McGovern Political Aide Says Watergate Aids Kennedy Rivals

Frank L. Manckiewicz, the national political director for the presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern (D-S.D.), said last night that the exposure of corruption in the Nixon administration has broadened the race for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination.

Speaking at Winthrop House to an Institute of Politics seminar, Manckiewicz said that ten days ago, no Democrat would have opposed Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), in the 1976 contest.

He explained that the Nixon Administration has now been permanently labeled the "Watergate Administration," and other prospective candidates have an issue to run on helping them get a head start on Kennedy.

A Valuable Commodity

"Only just now," he said, "has the Democratic nomination become a valuable commodity."

Manckiewicz accused the national press of ignoring the corruption issue, in spite of McGovern's charges during the campaign, until the Watergate affair began to unravel. The press is unable to treat the incumbent like any other candidate during a Presidential campaign, Manckiewicz commented.

"The reverence for the President kept Watergate and other corruption out of the campaign," he said, "and only now that insiders are getting caught are we going to find out that this is the most corrupt administration in our history."

Manckiewicz also criticized the press for ignoring the issues in presidential campaigns and of concentrating instead on the inside politicking, because "that is what interest them."

Not a Liberal Bias

Manckiewicz added that this lack of concern with issues was especially reflected in television reporting. He said that Vice President Agnew was correct in 1970 when he accused network presidents of imposing their bias on network news, but he added that this was not a liberal bias.

Instead, Manckiewicz said, the news is slanted because the network presidents restrict us to a half-hour of national news in a 16-hour day of programming.

Manckiewicz explained that he feels television will not cover something that is not excitingly visual or cannot be covered in 45 seconds. He said that television loves the spectacular but dislikes issues.

"During the campaign," he said, "I proposed that we buy a building where Senator McGovern was going to speak, and set fire to it--and every camera in America would turn out to watch the action."