The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 4

LK Atlanta gottnial ttidUVNSIHlTHVN bAIUKUM.wn irou. ennedy To Halve St aff 'Go For Broke In IlUnoisNvf. 1 (L From Prru OitMtdtn Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, has begun converting what was once a top-of-the-ltne presidential campaign into a low-budget operation to try to be able to stay In the race at least one more month.

Alter three losses in a row to President Carter, two of them in Kennedy's native New England, Kennedy's campaign advisers have decided to cut the payroll by SO percent, spend the savings on $270,000 worth of television advertising and "go for broke" in the big industrial states of Illinois and New York. In Savannah, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. predicted Friday that Carter would drop out of the presidential race as did Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Kennedy, 25, on a four-state campaign swing for his uncle, said Eugene McCarthy's New Hampshire primary vote 12 years ago was smaller than Edward Kennedy's 1980 total, but still sufficient to force the incumbent out of the race.

"I think if it wasn't for the expectations that had been set up for Kennedy by the press and others, that Jimmy Carter would have stepped down already. I expect he'll step down sometime during the campaign," he said. On the Republican front, Ronald Reagan, campaigning in Florida, said the GOP debates are getting repetitive, criticized, the striking Chicago firemen and declared that one marijuana cigarette "probably is several times the cancer hazard for lung and throat cancer that a tobacco cigarette is. ence Friday. "Sen! Kennedy knows that You know that President Carter knows that" Kennedy's plan, according to Smith and other advisers, is to run "low to the ground" for another month in hopes that Carter's popularity will drop to the level it was before the American hostages were taken captive In Iran.

Many of Kennedy's hopes are pinned on his showing in the March 18 primary in Illinois, where, as one Kennedy aide put it, the senator's campaign organization is "pretty Kennedy, advisers have been worried in recent months that Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne, who has become Increasingly unpopular in her city, may be dragging the senator's campaign down. Kennedy flew to Chicago Friday morning to hold a fund-. raiser with Mrs. Byrne. While there, he was jeered by striking firemen.

When a reporter joked that yea "don't have to smoke as many" marijuana cigarettes, Nancy Reagan nudged her bus-band and whispered, "you wouldn't know." Said Reagan, "I wouldn't i i In other presidential campaign developments: A Bush campaign worker who charged John Connalls campaign with promising money for black votes in Sfluth Carolina said he got the information second-hand. iave no proof," said Bush worker James Timmons. Connally has denied the charge. Bush said he did ''nothing improper" in handling copies of a list of GOP Senate candidates who received campaign funds from a Nixon White House "slush fund" in 1970. He denounced as "an absolute lie" an assertion by Sen.

Lowell Weicker, that Bush raised the question of destroying copies of the "slush fund" records during a telephone conversation In July 1973. The new game plan, hammered out Thursday during a 12-hour summit session with aides at the senator's suburban Virginia home, all but ignores the March 11 primaries in Georgia, Florida and Alabama states where polls show his popularity it biw. 1 us a winnawe campaign, saia nenneays campaign manager and brother-in-law, Stephen Smith, at a news confer rtifinMAil r.nnt fn rta 1A ...7. neview i -i i. i '( mmmmmmmm 777! 777.

tact, like God and Adam reaching for each other on the Sistine Chapel ceiling with, "coincidentally," a camera team frnm the lnral TV ctarinn there tn film and they get to fix. the event In the minds of those who weren't there. It's not what' happened, but what they say happened like, Gene Shalit saying he had fun "All That Jazz" even when yoq didn't. "Which is more pejorative listless or lackluster?" a Los Angeles Times re- porter asked an AP man. 7" "Connally didn't like some of the stuff I wrote," smiled another, obviously pleased that" his negative review had hurt in high places.

The ttoliticians and it See me, feel me, touch me, the candidate says. The sometimes unspoken corollary. Vote for me. ur'l. The Look There is a number in the musical "A Chorus Line" called "Dance 10, Looks 3," implying that the aspiring hoofer could 'do all the rieht steos but still lack the lliliii the press have the same lovebate relationship as the critics and the producers.

