Support Mondale

The process by which we choose our executive leadership in this country is about to enter a new and significant phase.

The season of straw polls will wind down in Florida this weekend. The gearing up for the primary and caucus season is well under way. There is a strong likelihood that the nominee of the Democratic Party will be selected during the first quarter of 1984.

Ground troops are already signing on for New Hampshire. The Massachusetts primary also comes early enough to make a difference. Help will be needed in the Maine caucuses, and elsewhere.

For those who want to have an impact in the selection process the time to choose up sides is at hand. In my own case the choice was not difficult. I'm for Walter Mondale.

Some who are acquainted with my recent political history may raise their eyebrows. They may well ask, how could you suddenly be for Mondale? Didn't you leave an important ambassadorship to work for Ted Kennedy in 1979? Aren't you the one who walked out of the 1980 Democratic National Convention to avoid any sense of commitment to a Carter-Mondale ticket? Didn't you then bolt the party to join the John Anderson "National Unity" ticket in open opposition to the Carter-Mondale slate? To all of those charges I plead guilty and offer no apologies. In both the Kennedy and the Anderson campaigns I felt that I was supporting the best available candidate for the office of President. In retrospect, I am more convinced than ever that if the campaign of either of those two men had succeeded the country and humanity would be in far better shape today.

But that was 1980. We are now examining available alternatives for 1984.

As I witnessed the nuclear freeze debate of last week I was proud to be a Democrat. All seven candidates distinguished themselves. They were sensible, articulate and had mastered all the jargon of a highly technical subject. I would rest easier with any one of them in the White House during the next four years in preference to four more years of Ronald Reagan.

While each excelled there were differences among them in both substance and style. I was reinforced in my conviction that Fritz Mondale offers the right combination of experience, temperament, and commitment to provide effective leadership for our party and the country in 1984 and beyond.

In some previous campaigns many of us have had to make painful choices as we answered the questions: Who is right on the issues? Who would be an effective President? Who can be nominated?

Patrick F. Lucey is a fellow at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics and former Vice Presidential candidate to John Anderson in 1980.

Who can win? This your we're hickey. There is no need to compromise. We needn't settle for half a loaf. Whether it's the MX, never gat or SALT R. Mondale is and has been on the right side. He has never fallen into the trap of Reaganemics and has denounced the essential unfairness of the domestic policies of this Administration from day one.

No other candidate offers the broad and balanced experience of Mondale. He has served in state government as attorney general and as U.S. Senator and Vice President. While he did not always prevail in the private councils of the Carter Administration, his was the most active vice presidency in history.

Can he be nominated? He leads in all the polls, has enjoyed some impressive straw vote victories and enters the primary season with strong alliances with major economic groups and important political leaders.

But what about his delectability? Most polls tend to show Mondale and Glenn equally strong against President Reagan. One might wish for a crystal ball in trying to predict the outcome of the post-convention campaign but the recent past indicates that if the race is close a debate may be decisive. Certainly in the 1976 contest between Ford and Carter and again in 1980, a debate had a major impact. On the basis of Mondale's showing against Bob Dole in the 1976 vice presidential debate I would much prefer Mondale over Glenn in a debate showdown with President Reagan.

Mondale has been accused of becoming the creature of special interest groups? But the Reagan Administration has turned things upside down. We used to believe that the people who could afford to finance the campaigns of politicians and then put high-priced lobbyists in Washington constituted the special interest groups to whom politicians have traditionally catered. But Fritz Mondale is the champion of the special interest group consisting of the underpaid teachers, unemployed workers and undernourished children. For that reason, if for no other, he merits our enthusiastic support.