Wealth and work still pay off
Politics can still be predictable. That was the message, if any, of last week's primary elections in Kansas and Tennessee. They proved once again that money counts; so do family name, hard work, good looks and—increasingly among a tax-and-inflation-weary electorate—a pledge to be frugal. From a national standpoint, the week's biggest winner was Republican Senator Howard Baker, 52, who clobbered five lackluster opponents in Tennessee by garnering 84% of the vote—a larger share than even he expected and one that fortifies his presidential ambitions. Highlights of the races:
KANSAS. The Republican Senate primary was a triumph of sentimentality, a belated vicarious victory for native son Alfred Landon, who lost so spectacularly to Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 Presidential Election. Landon's daughter, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, 46, a separated mother of four and former aide to incumbent Senator James Pearson, who is retiring, outpolled eight rivals, all of whom grumbled that they did not have her name. Indeed, she made the most of it. "A fresh voice," proclaimed her TV ads, "and a trusted name." Her father, a spry 90, did not participate much in the campaign, but he joined Nancy in one TV ad. Said Nancy: "Don't you think the President has shown a lack of leadership?" Replied Alf: "When the trumpet sounds uncertain, how can you go into battle?" Remarked Nancy with cheerful candor: "It has been said that I am riding on the coattails of my dad. I can't think of any better coattails to ride on." She will doubtless continue to use them when she faces the Democratic primary winner, Bill Roy, 52, a former Congressman and a physician who boasts that he has delivered 5,500 babies.
Republican Governor Robert Bennett, 51, brushed aside two token primary opponents. Even Republicans, however, complain that he does not seem to be much of a Kansan with his beard and his officious manner. He is also under attack for the rise in property taxes. But his Democratic opponent, John Carlin, 38, the boyish-looking speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, is still relatively unknown in a state where Republicans out-number Democrats three to two.