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Election Day, Adlai III was very much on the move.
NEW YORK. "I'm a Senator first and a campaigner second," cried New York Republican Charles Goodell last week. The political consensus is that by next January, Goodell will be neither. Boxed in by liberal Democrat Richard Ottinger and Conservative Party Candidate James Buckley, Goodell is running third. His seat is one of four that the Republicans are in grave danger of losing, and the Republicans are doing all possible to ensure the loss. Spiro Agnew has proclaimed Goodell a radic-lib, a category otherwise reserved for liberal Democrats. He compared Goodell's ideological turnabout to a celebrated sex-change operation. Goodell, said Agnew, was the "Christine Jorgensen of the Republican Party," a remark that evoked substantial revulsion and a demand for an apology from Miss Jorgensen—which Agnew refused. Though Agnew's assault won some sympathy for Goodell, it more significantly dried up Republican money sources, who got Agnew's message and have turned to Buckley.
Appointed to succeed the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Goodell performed an ideological pirouette—from moderately conservative Congressman to flaming-liberal Senator. The maneuver won little critical acclaim, smacking too much of rank opportunism to appease his broadened constituency.
Goodell fought Nixon on Cambodia, demanded that he fix a deadline for Viet Nam troop withdrawal, voted against Haynsworth and Carswell. When Nixon Aide Murray Chotiner urged New York Republicans to support a candidate who could best work with the Administration, Goodell—and everyone else —knew he did not mean Goodell. Months ago, Nixon reportedly told a Republican Senator: "I hope Ted leaves Charlie alone. He [Goodell] is a disaster, but he's our disaster. I told him to cool it." But no one believes that Agnew or Chotiner would act without at least a wink from the President.
Democrats, who outnumber Republicans in New York, have little reason to abandon their own nominee. Ottinger, as liberal as Goodell, shelled out nearly $2 million to win the primary, largely with saturation television commercials.
His family's fortune (U.S. Plywood) will enable him to do so again—and again. Criticized as a creation of television, Ottinger is countering with 14-hour days of personal appearances to affirm that the flesh and blood are real.
Privately, Ottinger has written off Goodell, turning his campaign artillery instead to his right flank, where Buckley, crew-cut and charming, poses a growing threat.
Buckley's well-organized campaign is directed by ex-Goldwater Aide F. Clifton White with advice from Brother Bill, U.S. conservatism's most literate paladin.
Buckley the candidate softly rakes "the voices of doubt and despair," claims to rap with the Silent Majority, curries the hardhat vote and—essential to his Nixon-Agnew support—promises to vote with Republicans in organizing the Senate.
By continuing to strum themes suggesting that Buckley supports a rollback of the minimum wage and lessened union security, Ottinger is confident of winning back stray workingmen. An Ottinger win over Goodell would reduce Republican