In addition to trying to get out general radio news spots to as many radio stations as possible, Walker also attempts to send out specific spots to radio stations with specific constituencies. For example, if McGovern were to speak on farm prices and inflation Walker would distribute on spot to rural farm listeners and another to urban stations.

John Gage, who left the Public Policy Program here because "he couldn't stand the bullshit handed out" has the responsibility of making sure there are outlets for TV cameras at each McGovern speaking engagements. Gage is the person who has to find the extra extension cord, or to set up the platform for the cameramen to stand on. Gage prides himself on the fact that McGovern has not had one rally since the convention where any television camera failed to get usable footage.

Doughrety flies on the Dakota Queen with the South Dakota Senator. In the back of the plane, he has a xerox machine, a mimeograph machine and three electric typewriters. He supervises a staff of three which produces the transcripts of speeches, press releases and schedules for the press. Doughrety thus can sit in the front of the plane and discuss ideas for a press release with McGovern, then walk to the back of the plane, write the release, and distribute it before the airplane lands.

With such an efficient organization the question arises: just why is McGovern going to do so poorly? In a recent article in the New York Review of Books, Christopher Lasch argues that McGovern fails to make an impact on people because he has not assumed a populist stance. In a recent interview, Jack Newfield and Jeff Greenfield, authors of the book A Populist Manifesto, took a similar stance. After hearing McGovern on the stump for a week, it is fair to say that this assertion is simply not true. McGovern consistently attacks the Nixon administration for selling out to "special interests" and proceeds to attacks the President for the ITT affair and the Russian grain deal. McGovern says repeatedly that in his administration "the government will be turned over to the people." He told crowds all over the northeast last week that if he were elected he would close $22 billion dollars worth of tax loopholes which now exist. In his rhetoric, McGovern also tries to portray himself as a friend of the little man. In speech after speech McGovern says that "there is no reason why a Wall Street banker can deduct his $20 martini luncheon and the average working guy in this country can't deduct the cost of his bologna sandwich."

McGovern also lashes out at the Nixon wage and price controls, charging that the price commission is "fixed so that nine out of ten applications for price increases are granted to the big corporations while the government places a tight lid on the wages of the working man." These arguments are a prominent part of McGovern's basic campaign speech.

Probably the only issue which Newfield and Greenfield feel should be a component of a 1972 populist strategy, that McGovern plays down, is crime in the street. While addressing blue-collar audiences, McGovern buries the issue into the middle of his speech. He refers to drugs and crime only when discussing ways the U.S. could use the $7 billion it spends each year on the war in Vietnam. Yet crime control is certainly not a major component of a populist program. Economic issues are, and McGovern certainly does deal with these questions.

Probably the reason for McGovern's failure to reach the American people is the nature of his rhetoric. McGovern's attacks on the Nixon Administration are so brutal and strident that it is difficult for anyone who is uncommitted to hear him and come away feeling that McGovern has reasoned positions. Rather people come away from rallies amazed at how vicious McGovern has been in his attacks on the President.

In his biography of McGovern, Robert Anson quotes the South Dakota Senator as saying that his 1960 Senate campaign against Karl Mundt was his worst political effort. "It was my worst campaign. I hated him so much I lost my sense of balance. I made some careless charges. I got on the defensive during the campaign and was rattled. I started explaining and answering things I should have ignored. It was hard to get a book on Mundt."

McGovern has run into the same problem in this campaign. He spends most of his time blasting Nixon and his Administration without delivering carefully thought-out talks. Time and time again he calls the Nixon Administration "the most corrupt in the history of American politics." He has repeatedly called President Thieu "savage and corrupt and immoral." These rhetorical excesses, while perhaps satisfying to many of his more committed supporters, do little to convince people to support him. Most people who vote in American presidential elections want a moderate candidate, and McGovern does little in his public orating to discourage claims that he is a "radical or extreme" candidate.

Just as he said he did in the Mundt campaign, McGovern has gotten rattled. A prime example was his reaction to the announcement of a possible settlement of the war in Vietnam. In the course of one day's campaigning last week. McGovern gave reporters three different comments on whether he felt the settlement would help his chances to get elected.

In the morning he told a CBS radio news reporter that he thought a settlement would "destroy" President Nixon's chances for-re-election. McGovern said that people would realize Nixon was only settling the war to gain political advantage and would thus support his candidacy. Later in the afternoon, McGovern said in another interview that he felt a "settlement of the war might give Nixon some political advantage." Finally, in the evening, McGovern changed his position again and said he "didn't give a damn who a settlement in the war helped, as long as the war was ended."

McGovern's failure to take a single position has hurt his candidacy greatly. It was not until a day after reports of the settlement that McGovern did what a smart politician would have done as soon as he heard of the news: take credit for the action. McGovern should have immediately said that any settlement was due to his efforts and the antiwar movement.

When McGovern finally came around to this position, it was not given the attention in the press that it would have had McGovern originally articulated that line.

McGovern's staffers recognize that a settlement of the war in Vietnam and their candidate's weak response will probably close out their chance to win the election. By the end of last week, almost all of the people connected with the campaign had lost much of their energy and appeared to be getting ready to suffer a smashing defeat.