Shadow Boxing

WHILE HIS OPPONENT was somewhere in the state squeezing out another vote for another dollar, John Winthrop Sears '52, the Republican candidate for governor, decided to take some time off from the campaign last Wednesday night. Speaking in a Kennedy School classroom-organizers feared embarrassingly low attendance and moved the event out of the larger Forum--Sears scrapped his standard plea for votes and talked instead of the frustrations of running for governor.

Some of the feelings he described in his surprisingly frank talk were personal. He mused, for example, on how it feels to see hundred of brochures with his face on it lying on the ground, discarded and mutilated. But most of the anger was vented at what he identified as two general characteristics of his campaign: the "agenda" of the press, and the suppression of issues.

The interlude could, of course, be passed off as the rabid ranting of man frustrated by the knowledge that, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot win. With only two weeks before the election. Sen stands a whopping 40 points behind the former--and most fellow likely next-governor; Michael S. Dukakis. Even most fellow Republicans have privately written him off. Yet while his targeting of the media seems off base, his observation that style has prevailed over substance in this election rings disturbingly true."

In Boston politics, "the press" usually means the Boston Globe. And whether they have consciously sought it or not, the Globe newswriters have become as much a political force as any candidate or faction. They are often accused of being liberal Democrats in general, and unabashed Dukakis supporters in particular. On primary election night in 1978, when Edward J. King came from however to vanquish then-Gov. Dukakis, supporters chants of "We beat the Duke!" soon blurred into "We beat the Globe!" In this year's long gubernatorial campaign, the paper has the dubious and perhaps unprecedented distinction of drawing libel suits from contenders in each party.

But it would be silly to say that the Globe has at this point made the restoration of Dukakis a priority. It has given the two candidates scrupulously equal coverage. It even printed on the front page an account of Sears's lashing out, albert one day late. And with its six-part series on the candidates and the issues in addition to regular accounts of campaign addresses, the paper this probably given the reading public about as much substance as it wants.

If any source can be blamed for what Sears called the "endless claptrap of polls, debates, who's on first and how you can win," it is the Dukakis camp. Having worked so hard for so long, and having amassed so large a lead, they are nervously trying to coast past the election. All they want, in the words of many observes, is to wake up and have it be November 3. And while understandable, this sentiment has led to a frustratingly cautions campaign.

Rather than contrasting ideas, the Democrat has focused on fluff. While press release on his platform have slowed to a trickle, Dukakis' aldes are sending out "features" on "Campaigning as a Family Affair" which seems more a dig at the fact that Sears is divorced.

Tuesday's debate at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston also reflected this tendency to shy away from proposals. Dukakis stuck mainly to a guarded defense of his previous for years in office. When Sears was asked what taxes he would increase if he had to, he responded that, as a last resort, he would use the sales tax. Dukakis--who last time around broke his infamous "leadpipe guarantee" of no new taxes by increasing the bill by $500 million--only insisted that no new taxes would be necessary. Instead he reterated the main specific proposal he has last January--that 40 percent of all new revenue should go to cities and towns. Yet that was hardly bold, as one panelist noted that more than that 60 percent went for that last year.

The "new Michael Dukakis," citizens were promised, is lets "young and brath" and more interested in "building conditions." He is also more copy and manipulative. If, as Sears says, ideas have "fallen on sterile ground" in this race, the front runner is largely responsible.