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In Florida, shortly before the March 14 primary, Muskie stationery was used for an unsigned letter, mailed to thousands of Floridians, falsely charging Democratic Candidates Hubert Humphrey and Henry Jackson with sexual misconduct. (Last week a federal grand jury in Orlando indicted Saboteur Segretti, charging him with conspiracy in the mailing.) Muskie finished a poor fourth in that primary, behind Wallace, Humphrey and Jackson.
Next, Muskie had surprising problems in California: trouble with floodlights that disturbed his delivery; his stationery was used again to tell potential large donors to keep their cash because he preferred to get a lot of collections from less affluent givers. Given the normal chance for foulups in any political campaign, it would be absurd to suggest that all of these incidents were the result of sabotage. But Segretti's activities provide ample reason for suspicion.
The Nixon men, meanwhile, were also looking ahead to the contest with whoever the Democratic candidate might be. As early as February, Plumber Liddy was again promoting wiretap ping plans. He had charts drawn up illustrating how to organize an eavesdropping campaign against the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Miami Beach convention headquarters of the Democratic candidates.
Liddy and Hunt later helped carry out those bugging plans at the Watergate in at least one wiretapping break-in before they were arrested after the second foray in June. Investigators are trying to determine whether the two men were still working under the same officials as in their Ellsberg-psychiatrist burglary. If so, Young, Krogh and Ehrlichman also might have known about the Watergate plans. Krogh said last week that he intends to tell whatever he knows to the grand jury.
While it is not yet clear how many Nixon officials knew about the Watergate plans ahead of time, there is no doubt that after the burglars were arrested, a broad conspiracy was quickly created to conceal the extent of the involvement of the White House and the Nixon committee. The New York Times reported last week that federal investigators have discovered that the principal cover-up conspirators were Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, Mitchell, Magruder and LaRue. Each one, the investigators contend, has lied to either the prosecutors, to federal investigators, or to other White House officials.
The lies were designed, first, to conceal just how much money was paid to Wiretapper Liddy in advance of the Watergate bugging, as well as to hide the real purpose of the payments, and second, to cover up the fact that the arrested men were receiving monthly payments of between $1,000 and $3,000 each to keep quiet about the involvement of anyone else. According to the newspaper account, the former Nixon committee treasurer, Hugh W. Sloan Jr., tried to warn the President, but was cut off by Ehrlichman.
A minor White House official, TIME has learned, has told Justice Department investigators that even he was part of the extensive coverup. Herbert L. Porter, an assistant in the White House communications office last year, said that he had initially lied to the grand jury about payments to Liddy. According to sources close to the investigation, Porter said that he and Magruder had agreed on a story about having given Liddy