Each sorely needs' the other, each makes rr: the other The Great Debate v. 'proper, urn, presentation, a situation' remediable by plastic On looks alone never mind the two- 'step John Connally is easily the most impressive of the four. Bush clean- cut, chiseled chin, Eddie Haskell (Wally's friend in "Leave It to Beaver') smile looks like someone you'd, bring home to 4 meet Daddy. Connally, with his silver I mane (no longer blue-rinsed) and pros- perous three-piece suits, looks like Reagan looks like Daddy's best friend.7 Or maybe a confused uncle. Baker is a younger, handsomer version" of Ned Beatty.

Or an older, handsomer version of Wallv On the "Ozzie and i. 'a tSx i VBH1I' wi 7 "His style Is subdued, relaxed, soothing, almost soporific. His voice is 'mellifluous and (Staff Photos by Calvin Cruce and. Bill Mahan) 7V7VlV Connally (with young Georgia well-wishers at left): with bis silver mane (no longer blue-rinsed) and prosperous three-piece suits, looks like Daddy." Reagan (taking an ice cream break in Boca Raton, at tight): Costumes And Props Big John, heah? Bush's catch-word is "service." Like the service of the man who wore the star at Texaco. Baker's slogan, more or less, is that he is not, a professional candidate.

That may explain the Ted Mack nature of his campaign thus far. '7 7" be a part of the, show. trt; 4 They're the ones who "dress the set" and are often responsible for turning out the crowd. Their finest moment comes when a Connally thanks Janey and Big Earl for the fine barbecue or when a Reagan makes a joke about the mara-. thoh T-shirt they made up especially for him.

They are what makes this country worth believing in, somehow, evenwhen you don't agree with what they believe in. Reagan favors dark two-piece suits, as -do' Baker and Bush. A Bush touch a navy tie with green polka-dots that, on closer inspection, turn out to be little green Republican elephants. Connally -goes for the riverboat gambler, look three-piece pin-striped suits and Gucci shoes. Everyone wears a white shirt.

Leave the denim to Jimmy. Reagan's major props are his entourage the flock of Secret Service men who precede him everywhere, the half-dozen or more motorcycle cops who escort him to the local airport, the police cars with flashing lights that hold back pearances. He once told a Time reporter that his major regret was that when he made a luncheon speech, he often had to miss dessert Connally endures his introductions by either sitting ramrod-straight or assuming The Thinker pose hand on chin, staring off into middle distance. Reagan keeps right on eating (at one luncheon, he grabbed a hunk of lettuce in his hand and plopped it into his mouth), responding but not over-responding to what's being said, especially jokes on him. When speaking, he uses almost no ges-.

tures and generally keeps his voice at a warm, homey level When I saw him, he seemed to lose it completely only once "The Americans," he announced at a fundraiser, then paused as if he were about to say something truly momentous, i so great," he finally added. Put that in your Great Words of Great Men pamphlet After last eek's Night Live" in New Hampshire, the audience at Thursday's Great Debate in Columbia, didn't know what to expect What they got was a modified love-in as the four candidates joined ranks and buried the New Hampshire hatchet It was an evening of fellowship, not fireworks. Outside Longstreet Theater; where th debate took place, was like Oscar Night with a cheering mass (mostly students) there to greet each starcandidate as he stepped into the glare of the TV lights; Inside, the audience chattered like first-nighters at the Metropolitan Opera. -Most of the spectators appeared to be students, local, bigwigs and the press. 3 "Didn't I see you at Three Mile Island?" I the LA.

