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"Morality Gap." On pocketbook issues, Brown has aroused even more discontent. State property taxes have increased twice as much as personal income; welfare costs have soared 113.7% in the past eight years. As Reagan charged during an NBC Meet the Press confrontation with Brown, the Governor's administrators automat-ica'ly reach for state and federal subsidies as the instant aspirin for almost any problem. Despite such immediate and debatable issues, the campaign (which Bob Hope has called "How the West Was Won, starring Ronald Reagan and Pat Brown") has largely echoed and re-echoed extravagant personal attacks.
Reagan accuses Brown of being too far left and talks about a "morality gap" in Sacramento. Brown says Reagan is a right-wing extremist and, if elected, would "disrupt radically the quality of life in California." Some rabid Brown backers have retouched photographs to show Reagan with a Hitler-like forelock and moustache; some far-out Reagan supporters display bumper stickers proclaiming: IF IT'S BROWN, FLUSH IT. Brown insists that the main issue is Reagan's glaring inexperience in government. Reagan retorts that the main issue is the persistent bumbling of Brown.
Indeed, the Governor's familiar face and homey presence do not arouse much ardor among the voters. At the Los Angeles County fair in September, as the Governor was trying to galvanize a small audience with the glories of the state park program, hundreds of fairgoers strolled past with hardly a backward look. With a touch of sadness, Pat shouted at them "It's important that you know about this. You put your money in taxes, and this is what we do with it." Though he is trim and tanned and tips the scales at precisely the same weight—185 Ibs.—as Reagan, the Governor impresses many young voters as a somewhat befuddled fogy by comparison with his opponent.
Close up, Reagan's face is a map of wrinkles; yet at a distance on a rostrum he seems young enough to be giving his all once more for good old Notre Dame. His cheeks flush, the light blue eyes sparkle (through untinted contact lenses that correct his lifelong myopia), the lanky (6 ft. 1 in.) figure seems to tower over his audience.
Erector Phrases. In answer to the Democratic slur that an actor can hardly open his mouth unless he has memorized someone else's script, Reagan and his staff emphasize that he writes all his own speeches. Given the swollen staffs of specialists that surround most campaigners nowadays, the endeavor seems anachronistic. Yet, true enough, Reagan sits day after day on his campaign plane or bus hunched over 3-in. by 5-in. index cards, laboriously printing capital letters with a nylon-tip pen—"my speech for the next town." He has a kind of mental Erector set of phrases, figures and gags that he has used hundreds of times to fit any occasion.
Reagan, who does his homework, is often at his best fielding questions from the audience. When he gets a tough one, he quickly cocks his head, snaps "Well!" and then lays out his answers, adding: "Now. does that answer it to your satisfaction?"