Nation: Now, for the Hard Sell

Carter campaigns—and so does Rosalynn—to rouse the people

He started out slightly nervous, licking his lips, hesitant. But Jimmy Carter's opening statement at his press conference under the grandiose chandeliers of the White House East Room was a purposeful and passionate appeal to the American people. "I need your help," he said. "This is a democracy. Your voice can be heard. Your voice must be heard."

This was the post—Camp David Jimmy Carter, a President eager to assert his leadership and to lash out at critics, of whom, a coast-to-coast survey by TIME bureau chiefs showed, there...