Conventional wisdom has preached that Watergate will have a stunning impact on elections, converting incumbency from an asset into a liability and making this the year of the ethical amateur in politics. The analysis is logical enough, but politics often is not. Primaries in five states last week provided such mixed results that only one thing seemed certain: the electorate is still writing the 1974 political script.
Only in the Ohio Democratic Senate primary did the predicted pattern hold up. At stake was nomination for the seat vacated by Republican William Saxbe when he became U.S. Attorney General. Millionaire Businessman Howard Metzenbaum, 56, serving temporarily by appointment, was challenged by John Glenn, 52, the retired astronaut and Marine colonel who is now a franchise partner in five Holiday Inns. When the two last competed for a Senate nomination in 1970, Metzenbaum, with eight years' experience as a state legislator and an efficient, well-financed campaign, beat Glenn. Metzenbaum then lost in the general election to Robert Taft, but this year the Democratic nomination is more valuable. The winner of the Republican primary, Cleveland Mayor Ralph Perk, is a far weaker candidate than Taft was.
Strong Chisel. At the outset, it seemed that Metzenbaum would repeat his 1970 performance. There were few policy differences between the two Democrats, although Glenn is basically more conservative than Metzenbaum. The only major contrast was between Metzenbaum, the experienced politician, and Glenn, who had never before been elected to office. But Glenn steadily chipped away with one strong chisel—his Boy Scout image. The result was a decisive victory for Glenn, a plurality of 94,000 out of more than 1,000,000 votes cast.
Billing himself as "someone your children can look up to," Glenn from the start mined his reputation for honesty and integrity. Although he vowed to wage "the cleanest campaign I know how," Glenn all but ignored the issues to hit hard—and low—at Metzenbaum as a tax dodger after both candidates released details of their recent tax returns. The charge rested on the facts that Metzenbaum (whose net worth is $3.6 million) legitimately paid no federal taxes in 1969 because of high interest payments and losses in various investments and is involved in a tax-court dispute over a 1967-68 deduction of $118,000 for plant depreciation. Asked Glenn: "How much of a sense of responsibility can a man have for his country when he diddles it out of taxes?"