iedia wizards and elections
By GARY THOMAS
FOLLOWING THIS year's elections, we were treated
(I use the term advisedly) to a rash of specula-
tion on the potential candidates that the Democrats
might offer to the public in 1976. This is, of course,
common, but it does bring to light the power of
the media in the "making of a president."
In a sense, Spiro Agnew was right: there is a large
concentration of power in the Eastern media. The large
papers, such as the Washington Post and the New
York Times, have a national readership in addition
to their own local one. Add to that the three large
television networks, and you do indeed have a power-
ful combine that can make or break a presidential
candidate with the flip of a typewriter key.
THE LARGE PAPERS and networks have a group
of "heavies" who form a loose presidential selection
committee more powerful than either party's national
committee. These men (there are no women in this
exclusive club) drink and work together covering fig-
ures on the political scene. And in their writings (or
broadcasts) they tout the men they feel are the strong-
est candidates. In a wide open presidential contest
- which 1976 will certainly be - these men can
have an enormous effect on public opinion, especially
during the primaries.
Two men immediately come to mind: R. W.
"Johnny" Apple, the whiz kid of the Times, and the
Post's David Broder, a most astute observer of the
Washington scene. These men write lengthy analysis
pieces in addition to their straight news dispatches.
These "analysis" features are widely read - and if
read widely enough, speculation can easily become
truth.
THE MEN OF the networks are more visible, of
course. The face of Dan Rather, Roger Mudd, Harry
Reasoner, Howard K. Smith, and John Chancellor are
known to anyone who watches TV news. These men
bring to the campaign the visual as well as the written
word, a force so powerful in television-hungry America
that it cannot begin to be calculated. But it can make
or destroy a candidate. When millions of Americans
saw Edmund Muskie crying in Maine, he was finished
on the presidential trail.
Apple, Broden and the rest of the pack have already
gotten a scent in the wind of '76, and, like blood-
hounds, they are already off and running. John Glenn
is an example. Here is a man who has never held
elective office before, whose only claim was being
an astronaut and a friend of the Kennedys, and he
is suddenly a freshman senator from Ohio. The wizards
are buzzing around Glenn's head, waving their type-
written wands and touting Glenn for a spot on the
national ticket. If Glenn has to run on his record
two years from now, he won't have much of one, for
freshman senators, like children in the old saying, are
expected to be seen and not heard.
AS WE MOVE out of 1974 and into 1975, the king-
making will intensify. Names like Lloyd Bentsen of
Texas (who?) and Rubin Askew of Florida (who?) are
cropping up in the wizards' columns. And sooner or
later, the adhoc selection committee of Apple, Brooder,
et. al. will prune the choices down for us who really
is the top contender.
It's a simple matter of whoever gets more of the
spotlight will get more attention from the public.
George McGovern fooled them in 1972, however. He
was not given a ghost of a chance for the nomina-
tion by the wizards; they had already foretold doom
at the convention for him. But two outside factors af-
fected that: McGovern's superb organization and the
"dirty tricks" of the Nixon Adininistration. McGov-
ern won despite the wizards,: not because of them.
SO AS ELECTION year approaches, we should start
looking at men for what they are, not what the
wizards claim they are. We are the ones who choose
a president, not the media. We should not let Johnny
Apple and David Broder have a heavy vote in every
primary.
Gary Thomas is a former reporter for the United
Press International now living in Ann Arbor.
Al rll l I r i
Letters
to
The
Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Tuesday, November 26, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Smoking:, Reefer reprieve
A NEW MARIJUANA REPORT has
been published. Although this
report says marijuana has beneficial
aspects, it contains residues of the
mentality of "Reefer Madness."
The report of the National Insti-
tute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) claims
marijuana may interfere with repro-
duction, disease resistance, and basic
biological processes. The report also
claims that marijuana may have
beneficial medical uses. These in-
clude future use in treating tumors
and preventing rejection of trans-
planted organs.
