He does not say "If I'm elected President." He says "When I'm elected." He promises to bring love to government when he takes office next January. All people have to do is trust him: he has their best interests at heart. "I'll never tell a lie," he assures voters. "I'll never knowingly make a misstatement of fact. I'll never betray your trust. If I do any of these things, I don't want you to support me."
Such vast self-assertion would be breathtaking were the phrases not delivered by a softspoken, low-keyed, ever smiling Southerner, who also says that he has been "twice born"—the second time when he "committed" himself to Jesus. So far in this campaign, Jimmy Carter, 51, has been the surprise and irritant of the politics-as-usual world. Hardly anybody took the former Georgia Governor very seriously a year ago, when he started running for the presidency in his friendly, dogged way. Since then, he has covered a lot of territory and obviously made many converts. Although it is early in the game, he is now being treated as a leading contender for the Democratic nomination.
As Carter has begun to score some caucus and primary victories, his opponents' amusement has turned to concern and then to hostility. To make up for lost time, they are turning more heat on him. So along with all the love from his ardent supporters, there is a wave of hate from some of his opponents. An aide to Morris Udall vows never to support Carter; he would rather vote for Ford. "Carter's so damn slick," he says. "What monopoly does he have on goodness? To me, he's dangerous." Says Alan Baron, George McGovern's press secretary: "By saying that he would never tell a lie, Carter decided for himself that that's going to be his standard. Well, fine, let's hold him to it."
Now that he is a real challenger, Carter is being asked to pass sterner tests than other candidates. He has been accused of fudging the issues. He has been charged with telling little white lies—and indeed he has occasionally exaggerated past accomplishments—along with some big ones. But he seems mostly to be faulted for advancing himself at the expense of others. George Wallace complains that Carter promised to support him for President in 1972 and then reneged. (Carter replies that his own letter of refusal to Wallace rests in the Georgia archives.) George McGovern is resentful because Carter joined the forces trying to stop his nomination at the 1972 convention. Florida Governor Reubin Askew is unhappy with Carter for not backing him for the chairmanship of the Southern Governors' Conference in 1973.