The Cavalier daily :: Friday, October 20, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

Ken Reitz is a national
coordinator in the Committee
for the Re-election of the
President. He has worked with
the Committee for eighteen
months, and was involved in
the creation of the
organization Young Voters for
the President, of which he is
now coordinator. Before his
appointment by John Mitchell,
he was a partner in a public
relations and advertising
agency, in Washington, and
earlier was Senator Brock's
campaign manager in
Tennessee. ed.)

Q. Recent polls indicate a 55
to 60% Nixon majority. Do
you agree with these polls, and
do you expect such a majority
on election day?

A. I hope there will be such
a majority, but I don't know
that we can predict a 55%
victory. As far as young people
are concerned, we have about a
2% lead among 18- to 24-year
old voters, and we hope that
expands.

Q. Do you believe
McGovern's move to become a
party regular will effect the
young vote?

A. Sure. I think it already
has, and I think the change in
the polls since the Democratic
Convention is due a lot to what
we've done, but to a larger
amount to the stands that
McGovern has taken. His
wishy-washy attitudes on the
issues, and his move; from
somebody who was after his
constituencies the youth
population and the more
independent minded voter - he
has moved over to the typical
Humphrey voter; and I think
he's lost his constituency.

Q. Recent polls indicate a
lean towards conservatism by
unions, ethnic factions, and
racial and religious minorities
especially in the Northwest,
with an indicative trend
towards Nixon support. What
do you believe to be the cause
of such a trend?

A. I don't think you can
equate a lean towards the
President as a lean towards
conservatism. I think there has
been a lot of misinterpretation
of the mood of the country
moving towards the president
as: one, moving to the
Republican Party, which isn't
true; and two, moving to a
more conservative feeling; I
don't think either of them are
true, based on what the
President has done during his
years in office.

Q. What is it then that is
drawing people to the
President, particularly young
people?

A. The man and his
accomplishments. The things
that he's accomplished in the
foreign policy field; and the
ending of the draft; the ending
of the war. These
accomplishments, certainly
can't be interpreted as a
conservative movement.

Q. What, then, do you feel
are the major issues of the
campaign that the Committee
will stress in the final weeks of
the campaign?

A. All of the foreign policy
issues, including the war; with
peace being the major issue of
the campaign, and things
related to like the draft, in
addition the environment
Again, the President's
accomplishments are the issues
These are the issues we will
emphasize and have been
emphasizing for over a year.

Q. Then you will emphasize
foreign affairs over the
economy?

A. I wouldn't say we'd do it
one over the other. I think
they are equally important

Q. What, then, of the recent
wheat deal with Russia, and
the charges of Nixon favoring
big business, particularly in
agriculture?

A. I think there are always
challenges over a particular
action of a government,
whether it's by the President or
by Congress hat's part of
the campaign, to challenge
those issues and have them
explained.

CD/Gardner

Ken Reitz: "Emphasizing Accomplishments Of The President"

Q. Are there positive aspects,
then, of the wheat sale that the
Committee intends to
emphasize?

A. I don't think we're going
to spend lot of time explaining
the wheat deal.

Q. What about
unemployment, which is said
to be around 5.5% right now?

A Seasonally adjusted
unemployment is around 4 I
think.

Q. Do you think that will be
an issue against the President?

A. I think it is a fantastic
accomplishment for the
President of the United States
to move in during a transfer
from a war-time to a
peace-time economy and keep
unemployment down to
around 4 and decrease
inflation from somewhere
around 6 during his first term
in office I think it is a
tremendous accomplishment.

Q. Do you think Watergate
will be a serious issue from
here on in?

I think there will be an
attempt to make it an issue
from here on.

Q. Do you think it was right
for the House of
Representatives to close the
investigations, at least until
after the elections?

A. I have no idea. That's
something that the House
committee undertook to do,
and I don't know whether it
the right thing to do now or
not. I think that there should
be a complete disclosure of all
the activities surrounding the
Watergate incident! I think
you'll find a pretty unanimous
feeling along those lines within
the Committee for the
Re-election of the President. I
think there are some people
that have been very badly hurt
by the accusations made by
various people along the way,
and I think everybody here
would like to have a clean bill
of health on that.

Q. Why has Nixon not been
actively campaigning to any
serious degree?

A. I think there are two
overriding considerations here:
one, he's trying to run the
country, and he's President of
the United States; and two,
he's got a 28% lead.

Q. So you think that with
that lead he's right in not
coming out and debating the
issues?

A. First of all I don't think
there is any real call for debate
other than by George
McGovern, I don't think the
public is crying out for debate,
and I think the President is
conducting himself just as he
should in the present situation.

Q. Is the focus of the
campaign then on the President
and not candidate Richard
Nixon, as many have charged?

A. Not at all. The entire
campaign up to here is focused
on the accomplishments of the
President since he's been in
office. All our literature, all
our advertising, all our
speeches – its all on the
accomplishments of the
administration.

Q. Do you in this position
sense the voter apathy that
seems to have smothered this
election?

A. Sure, I think anytime you
have a lead as substantial as the
President has over Senator
McGovern you are going to
have voter apathy. On one side
the voter thinks his vote isn't
going to help, while on the

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