The researchers admit that all this
data is speculative since it is based
on research obtained from animals
and tissue in test tubes. It seems the
test subjects were injected with
pure THC, probably in much larger
quantities compared to body weight
than even the heaviest user would
consume. It seems similar to the
type of testing which led to the ban-
ning of cyclamates.
JN A SPEECH before the National
Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML), one of
the scientists involved in the re-
search also came out in favor of re-
ducing the penalties for marijuana
use.
Many marijuana smokers are in-
volved in no other criminal activity
and for them, punishment is much
worse than the crime. At least one
person jailed for possession of mari-
juana was killed while imprisoned.
The main researcher for NIDA, Dr.
Robert DuPont, is affiliated with the
White House as director of the Spe-
cial Action Office for Drug Abuse
Prevention. It seems that the White
House is going to change its stance
from staunch opposition to relaxing
the national pot laws. This, along
with the citizen pressure, is the first
step leading to the eventual legaliza-
tion of marijuana.
-STEVE ROSS
gasp sis will simply feed the already-
growing attitude that science is
To The Daily: useless, "too linear," old-4ash-
I ADDRESS this letter to stu- ioned and in no way applicable
dents, staff, faculty, and all oth- to the solution of current ;rob-
ers that use university facili- lems, an atmosphere leading to
ties. It concerns the violation of decadense, religious dogma and
the non-smoker's right to clean passivity and of course pessi-
air and good health, while he or mism, as it becomes apparent
she is attending classes or var- that more and more people will
ious other functions sponsored actually understand less a n d
by the university. less, though they won't cerse
Although smoking is prohibit- complaining about this fact.
ed in all university buildings, ANYONE who was furrinate
many people, including profes- enough to hear Dr. G e o r g e
sors and staff, insist on smoking Wald speak here knows the
in classrooms and auditoriums, value of great scientific minds
This "cloud of smoke" sur- and character and understands
rounding all of us has been de- why he said we already k n o w
termined by the U.S. Surgeon enough to solve most of our
General to be hazardous to our problems, but lack the admin-
health. It antagonizes respira- istrative, political faith, belief
tory ailments, allergies and, if and know-how to effect o u r
present in excessive amounts, knowledge. No doubt this decis-
can lead to serious stress on ion was partially brought about
people with heart trouble. Even by the usual pressures of fad-
to those who are not afflicted ing interest of students 1who
with these problems, tobacco can blame them for the unin-
smoke can cause eye and nasal spired, automatic teaching most
irritation and general discom- of them experience) and the
fort. The cigarette buttshand ash- prevailing notion t h a t creative
es on the floors and the desks science is irrelevant ii the face
of our buildings are equally of "practical" knowledge (read:
disgusting carrying out orders). Yet the
language requirement is reain-
I WOULD LIKE to a,2eal to ed - this despite its almost
smokers to refrain from smok- complete practical uselessoess
ing in university buildings, es- in anyone's life, though no one
pecially in crowded surround- doubts its aesthetic appal. I
ings. I also suggest that t h e am amazed and pained that in
staff and faculty be reminded this great scientific research
of the smoking prohibition and center not enough leadershin, ei-
enforce it in their classrooms. ther among scientists or admin-
Finally, I would suggest that istrators, existed to preserve
non-smokersttake personal ac- the fundamentally humane, pro-
tion. Many times the .srnk~r is gressive, moral function of sci-
not aware of his disturbance ence and scientific education.
and a simple request is some--Paul B. Wiener
times effective. It is our c-bli- November 14
gation to be concerned with
our own health and, hopefully,
with the health of our neighoors. tammany
-Catherine M. Beaimont
November 15 To The Daily:
THIS YEAR'S awards for ex-
science cellence in political campaign-
ing are as follows:
To The Daily: The Spiro T. Agnew Great In-
I AM ABSOLUTELY apoalled tellect in Campaigning Award to
that the lab science requirament Rae Weaver for her flyer entit-
has been dropped from the dis- led "Vote or We're Dead" which
tribution requirement and sug- asks if the voters were ready
gest that a thorough investiga- for two more years of "Dope
tion into this decision m i g h t smoking With young girls on
unearth some very shady, per- the Diag" (apparently they
haps subversive, maneuvering, were).
