New voters:
Bumper crop
for
'72 ?
By TONY SCHWARTZ
If young people were to vote the
way most presidential candidates claim
they will, a majority would cast their
ballots for every major contender.
The candidates' claims, however, are
often as hollow as they are mathe-
matically impossible. The fact is that
no candidate can reasonably expect to
woo a clear majority of the millions
of young people who will be voting in
the 'upcoming presidential primaries.
As far as the youth vote is con-
cerned, only the barest facts are cer-'
tainties. About 11.2 million of the 25
million new voters, received the vote
by the way of the 26th Amendment
which enfranchised 18 year olds in
state, local and federal elections. An-
other 13.9 million Americans between
21 and 25 will also be voting for the
first time in a presidential election
this year.
At this point, most surveys have
shown that less than 50 per cent of
those eligible can be expected to vote.
One survey has indicated that ap-
proximately 42 per cent will vote, al-
though as many as 65 per cent may
register.
elections '72
In simple terms, this would mean
a vote of 10-12 million-enough to in-
fluence the outcome of a presidential
election in the event of bloc voting.
But one other fact that studies have
consistently borne out, is that young
people basically make up a mixed bag
of voters.
A recent Newsweek pool, for in-
stance, showed that the most com-
mon ideological identification given by
young people was "middle of the road".
The 45 per cent who fit in this group
far outdistanced those who labeled
themselves "liberals", "radicals" or
"conservatives."
But one other fact is emerging, at
least for the presidency. Young people
have been registering Democratic by
almost 2 to 1 margins over Republi-
can.
Nevertheless, Republican strategists,
particularly those in the President's
camp have an answer-the large num-
ber of young people registering inde-
pendent.
Nixon's advisors have expressed hope
of capturing a significant percentage
of this group, which representing 42
per cent of young voters, according to
a recent poll, make them the largest
bloc of voters.
As to the impact of a heavily Dem-
ocratic youth vote, it just depends on
whose study you look at.
If half of the potential new voters
had cast ballots in the last election 1
and split two to one for Humphrey
(10 per cent for Wallace), only one 1
state would have switched hands. By c
this study. in short, the outcome of
the election would have been the same.
Another study, which sounds a more
comforting note in Democratic hearts,
predicts just the opposite.
It indicates that if only 50 per cent
of th 25 million new voters cast bal-
lots in 1972 and vote two-thirds Demo-
cratic, Nixon would lose nine states
that he won in 1968-among them Cal-
ifornia, Illinois and Ohio.
These states' total electoral vote of
150 would give the election to the Dem-
ocrats even in the event that Nixon
(minus a Wallace candidacy) sweeps
the South.
All of this mind-boggling manipu-
lation of statistics leads to one definite
conclusion: No one can tell the im-
pact of the youth vote for it is made
maleable by varied surveying - tech-
niques, prior assumptions and accept-
ances of past precedents.
But all of the uncertainty has not
staved off intensive efforts by almost
every presidential campaign contender
to woo these enticing millions.
The unspoken credo on the youth
vote is similar to the one which guides
political advertising-"We aren't sure
See SURVEYING, Page 6
Getting ready to vote
BOLSTERING THE
THIEU REGIME
See Editorial Page
Y
Sh: ta~
~~E~aiti
BLANKETING
High-35
Low--22
One to three
inches of snow
Vol. LXXXiI, No. 96 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, February 3, 1972 Ten Cents
Ten Pages
Viet Cong set
conditions or
peace talks
SAIGON ( - The Viet Cong said yesterday it could
begin immediate discussions with the Saigon government
toward a political solution of the war if President Nguyen Van
Thieu resigned now and the United States set a troop with-
drawal deadline.
The National Liberation Front said in a radio broadcast
that the United States, by setting a date for he complete
withdrawal of all allied forces and giving up all U.S. bases,
could free American pilots held in North Vietnam.
The broadcast called these demands ."the two key points"
of- the National Liberation
Abortion
lw drive.
continues
By MARCIA ZOSLAW
In the wake of the repeated de-
feat of abortion reform bills in the
State Legislature and the unre-
solved nature of state court cases
on the issue, efforts for state
abortion reform now focus "op-
timistically" on a seven-month old
petition drive to put the issue on
the ballot in the November elec-
tion.
