(6 of 7)
Paradoxically, the front-loaded schedule could aid Hart in the short term. There will be little time for voters in the March contests to scrutinize his positions; they may jump on his bandwagon just because he is an exciting candidate who seems to stand for something new. Political Strategist Pat Caddell, who is advising Hart, anticipated such a situation early this year: "[If you] come in a surprise second in Iowa and on that momentum win New Hampshire . . . there's probably not enough time for the party establishment to regroup and counterattack effectively [before Super Tuesday]."
Indeed, Hart hopes eventually to persuade many delegates to vote for him after they are elected as being pledged to Mondale, Glenn or other candidates. He could do it too. Of the delegates going to San Francisco, 15% will not be pledged to any candidate. Moreover, the party has scrapped the rule that in 1980 legally bound delegates to vote on the first ballot for the candidate to whom they were pledged. Hart can legitimately hope that if he wins enough late contests to be the choice of a clear majority of Democrats by the time the last caucus and primary votes are counted, he can wind up with the convention votes of many delegates who were elected early under Mondale, Glenn or other banners. He scoffs at any idea that "the rules will nominate Mondale if the voters nominate me."
Mondale's strategy still is to run flat out everywhere, hoping to build an insurmountable lead before Hart can collect the money, throw together the organization and capitalize sufficiently on his sudden publicity to mount a serious challenge. Aides still think that Mondale can win as many as 900 of the 1,331 delegates who will be chosen in the three weeks between New Hampshire and Illinois, giving him more than 45% of the 1,967 needed for the nomination before Hart has picked up more than a few hundred.
Mondale will make some adaptations, though. He will seek more meetings with young people, and conduct more neighborhood walking tours and make more appearances at factory gates. Campaign Chairman James Johnson says there will be a corresponding drop in "institutional" appearances, presumably including speeches at labor rallies, though no one will say so. Mondale is proud of his endorsement by the AFL-CIO, but his identification with Big Labor has been a prime target of attacks by Hart and Glenn, and in New Hampshire at least it seems to have lost more votes than it gained.
Mondale concedes that he erred in televised campaign debates by not responding directly to criticism from other Democrats and concentrating instead on denouncing Ronald Reagan. Says he: