University of Virginia Library

'Scandal In Administration Just Incredible'

(The interviews on this page
were conducted by Cavalier Daily
features writer Drew Gardner.

Ms. Rosemarie Storey is the
Deep South campaign
coordinator for the
McGovern-Shriver campaign.
She has been working for
McGovern since January, and
was an elected delegate to the
National Convention and a
member of the Credentials
Committee. Before working in
the campaign she worked on a
local democratic committee in
Arlington.–Ed.)

Q. The polls all indicate that
the South is solidly for Nixon.
Do you agree with these
findings?

A. No. I think a lot of what
many of our campaigns are
doing at this time is trying to
actively recruit the blue collar
vote in the South. I think they
are going to get out a lot of
this vote that people assume is
going to go for Nixon. It won't
go to Nixon for a lot of
reasons: because of tax reform,
because of the grain deal, and
the dropping of cotton prices.
These all affect the blue collar
workers and farmers in the
southern states that the Nixon
administration assumes are
going Republican. I don't think
they are, primarily for
economic reasons, and because
they realize they do not
prosper under a Republican
administration

Wallace Helps

Q. Do you think that
Wallace not being a candidate
this election helps your
campaign?

A. I don't know. I think
we're going to find that out. I
know that's not a very straight
answer but I think to a certain
extent it is going to be bad for
us because it is not going to
split up the vote. In some
states Wallace running may
have meant our winning,
because it would have split the
conservative vote and we'd
have won on the reform vote.
In other, more progressive
states such as Georgia, I think
his not running is going to be
to our advantage, because
we're going to pick up the
Wallace Democratic vote.

Q. Why do you think the
Nixon support is soft as the
polls indicate?

A. I think that the people
don't like Richard Nixon, they
don't trust or want Richard
Nixon; but at this point they
don't trust, nor are they
terribly fond of George
McGovern We have three
weeks to go, and I think things
can change in that time. The
expression you hear from th
southern states is that we have
to get McGovern in there and
get more press and media
coverage. That is the point of
our TV spots, to show the
southerners that McGovern
does not have horns, that he's
not a radical.

Beliefs Changed

Q. Many of the polls indicate
that people do object to
McGovern's radical image. Has
the campaign been consciously
trying to change this belief, if
not the image.

A. Yes. As you can see in the
TV interviews he's talking to
working people, engineers, and
factory workers, not to student
groups, which is the image the
press likes to give of George
McGovern. McGovern is strong
on tax reform which appeals to
working people. His emphasis
is going to be different in the
national election than it was
for the convention. His whole
tone is changed; this isn't the
primaries. The coalition we've
got to put together consists of
liberals, young people, blue
collar working people, blacks
and chicanos. These are
traditional Democrats. We are
just trying to put together a
traditional democratic
coalition, which is not radical.

Q. Is McGovern splitting up
his campaign in an effort to
woo minority groups?

A. No. I don't see how he's
splitting up his campaign that
way. When you're talking to
different groups you obviously
speak about the issues that
concern them the most. The
overall tone of the campaign,
though, has not changed at all,
and nothing that he's said has
been inconsistent with the tone
of his national campaign.

Q. What is the issue you feel
to be the strongest for your
campaign?

A. People keep saying we
need something drastic to
happen. Well I think it's
happened: The wheat deal has
just begun to break, and people
are still unaware of what's
happened. Not the Watergate

scandal, that's not the type of
thing I'm talking about; it's
economic scandal.

The issue this year is
definitely the economy. The
scandal in the Nixon
administration as far as the
economy goes is just
incredible, and it is something
people understand very clearly.
It is not complex. It's as easy
as going in to buy a steak for
dinner, and that is why it is
going to become a horse race
by the end. Things aren't going
to get better in three weeks,
they are going to get worse.
There's going to be more
unemployment, prices are
going to continue to go higher,
and people are going to be in
more of a bind.

I just think that the soft
Nixon vote, the democrats that
support him now, when they
get into the booths are not
going to be able to pull that
lever for Richard Nixon. No
matter what they say now,
they're just not going to be
able to do it. They're just going
to know in their gut that it is
the wrong thing to do because
it is going to hurt them
personally.

