"Never has," interjected Apple. "In fact," said Apple with a straight face, "once he got up and said, 'I reserve the right to lie in the defense of freedom.'"

Carter's man Powell, somewhat relaxed after his last campaign trip to Massachusetts, told reporters some stories about earlier campaign troubles on identifying Carter with the wrong economic sector before the electorate.

"We had a huge telethon in Georgia, with lots of operators taking calls--we were tuned into 13 media markets in Georgia and Florida and throughout the South. The first call comes in and one operator jumps up with a big grin and grabs the mike before somebody could do anything about and beamed 'We just received $5,000 from the Coca-Cola Company!"

"The first one! We threw a big rope around her and dragged her off."

Powell then told a story of Carter in the Navy. Carter's ship was cruising the Caribbean when it met a British Navy vessel. There was one black officer aboard the American ship, and when the British officers invited all the white American officers to a party, all the Americans, including Carter, refused.

"That was charming of the Brits," Apple said. "The captain must have been Enoch Powell."