Times woman asked the Wall i Street Journal man; "Yeah," he replied, "we always meet at disasters." -7 The moderator, Jim Lehrer, asked that we not "clap, holler, cheer or Probably, he'd seen the crowd at a University of South Carolina football game. The stage was a simple! in-the-round set-up, with pristine blue carpeting and a chair and end table with a water pitcher and glass for each candidate. Bush entered first-carrying, a huge sheaf of notes. He appeared the most uncomfortable throughout the evening fumbling nervously for his glasses when the TV cameras weren't on him, listen-' ing to the others' answers with one jaw muscle jumping convulsively. The "after theater" consensus among the "critics" was that he'd had the wont evening.

Baker came out next, smiling and looking considerably more relaxed than Bush. "My God, Howard's not wearing his brown suit," gasped the Wall Street Journal. He was wearing a dark blue suit -(as was Reagan; Bush was in gray; Connally In the traditional pin-stripe). Baker had a very good evening. Of the four, he was the most likable and most directly communicative with his audi ence connecting is what they call it in the theatre.

He got the most laughs and he obviously enjoyed himself the most of up there. Maybe that's. because he felt he had the least to lose. Connally strode out third, and the first thing that struck me is that his head is noticeably larger than the I don't mean Swollen, just physically bigger. He moderated his b-and-b style somewhat to accommodate the intimacy of the 300- seat theatre.

Still, he did get in some old-fashioned speechifyin' "I want an America that is this, I want an America that is that," etc. -v. He injected the only vague notes of discord, taking some soft pot-shots at Reagan. When he said that Reagan had Reagan doesnt have a slogan. He doesn't need one.

Everyone knows what Ronald Reagan stands for. And against. The Sets The sets are as similar as the styles are different A podium, a BushCon-nallyReaganBaker for President banner strung wherever it'll fit. If it's a gym, the basketball nets are usually pulled back. If it's Whitehall Lounge at a Holiday Inn in Anderson, S.C., tables are set aside with candidate paraphernalia buttons, brochures, bumper stickers.

Harriet Show." He is also short. Very short. v.t. Speaking Style Their styles are reflected in their names. George Bush Taut Sharp.

Choppy. John Connally MajesteriaL Puffed-up. Like the "Ed Sullivan" song Paul Lynde sang in "Bye Bye Ronald Reagan Soft Flowing. Like a Stephen Foster lyric: "Way down upon the Ronald Reagan. "Ha'ard" Baker folksy, accessible.

The name of someone who lives in Andy Griff ith-ville. Bush is the least effective public speaker of the four. He moves jerkily, like a mechanical mannequin in a department store window at Christmas. His gestures seem overly choreographed, as if he's had extensive coaching, then practiced at home In front of the mirror. His voice is tight and constricted.

He often stands with his feet perfectly laralleL heel and toe almost touching, ike an 8th-grader at a tea dance. He favors one-handed gestures, almost exclusively the left while the right hand dangles woodenly by his side. Sometimes, when he makes a point balling his left hand into an aggressive fist the right hand, unseen by the audience, also clenches. His favorite variation on the one-handed gesture is to clasp both hands behind his back. The overall effect is of a senior-class valedic- torian.

.7 Baker is a non-threatening speaker. -He relies a good deal on humor and, of the four, makes the best connection with an audience though, surprisingly, he is probably the least comfortable in a one on-one situation. Ke has a nervous habit of playing with his lower lip, but it makes him appear pensive (Wall it's like this. .) rather than tense. His gestures are non-aggressive, almost pleading, with open palms and outstretched lingers.

He favors homilies: "He who doesn't tooteth his own trumpet doesn't get his trumpet tooted." The overall effect is of a savvy cracker-barrel philosopher. The problem 7 is that the type is traditionally long and lean (Jimmy Stewart, right, Mr. tie overall effect is of a beloved local A space is cordoned off for press and the pol introducing the next president of the 1 all-imnortant cameras. No one has set United States. Jack Warner was right tied on a color theme yet, a la Jimmy Carter and Masters' Green.

