday, and the president of the world federation, Dr. Max Euwe, announced if the American challenger failed to show up by noon Tuesday he would risk forfeiting his chance at the title. Fischer's representatives in Iceland requested the postponement on the grounds that he was unable to play because of fatigue. But it was generally assumed that the request was part of Fischer's campaign to get more money out of the Icelanders.

Fischer and Spassky have agreed to split a $125,000 purse, with the winner taking five-eights, and are also to each get 30 per cent of the sale of film and television rights. But Fischer is seeking an additional 30 per cent of the gate receipts, and his representatives have been negotiating this point with sponsors of the match, the Icelandic Chess Federation. 'WW fflRSRR Get a year or two of technical training. There are thousands of jobs for technicians in every scientific field from engineering to medicine to computers to ecology. Jobs that pay as much as some college graduates earn.

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The festival Is spending Its first year in New York after violence forced the city of Newport, Rhode Island to ban its return AP Photofax. Rock Music Fans Stranded Near Streator STREATOR, 111. (AP) More than 3,000 rock music fans were stranded overnight in the Sandy Ford Conservation Area near Streator after a Circuit Court judge in LaSalle County issued a temporary injunction barring the staging of the "Spirit of '76 Rock Festival" anywhere in the county. Judge Thomas R. Clydesdale issued the injunction late Sunday, and scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m.

today. The festival, which promotor Herschel T. Tucker said would draw an estimated 30,000 persons, originally was to be held today and Tuesday on the Russell Bailey farm near Mapleton, about 12 miles southwest of Peoria. But Judge Albert J. Pucci of Circuit Court in Peoria County issued an injunction Thursday barring the festival from being held in Peoria County and Bailey canceled his agreement with Tucker.

Tucker then made arrangements to rent a farm in La Salle County about eight miles north of Streator. Rock fans who had already gathered in the Peoria area by Sunday were told to go instead to the La Salle County site. But with Judge Clydesdale's injunction, La Salle County sheriff's deputies herded the rock music fans into the conservation area, awaiting the outcome of hearings on the injunction. Tucker could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman for the promoter said the festival would be cancelled only if another site could not be found. Performers scheduled for the festival include the Mackinaw Valley Boys, New Riders of the Purple Sage, R.

E. 0. Speedwagon, Quick Silver Messenger Service and J. J. Gale.

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