Michigan State University - Red Cedar Log Yearbook (East Lansing, MI)

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Election '7 6 Carter squeaks past Ford by Paul F. Charette Twenty-two months of campaigning and over one-half million miles of travel paid off in a big way for Jimmy Carter when he was elected 39th President of the United States. Gerald R. Ford, Michigan's first President, will be remembered as Aaron Sussell In October, presidential candidate jimmy Carter addressed the Economic Club of Detroit at Cobo Hall. the only president never elected to that office. By the time election day rolled around, every American had had his fill of politics. Doused and then doused again with campaign advertisements, MSU students and the American public suffered through one vice-presidential and three presiden-l tial debates. Most people were overjoyed when it was over for at least two more years. Carter began his campaign for the White House from his headquarters in the little town of Plains, Georgia. He was an outsider - at that point most of the nation had never heard of the smiling Geor- gia governor. Eleven Democrats, at one time or another, ran for the nomination as the presidential candidate. But by the time the convention was held in New York's Madison Square Garden, the Georgia pea- nut farmer had the nomination in his back pock- et. The most suspenseful moments of the conven- tion surrounded Carter'sselection of a running mate. Sen. Walter Mondale, the Minnesota lib- eral, got the call. Unlike his Democratic opponent, President Ford had a real battle all the way to the Republi- can convention in Kansas City. Former California Governor and star of late night television, Ronald Reagan, provided the opposition. The tough battle seemed to split the Republican party at the seams. It looked as though Carter would be a shoe-in as our next president. Howev- er, Ford made a spectacular comeback beginning with his acceptance speech in Kansas City which political observers called his best speech ever. It brought unity to the Republican ranks and healed some of the wounds of the convention battle. The focus of the campaign immediately switched to the presidential debates. Carter and President Ford concentrated all their efforts in preparation for the matches sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The debates were the first to be held since J ohn F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon squared off in 1960. Although the de- bates were watched by over 100 million Ameri- cans, they were generally labelled unexciting. The most damaging incident to come from the debates was a slip by President Ford. There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never

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President and Mrs. Ford visited Lan- sing and other Michigan cities by train during the Michigan primary campaign. Aaron Sussell Wayne Heinmiller Human Rights Party presidential candidate Margaret Wright visited MSU during her fall campaign.

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20 Democratic students have campaign spirit l. t Fred Goldberg Campaign workers watch the election returns at a local Democratic headquarters. DeSpite the fact that college stu- dents during the 1976 election were the least politically involved ever, those who turned out in September to organize and work for the Democratic student organizations at MSU were spirited and dedicated campaigners. While many students were con- cerned about the election but not en- thusiastic enough to campaign active- ly, those who worked out of Demo- cratic Student Headquarters for Lynn Jondahl, 37th District representative; Bob Carr, 6th Congressional District; and the Carter-Mondale ticket netted enough support to help send all those men to victory on November 2. The road to election day was not an easy one for the campaigners. There were canvassings, mailings, radio and newspaper ads, speeches, rallies, phone calls and leaflet distributions to get students registered and interested in voting for Democratic candidates. Neil Spitzer, a history major and chairperson of the Students for Carr campaign, remarked in the tiny sec- ond floor headquarters on Abbott Road that the experience and op- portunity that the campaign has of- fered me is well worth the hard work. His attitude seemed to reflect that of the 100 volunteers who toiled along with him. Their job, according to Spitzer, was to capture the support and interest of the almost 20,000 regis- tered student voters both on and off campus who represented 10 per cent of the district electorate. Student sup- port is very important to us because students tend to vote Democratic, Spitzer said. In September, his group conducted a massive campaign to get students to register - and to give them reason to. Spitzer first became actively in- volved in politics in the fall of 1974 when he met Bob Carr and became interested in the things Carr said and stood for. He worked as an intern in the spring of 1975 in the Lansing Con- gressional office while also helping to raise funds for Carr's campaign. His job as chairperson of Students for Carr fall term took up almost 45 hours a week, but he said meeting so many new and interesting people made up for the time he sacrificed. The campaign gives me an oppor- tunity to do something that matters, Spitzer commented. It doesn't come back in a 3.0 or 3.5, but in whether Bob wins or loses. Spitzer, along with key helper Patty Sullivan and others, received credit for his work from a political science studies course. will be under a Ford administration, Ford said. Carter immediately challenged the President to convince the American public of his claim. After trying to explain his statement to the press for the next few days, President Ford finally admitted his error. President Ford stood on his record of the past two years, citing improvement in the economy and stressing that our nation was at peace. Carter attacked the Ford policies toward the economy, crime, foreign affairs and Vietnam draft resisters, but saved his sharpest blast for Presi- dent Ford's leadership. This Republican admin- istration has almost been all style and spectacular, not substance. The Ford administration has failed in leadership, the character of the country and our vision of the future, Carter said. Carter, too, was not without fault. His big mis-