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Reagan constantly repeats that California is the world's largest producer of pornography: "The biggest joke in Paris, France, is that instead of selling French postcards, they're selling California postcards." Reagan has come out foursquare for a radical anti-obscenity proposal on the November ballot called the CLEAN amendment. In favoring it, the candidate is in direct opposition not only to Pat Brown but also to his own running mate, Robert Finch, the astute progressive Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, who was Nixon's presidential-campaign manager.
The ugliest issue is, of course, race relations. Reagan himself is firmly on record against discrimination, and State G.O.P. Chairman Parkinson confidently predicts: "When he's elected, you'll see Negroes and Mexican-Americans on Reagan's staff; Brown has just talked." Nevertheless, Reagan will almost certainly benefit more than Brown from white backlash votes, which could be a powerful factor this year—particularly after San Francisco's race violence last week.
Pat Brown has had some trouble finding his footing on the issue of open housing—first embracing it, then backing off. His indecision cost him the dedication of some liberals, and Brown is so fearful of the issue that a couple of weeks ago he made the fatuous suggestion that all discussion of open housing be banned from the campaign.
Next to his attempts to picture Reagan as a wild-eyed extremist, Brown's strongest debating point has been that in governmental affairs Reagan is a wide-eyed innocent. Day after day, commercials drone over radio and TV.
Actor-Dancer Gene Kelly says smoothly, "I've played many roles before the camera. I've been a soldier, a gambler, and even a major-league baseball player. I know I could play the role of a Governor but that I could never really sit in his chair and make decisions affecting the education of millions of children." And Bonanza's Hoss, alias Dan Blocker, tells the folks: "I earn my living in front of a camera—pretending to be somebody I'm not. But one of my colleagues is having trouble separating fantasy from reality . . ." "It's true I've never held public office," Reagan retorts. "But if we're going to base the election on that, consider that Brown's been in office eight years and he hasn't done much about our problems!" And he punches hard at the fact that "citizen-politicians" can construct the "Creative Society" that Reagan uses as his campaign theme. "Don't forget," he says, "there weren't any professional politicians when this country started."
The question of Reagan's lack of experience is, of course, a vital one. If he is elected, he will at least go to Sacramento without obligations to the bosses and backers who hagride most professional politicians. He will have to show that a citizen-Governor can govern. That is not an impossible challenge. As Nixon said last week of Reagan and Michigan's G.O.P. Governor George Romney: "They are new. And they project the mystique of the future rather than the past."