Just your basic red, white and blue, which makes a nice contrast to the lime-green leisure suits many of the audience members wear The Audience They are, the most important part of the show. Not just because of their, vote the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country" Ambrose Bierce) but because of their very presence. A politician can't politic without someone to politic to. Tom Stoppard put it this way in his play "Rosencranti and Guildenstern Are Dead," in which an actor, describing the humiliation of unknowingly being deserted by his audience, says, (T)o be tricked out of the single assumption that makes our existence viable: that somebody is watching. We ransomed our dignity to the clouds, and the uncomprehending birds listened." Candidates haven't the time, to win over birds, so they must trust their crew that those warm bodies will be there.

And that the local TV station is there to record the body count The audience also gives the politician the chance to renew himself. Listening to the same jokes, the same promises, the same speech wears down the press, but making the same jokes, recharges the politician. In the act of performing, of becoming actor for an audience, something in his bottomless ego-well is replenished. An hour's rest in a motel room doesn't do half the good of a standing ovation. Stoppard again: "We're actors (read, politicians).

We're the opposite of people." Candidate Humor A John Connally joke: "If appeasement were an art form, Jimmy Carter would be the Rembrandt of our age." A Ronald Reagan joke (no, not the -duck joke): "Jerry. Brown is on both sides of every issue. Ted Kennedy is on the wrong side of every issue. Jimmy Carter doesn't know what the issues are." A Howard Baker joke: "If George Bush isn't president, I'll offer him a spot in my administration." A George Bush joke: George doesn't tell many jokes. Slogans, Catch-Words These are important Like blurbs for a Broadway show new musical," "A they tell the audience what expectations to bring to the performance.

Connally's slogan is "Leadership for America" and his catch-word is "tough." The message: You don't give no Hp to The Crew There are the staff members and there are the volunteers. The staff are the pros, whose main concern is that the show go on and the press be there to catch it Even if the hall is half full' and the candidate is a half-hour late. The volunteers are the "little people," the enthusiastic local amateurs who make such momentous decisions as where to put the coffee pot The most star-struck of all, they bask in the tiny slivers of reflected glory when the candidate strides confidently into the Ramada Inn lounge or the college gym. They behave like community theater groupies, speaking of full houses and a place for the press. They are the stage- struck kids who always, auditioned for the senior play and ended up a walk-on in charge of the prop table, happy, Just to traffic, at intersections lest the Reagan caravan be inconvenienced.

Every siren, every flashing blue light is a reminder Here comes (or there goes) a VIP. Bush relies very little on props. His entourage is less visible, and the only ob- ject he keeps on the podium with him is a wine glass filled with water. Pretty courageous, considering his loop-the-loop speaking style. Connally had two major props on his swing through South Carolina a dollar bill he whipped out nearly every speech to show the fading value thereof, and VS.

Sen. Strom Thurmond. Thurmond, at 77 a force unto himself in American politics, did for Connally in South Carolina what a 14-car motorcade did for Reagan in Florida he turned the date's way. 7 7 Playing Falstaff to Connally's Prince Hal, Thurmond hammered home the "tough" theme and tried to diffuse Connally's rich-man rep by reminding the crowd at every stop that "heah's the son of a bus driver." And after a Thurmond introduction, Connally seemed almost laid-back in comparison. Also on the Connally tour: square dancers in Beaufort and singing Girl Scouts in Aiken.

Props, one supposes, more than sets. Minor Gaffes 7 Like when the phone doesn't ring on cue or the cute dog makes, a "mistake" 'onstage. Connally referred to Thurmond as "my dear prejudiced friend," meaning prejudiced in his (Connally's) favor. Some black students at Lander College in Greenwood, S.C., exchanged knowing Bush, lured to a table by a 60-ish siren in red-and-white tropical print and red-and-white face (red lipstick, white pow- der), found himself faced with an old man in seersucker who grabbed his hand hard and said, "I want to say a few things to you." Bush, grin still visibly in place, tried his Eddie Haskell "yes, sirs, thank yon sirs." The old man began a small speech while Bush tried to extricate his impri-. soned palm without being too obvious.

