In his most famous movie role, Ronald Reagan, as the strep-stricken Notre Dame halfback George Gipp, insisted on going to Illinois to play the Big Game against Northwestern. He made the do-or-die try, and sure enoughin a scene worth three wet handkerchiefshe died soon afterward.
Something of the sort happened last week in Illinois to Reagan's candidacy. Its health had been severely taxed by four primary losses to President Ford, yet Reagan gamely pushed on to Illinois and suffered his worst defeat so far. Score: Ford 59%, Reagan 40%. (Ford got the news in his second-floor White House study, while he was...