The petition asks that abortion
be performed on demand, pro-
viding the operation is done by a
licensed physician and the pa-
tient's pregnancy has not exceed-
ed 20 weeks.
According to Marianne Davis,
state abortion reform petition
drive chairwoman, the drive has
already netted 65 per cent of the
214,000 valid signatures needed to
present it to the Legislature.
Although the Lansing Coordi-
nating Committee for Abortion
Reform which organized the drive
has set a deadline of late Febru-
ary for presenting the petition to
the. legislature, Davis explained
yesterday that the February dead-
line can be pushed back until
enough signatures accumulate.
Pushing back the date, how-
ever, could make the issue too
late for a place on the November
ballot, she said.
Once the required number of
signatures is obtained, the legisla-
See ABORTION, Page 10
Front's seven-point plan for
ending the war.
It said that once these require-
ments were met, the Viet Cong's
provisional revolutionary govern-
ment-the PRG-would be ready
to discuss establishment of a "na-
tional reconciliatory government"
to organize;elections and an "offi-
cial government" for South Viet-
nam.
"If the two said conditions could
be agreed upon, the other prob-
lems could be solved easily," the
broadcast said.
The eight-point allied peace pro-
posal disclosed by President Nixon
a week ago included a provision
that Thieu would resign a month
ahead of an election, witha care-
taker government to serve in the
interim.
It did not provide, however, for
any dismantling of the government
machinery, nor rule out Thieu as.
a candidate in the election.
Various Communist broadcasts
and statements have indicated that
this is the most objectionable por-
tion of the proposed political solu-
tion, saying it wocld only provide
a repeat of last October's one-man
election in which Thieu won a sec-
ond four-year term.
The Viet Cong's seven-point plan,
first advanced in Paris last July
1, is considered by U.S. officials
to be only a variation of the nine-
point program which Hanoi offered
in secret a week earlier and which
has since been the subject of
secret talks.
The nine-point plan was made
public by the North Vietnamese
two days ago, following Nixon's
Dubliners
'embassy;
victims bi
DUBLIN (-A crowd of 30,---
000 Irish reduced the British
Embassy to a smoldering shellj
here yesterday only hours
after the victims of London-
derry's "Bloody Sunday" were
laid to rest in the North.
None of the embassy's 30 mem-
ber staff was in the building at the
time of the attack, having been
warned beforehand to stay away in
view of lesser attacks on the two
previous days.
Mobs rampaged and gun battles
flared throughout Ireland, plung-
li the'divided island into more .
death and destruction in the af-
termath of 13 killings Sunday in
Northern Ireland's second city.
A crowd surged at the embassy
in Dublin's downtown Merrion
Square, brushing aside a police
cordon. Youths with sledgeham-
mers climbed the embassy's bal-
conies and smashed its windows;
Then the mob leaders bombarded ?
- it with flaming Molotov cocktails
fueled from buckets of gasoline
passed from the rear by a human
chain.
Dublin police said people lay in
theroads to prevent fire engines
from reaching the scene.,..,
The assault on the embassy fol- -
lowed a mass rally to protest the n . '
killing of the 13 by British para-
troopers last Sunday in London-
derry. Then the t h o u s a n d s
marched through the city center
to the four-story embassy and ex-
ploded in violent fury to cries of:
"British out!" STUDENT ADVISORS to the
The British government pro- adu nysedysana
tested vigorously and demanded a drum in yesterday's annua
n compensation from the Irish re-
public."
In London, British Defense Min- r se odCrigo lde e r f
rt iterLord Carrington pledged be-
a- fore the House of Lords that Brit-
rs ain would make no concession to
violence and terrorism in Northern
Ireland.
i-
ipHe said the British army would
n- break up a civil rights march
planned for this weekend. It was a WASHINGTON (R - B
n, similar march in Londonderry.
d- broken up by paratroopers, that No. 1 in yesterday's draft l
s- led to Sunday's deaths. men born those days in1
g, Carrington reaffirmed his gov- callup.
ernment's refusal to allow North
m Ireland's Protestant majority to be In the safest spot with
a forced to join the Irish Republic born July 23 with No. 365 a
in as some Northern Irish Catholics
have demanded. officials expect draftable n
n- The form of government in of last year
i- Northern Ireland, he said, "must
See BRITISH, Page 10
raze
strife
pried
-Associated Pres
POLICE attempt to hold back several thousand demonstrators outside the British embassy in Dublin
yesterday afternoon after the building was set afire by gasoline bombs (left and above right). Mean
while, a crowd gathers in Londonderry (below right) to mourn the deaths of 12 victims of the "Bloody
Sunday" shootings this week.
