The Brady Bunch was preempted that afternoon of Aug. 24: Allan T. Howe was on the courthouse steps spitting venom. One reporter asked Howe if he had ever had a girlfriend in the Four Corners area--the site of the controversial Kaiparowits power plant. Howe started to answer but was cut off by his wife's vehement reply: "Of course he had a girlfriend. Me!" His attorney said that such questions are the reason Howe can never get a fair trial in Utah. The reporter tried to ask another question, but Howe interrupted to ask what paper he was from. When the reporter said he represented the Brigham Young University student paper, Howe told him that he was a disgrace to the paper and the institution.

Shortly after the trial Howe's first campaign manager was arrested for intent to sell marijuana. The police had postponed the arrest until after the trial to assure a fair trial for Howe, they said.

The Democratic party began to move toward supporting a write-in candidate. More candidates declared themselves, and more voters said they would support a write-in. Howe's support settled down to about 15 per cent of the electorate.

But Howe still had fire in his breast. He announced on Sept. 3 that he was going to continue as a candidate for Congress despite his travails. He apologized for having been in that part of town, but continued to claim innocence, saying he put his trust in the innate fairness of the people of Utah.

Several days later, venom once again spewed from Salt Lakers' television sets. Howe's attorney railed at those who had "hounded" Howe into taking a lie detector test, defiantly producing the results of a lie detector that said that Howe was telling the truth. Mrs. Howe quoted the scriptures and suggested that others look to their own homes before criticizing her husband.

Raskin, who had tested the decoys, criticized the test that Howe's lawyer presented, saying that it was unreliable, an old technique that was not as good as the one Raskin himself had used. But many people who watched Howe at the press conference believed that Howe now had worked himself into such a self-righteous fury that he probably thought he really was innocent.

The Democrats went ahead and endorsed a write-in candidate, Daryl J. McCarty--Howe's opponent in the primaries two years ago.

So the voters of Utah must decide. Howe has generally been considered a good congressman, and until his arrest was assured of reelection. But Utahns are getting used to dirty campaigns and political scandal. The state auditor recently resigned after pleading guilty to a charge of misconduct in office--he had taken $50 in extra travel expenses. The Republican nominee for Attorney General was just cleared of a charge of interfering with a civil suit by telling the plaintiff that she "didn't have a case" against the daughter of his longtime personal secretary. The cleared attorney won in the primaries despite another charge hanging over his head: he has been accused of failing to forward "at least a couple of hundred dollars" in child support to a client.

"The mud starts slinging when campaigns start," he said.

The biggest problem facing Allan Howe is not campaign dirt, but his own behavior. Coupled with a propensity for five o'clock shadow, Howe's actions and self-righteous smugness raise the specter of a former president. Echoing the thoughts of many Utahns, Salt Lake City resident Nick Carling wrote a letter to The Salt Lake Tribune: "Richard M. Nixon is alive and well, living in the state of Utah and running around disguised as Allan T. Howe."

But to some citizens of Salt Lake, the affair has been less unkind. The women of West Second South got some free publicity. Although there was already a ski trail at Alta named West Second South, something new was needed. So the women down in pristine Salt Lake City's red light destrict have taken what might be considered campaign buttons of some sort, buttons that read "WE KNOW HOWE."