Investigations Closed

Q. Do you feel that
Watergate is a dead issue since
the House closed
investigations?

A. Personally I don't think it
was ever a very strong issue. I
think that people,
unfortunately, assume that
corruption in government is
bipartisan.

Q. Has the wheat deal issue
generated very much support
for McGovern?

A. Absolutely. There is no
doubt about it. We've done
phone call polls into Missouri,
which is not even one of the
major grain states, and without
exception they mentioned the
grain deal, and these were not
just McGovern supporters.
They have been economically
ruined in the grain states by
the wheat deal.

Q. Has McGovern's stand on
busing hurt him in the South?

A. Busing is not an issue
except in selected areas of the
South where they are going to
have busing problems It's not
September, though, and I don't
think it is an issue that is on
the tops of people's minds.
Again. I think what is in the
top of people's minds is the
fact that they are not getting a
decent day's wage for a decent
day's work, they can't afford
food at the store, and they
can't pay their rent. They are
concerned about busing, to say
they're not would be
unrealistic, but they are more
concerned about their
economic plight.

Q. Is Vietnam a dead issue
now?

A. No. I don't think it is a
dead issue. All the polls show
that it is a primary issue as far
as the people are concerned.
That's the one issue where
obviously McGovern's
credibility is not questioned.
Whether people like him or
hate him, they believe when he
says he's going to get out.

Whether the war is going to
end or not, true, is not an
issue, for everyone wants us
out. The issue is now the
return of the POW's and the
MIA's, and that is something
that is very hard to argue,
because McGovern believes
that they will be returned. The
war is still an issue, for it's a
matter of people believing that
we will get our POW's back and
believing that McGovern has a
realistic plan to get us out of
Vietnam.

Q. You mentioned
credibility. McGovern,
according to the polls, has lost
a substantial degree of the
electorate's trust since the
convention. Why?

A. I think there's no doubt
that you're right. The question
of credibility is serious. We all
got into this and we were all
literally a little green, and very
new at the game. There are a
lot of things that you have to
learn in politics. You have to
learn to roll with the punches,
and some of the punches are
getting the party together or
you just can't win. I don't
think McGovern has caved in
on any of the major issues. He
has not caved in on tax reform.
He has not caved in on the war.
He is still the same man he
always was.

Q. What are you doing,
though, to restore an image of
credibility to George
McGovern?

A. I think the TV media,
with the fireside chats, will
help enormously with the
question of his credibility.

Q. Is this the year of the
non-campaign? Do you feel
there is serious apathy among
the voters?

A. One expression I get from
my states is that people are

going to go fishing on election
day. I don't see it happening,
though. The issues are there.

Q. How do you feel the
McGovern strength is in the
South right now?

A. It varies state to state.
Some states are stronger than
others. In Alabama for
instance, there is a problem
because there are no slates of
democratic electors. The
McGovern vote is going to be
split. It will be extremely
difficult for McGovern to carry
the state of Alabama.

Then you have a state like
Georgia, which has got the
liberals going for McGovern
and the black vote which is
consistently democratic in the
South. What they are doing
right now is aggressively going
after the blue collar Wallace
vote in Georgia. If they get
25% of the Wallace vote, they
can carry the state of Georgia.
I don't think it is unrealistic to
assume that they are either
going to do it, or come
extremely close.

Q. How much support has
McGovern gotten from the
state and local democratic
regulars in the South?

A. Again, it depends on the
state. In some states it has been
extremely marginal, whereas in
other states, in Arkansas for
example, which is one state I
think we are definitely going to
carry, every constitutional
officer from the governor on
down has endorsed George
McGovern. I think this is a step
that a lot of Southern
politicians are going to start to
make, and I think the regulars
that don't come around are
going to be a lot more careful
about what they are saying
than they were a month ago.

Indications in Louisiana,
that the state party people are
beginning to call into
McGovern headquarters,
whereas they used to go the
other way. These are small
indications, but they're still
very important indications of
the way things are starting to
swing around.

In Mississippi there is very
little support, but in most
states the party regulars are not
going out to hurt the ticket,
they can't afford to. Senator
Spong for instance is going to
be worrying a lot more, I
think, come November sixth,
than he was four weeks ago
when he made his statement
which did not mention
supporting the national ticket.