STA TE-WIDE PROPOSALS:
'U' studying'external'
plan for adult students
By JIM O'BRIEN
The creation of an "external
degree program," opening the
opportunity for a college educa-
tion to persons unable to attend
regular classes is one of several
ideas under consideration by the
University and the 12 other four-
year state colleges.
According to Alfred Storey, di-
rector of the University Exten-
sion Service, representatives of
the 13 institutions will be meet-
ing in the spring to discuss this
proposal as well as a number of
others.
Other topics likely to appear
on the agenda of the meetings
include:
-Creation of a common edu-
cational television network cov-
ering the entire state;
-An increase in the number
of courses, sequences, and pro-
grams offered jointly by state
college extension services; and
-A central record-keeping fa-
disclosure
tions and
posal.
of the secret negotia-
his own eight-point pro-
A look at our legislators
cility for the college extensio
centers throughout the state.
The proposed changes are pai
of a plan to increase coopers
tion between extension center
of the 13 colleges.
A consortium, or partnershi
of the centers, which would it
volve sharing of common facil
ties and faculty, and uniforn
liberalized, admission procei
ures will be the main issue di:
cussed at the spring meetinE
according to Storey.
The external degree prograi
may in part be a response to
State Department of Educatio
report on adult education.
The report calls on state ii
stitutions to . provide opportun
ties for every adult citizen t
pursue studies "beyond hig
school, including continuing edi
cation beyond the baccalaureat
degree."
An external degree unit,a
Storey describes it, would pr
vide adults who cannot atten
regular college classes a chan
to earn a degree through exte
nal work, examinations and ii
dependent study. Further, h
said, it would give young adul
an opportunity for greater flex
bility than the conventional co
lege experience, by letting thei
study at their own pace on
part-time basis.
-Associated Press
Selective Service pick numbers from
i draft lottery.
ykingse hed
[is expected
3y rare coincidence, March 6 drew
)ttery and March 7, No. 2, putting
1953 first in line for next year's
h the highest numbers were those
ind Sept. 9 with No. 364. But draft
numbers to fall far below the 125
Bursley: Unique senator?
By JAN BENEDETTI
State Senator Gilbert Bursley
(R-Ann Arbor) believes himself
to be unique in the State Senate
since he represents "more stu-
dents than anybody in Lansing."
His 18th district includes both
the University community and
Eastern Michigan University.
Sitting in his Ann Arbor home
surrounded by his prized collec-
tion of medieval weapons and
armor. Bursley is reluctant to
categorize himself politically.
But he agrees to the category
of "liberal Republican", defin-
Smit:
Election fight looms
With a November re-election
battle inevitably approaching,
State Rep. Raymond Smit (R-
Ann Arbor) must keep balancing
between the demands of his stu-
dent constituency and the rest of
Ann Arbor's voters. Both Ann
Arbor and Ann Arbor township
form Smit's district with the stu-
dent population in the minority.
Separating the student commu-
nity and the supposedly more
conservative townspeople, Smit
sees "a basic liberal-conservative
conflict on the question of the
V-
u-
te
as
'0-
ad
ce
r-
n-
he
ts
Id-
ol-
m
a
Sweepstakes' sweetens a
sour pill from Uncle Sam
By DAVE IURHENN
Yesterday was Neil Makstein'sk
lucky day-sort of.
Neil and many other American
young men were caught as the
long shadow of Uncle Sam, not
unlike that of the groundhog,
stretched across the country in
the annual draft lottery.
Draft Director Curtis W. Tarr
1 started the drawing by saying:
"We do not as yet know what the
draft call will be in 1973."
"Nor," he said, "do we know as
yet what the call will be for the
remainder of 1972, but we do ex-
pect calls to be lower than they
have been in recent years."
Secretary of Defense Melvin
Laird has said there will be no
calls at least until April.
For list of draft numbers and
birthdays, see Page 7.
In contrast to the first three
draft lotteries, there were no pro-
m
..._