Just about the time the man accused "been running for president since 1964," the former California governor did an exaggerated comic; dropping one leg in mock shock. If he weren't 69, he might've tried a pratfalL Connally's best moment was when he listened to Bush's 'final' statement His face clearly and politely read, "Who could vote for a nerd like this for t-it 'XM Reagan, with the 'proper lese majeste, was last out To the "critics" watching over the closed-circuit monitor in the press room, he had as good an evening as Baker. Reagan is amazingly camera-wise. When Lehrer made, the the others sat stiffly staring at their interlocutors, but Reagan looked right at that bright little red camera flight and smiled. sfta He was slightly more aggressive than.

he had been on the road, as if his per---7 formance had been keyed up by opening if': and Baker is short and Howard Baker just may be too short to be president Connally is of the old school bellow-and-bombast He attacks an audi-, ence, drawing them to him with two-handed gestures (at one point he scooped out the Panama Canal for us) and Socratic questions Do you know you're being held hostage? What are we going to do about it? He isn't just a speaker he's an orator with his rich, roaring voice and tub-thumping rhetoric. He's a politician out of a John Ford western, and Ford was never too fond of politics. Connally almost seems a relic from a more innocent time when we expected our leaders to stand tall and talk tall. The overall effect is Lome Greene on "Bonanza," just after some skunk has wounded Hoss. t.

Ronald Reagan acted In movies, not on stage, and that determines his very different style. Raving played for the close-up in more than SO movies (if Bogart hadn't been available "(to play Rick in "Casablanca," we might never have had to worry about Reagan for president Ronnie was the original choice), Reagan understands that less is more. 'His style is subdued, relaxed, soothing. Almost soporific. At an Alabama Jay-' cees luncheon, he was a balm in Bir-mingham.

His voice Is mellifluous and 1- -reassuring. Connally makes lists, Reagan tells stories. His age (69), which is a minor campaign, issue, is less apparent in the way he looks than in the way he acts. He sometimes slurs words, and he often can't hear questions. Yet and this is a key effect of the show none "of this ruffles him.

deafness, no problem. This is a man who can fall into a birthday cake "and come out smiling. I Rcaxan appears to enjoy these ap- -mssm' 17 vv i ly Yv A-r f'; IIP It I f.sjj mm.rri night jitters. He was surprisingly force- him of not saying anything in tee speech -M on the topic of marijuana. When he he'd just made, Bush got his Big Mo in speaking, he wore a half-smile, as if he knew something his rivals didn't His summation was appropriately stirring the old dty on the bill" bit -but it sounded Just fine.

1. 1 At 10:30, there was no more time left for anyone to say anything else nice about everyone else, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" had turned Into "Love Story." While Reagan sLgned autographs, the other three "clustered center-stage. gear, jerking his hand loose and almost knocking over a table setting in the process. For a brief moment, he looked genu- -inely disturbed. Well-bred Yale men, after all, den't go around spilling the sil-.

verware. Reagan, having, offended ducks all over the country, made no noticeable blunders this time around. His inability to hear questions has become part of the act Less an embarrassment jnd more a character quirk, 7 The Critics. These are the press, of course, who have it all ways they are part of the show, they form part of the audience, into the mysterious bowels of backstage, regrouping briefly for a rccepaon at the USC Faculty Club, then on to New England or Florida or wherever--'else the show had to go on. After all, there's no business like show business even with Baker (auriun a stopoff in South Carolina at left): "A younger, handsomer version.

of Ned Beatty. Or an older, handsomer version of Wally of the 'Ozzie and Harriet' show." Bush (meeting former Democratic Congressman Bryan Dora, left, and former Secretary of Commerce Frederick Dent, center, at the Vaiversity of South Carolina at Spartanburg, where Dora teaches a course in Southern politics): "He moves jerkily, like a mechanical mannequin in a department store window at Christmas." a turkey that yw know will fold; 1.