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CALIFORNIA. Gray-haired and raspy-voiced from a successful operation for throat cancer, oldtime Hoofer George Murphy, 68, is trying to dance out of the way of a strong challenge to his bid for a second Senate term by a Democrat named Tunney. If the Tunney were Gene, a contemporary, Murphy could worry less. But it is John. 36-year-old son of the former heavyweight champion, a three-term Congressman who looks, talks and acts like a somehow unaccounted-for Kennedy brother.
In Reagan country, Tunney has tried to neutralize the permissiveness tag that is automatically affixed to every liberal Democrat.
Tunney has ridden at night in a police car and he demands that the men in blue be protected from would-be assassins, evoking a "Tunney-come-lately" gibe from Spiro Agnew. He also exploits California's rising rate of unemployment, as high as 15% in some job categories, tells laboring men who are satisfied with that to vote for George Murphy. He keeps a generous distance between himself and Reagan's Democratic opponent, Jess Unruh, who now appears certain to lose big on Nov. 3.
Murphy stresses "what is good about America," criticizes Tunney's opposition to a bill allowing FBI agents to investigate campus bombings, links his foe to radical-liberal causes and individuals. Still hawkish, Murphy assures his audiences: "The war is going great." Murphy's age is a handicap, as is his admission that he was on Technicolor Inc.'s payroll while serving in the Senate. Head to head, Tunney probably would win. Republicans hope Reagan's ample coattails will drag his old showbiz pal along too.
FLORIDA. With regular infusions of wealthy retirees, Florida has taken on an increasingly conservative political coloration. Republicans four years ago captured the statehouse and two years ago elected a Senator. This year a bitter primary fight split the party. Representative William C. Cramer won the nomination over Harrold Carswell and now must face the most engaging new figure to emerge from Florida Democratic ranks in a decade. Lawton Chiles, 40, overcame a lack of financial support in the primary with a 1,000-mile walk through the state. He recently bugged Cramer by staging a dollar-a-plate dinner on a night when Cramer supporters were paying as much as $1,000 per couple to drink cocktails with him. "Ours is a people's campaign," Chiles says mischievously.
In a sense it is. Thousands of voters have seen "Walkin' Lawton" in the flesh, clad in khaki pants, light blue shirt, scuffed ankle boots. Not easily tarred by the permissiveness brush, Chiles counters Cramer's tough law-and-order campaign with his own call for a crackdown on bombings.
Cramer, 48 and chubby, argues that "a Republican-controlled Senate is vital to the success of the President's programs." Unless a Nixon visit turns the tide. Chiles is expected to win.
TEXAS. "If Bentsen is going to try to go to my right, he's gonna step off the edge of the earth." Thus Republican George Bush last week