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The New Right drew a bead on selected targets around the country, often with deadly effect. Weyrich, for example, saw an opening in Alabama and deftly exploited it by encouraging retired Admiral Jeremiah Denton, who had spent 7½ years in North Vietnamese prison camps after his aircraft had been shot down, to run for the Republican Senate nomination. Deeply conservative but a political neophyte, Denton easily won the Republican primary.
Then the New Right took on Jim Folsom, who had beaten Democratic Senator Donald Stewart in the primary. An intense ad campaign suggested that Folsom was backed by the Democratic National Committee and therefore supported its stands on ERA, gun control, federal funding of abortions, and gay rights. Not only did Folsom endorse none of those positions, but he insists he took no money from the D.N.C. On Nov. 4, Folsom lost, 48% to 51%, to Denton. The Moral Majority, says Folsom, had "a tremendous effect on my defeat."
N.C.P.A.C. was responsible for a most ambitious crusade: it drew up a "hit list" of key Democratic liberal Senators, including Idaho's Frank Church, South Dakota's George McGovern, Indiana's Birch Bayh, Iowa's John Culver, California's Alan Cranston and Missouri's Thomas Eagleton. In the end, only Cranston and Eagleton managed to win. The New Right claims it helped defeat the other four, but the evidence is inconclusive.
The N.C.P.A.C. spent a minimum of $1.2 million on the targeted Senate races, including at least $260,000 against Church and $150,000 against McGovern. Says Terry Dolan of the two Senators: "They were the most obnoxious."
N.C.P.A.C.'s main object was to expose the incumbent's voting record for the citizens back home. The Senators tended to vote to the left of their constituents while playing down this fact in their campaigns. Says Viguerie: "N.C.P.A.C. went up to the doorsteps and left the dead cats."
Much of the New Right's rhetoric was no more exaggerated than the usual campaign fare. In Idaho, Church was criticized for his strong attacks on the CIA, which was fair enough, but he was also falsely accused of disclosing the names of CIA agents and thereby putting their lives in danger. A television spot used against Church showed an abandoned missile silo, making the point that he had voted against military programs. In fact, the Air Force had removed the missile because it was outdated, and Church had voted in favor of the weapon's replacement.
As the campaign wore on, most of the Republican candidates prudently distanced themselves from the New Right groups and some publicly denounced them. Says G.O.P. Congressman Dan Quayle, who defeated Birch Bayh in the Indiana race: "We did not want their help.
They have a potential to hurt the people they claim they're helping."