"We could see new lines drawn on the political spectrum. People like me would become active members of the Republican party, and that party would have to take on a new character," says Turanchik, a young man who ditched his nearly finished Ph.D. research in zoology to work for Anderson full-time.

What seems completely missing from these and other endorsements of Anderson is an understanding of the magnitude of the born-again conservative movement that is fast weaving its way throughout the Republican party. Turanchik calls Reagan "a joke, a person without common sense who is living in a pseudo-reality."

But while the would-be zoologist deployed bumper stickers and plotted campus rallies this week, the man he calls "a joke" has received nearly unanimous backing for his traditional right-wing views from all segments of the Republican party. And above all, the GOP appears determined to remain just that, the Grand Old Party--no realignments, no changes.

Faced with these unsettling realities, Turanchik and his cohorts defensively fall back on Anderson's surprisingly good showings in recent polls. Surveys have shown the Illinois congressman garnering as much as 20 per cent of the vote and Reagan winning more than a third of the vote to beat President Carter by several percentage points.

Of all the samplings the Anderson folks like to brag about, the ABC News-Louis Harris survey released last month is their favorite. Harris said on June 19 that if polls showed that Anderson had a real shot at the presidential election by October, 31 per cent of the electorate would vote for the independent, equaling the number who would vote for Carter and falling only four points short of Reagan's total. "If Anderson's apparent momentum were to continue, it is entirely possible that he could finish ahead of Carter and could press Reagan for the lead," added Harris.

"We know that we have to keep climbing, but we're certainly on the way," says Turanchik. There's no doubt; we're going to win."