To think that in the 1973's sci- The Casey Jones Excellence
ence should be less emphasized, in Railroading Award to Mar-
while we are in the midst of vin Esch for his refusal to re-
perhaps the greatest break- call a misleading ad whici was
throughs in history in the areas designed to give the imp 'ession
of molecular biology, geneics, that he was endorsed by Com-
psychology, astrophysics, ar- mon Cause, an o:ganization
cheology, makes me sick with which never endorses candi-
fear, for this kind of de-empha- dates.
The Hubert Horatio Humphrey
Hot Air Award to WVilliatm Ail-
liken and Sander Levin (t'e)
for letting loose so mu.n of it
as tod cause record high tem-
peratures in Michigan several
weeks before election day.
The Al Capp Americanism
and Cartooning Award to Rae
Weaver (this year's only double
winner) for her Bullard cartoon
entitled "New Dimensions in
Legislation". The comic strap
has Perry addressing a group
and it begins with a question:
"Can we start now Perry?" to
which Bullard replies, -N o ,
there's not enough women hei e
yet." After several :equeices
in which an audience member
interrupts by saying to Bullard,
Psst! You didn't vote that way!,
Perry ends the cartoon 'y say-
ing to the heckler, "Aw Lynn,
go psst on yourself!"
THE ROMPER ROOM Arith-
metic award to Franz Magdis
and James Stephenson for their
ad opposing preferential vo'ing
which said thateDemocratc and
Republican voters wouild each
get one vote while HRP ballot-
ers would get 2 votes in such a
mayoral election.
And lastly the Ricnard Nixon
Destruction of the English Lang-
uage award to Gerald Ferd for
his labeling of a popularly eect-
ed Democratic 2/3 majoriy in
Congress as a "legislative dic-
tatorship".
It's been a great year, Amer-
icans! Keep up the great work!
.-Jim Frisinger
November 12
grief
To The Daily:
I HAVE JUST sat thrrngh
another dry and boring lecture-
of which there are uncommorly
many - that was made excep-
tionally difficult to si.t 'tirug
because of the condition of the
lecture room in which it was
given. The poor ventilation and
cracked and filthy walls are bad
enough, butthedesks - if they
can be called such -- take the
Letters to The Daily e
be mailed to the Editorial
Director or delivered to
Mary Rafferty in the Student
Publications business office
in the Michigan Daily build-
ing. Letters should be typed,
double-spaced and normally
should not exceed 250 words.
The Editorial Directors re-
serve the right to edit all
letters submitted.
Daily
cake. They belong in a medie-
val chamber of horrors, not a
classroom. One must stoop and
squeeze ones self into a con-
traption of decaying wo).1; and
the contortions that a left band-
ed person (there are some of
us) must go through to take
notes without their olbows in
someone's face are incredible.
The Board of Regents must
have stock in the American
Chiropracters Association.
The room I am speaking
about is in the basement of An-
gell Hall, but almost any build-
ing on Central Campus is in
equally decrepit condition. In-
ternal maintenance is atrocious.
Old plaster walls are crumb-
ling. Restrooms are inadequate-
ly stocked and covered w it h
weeks of grime. A good half
of the furniture must be the
originals from the nineteenth
century. Dormitory conditions
are an entire matter all togeth-
er.
DISCOMFORT CAN be borne
for a good reason. But when
I painfully sit and wonder how
many new desks could have
been bought, or new janitors
hired, for the price of re-sodding
the Diag, all good reasons es-
cape me. I can only wonder
why. Perhaps if the University
were less concerned about the
pretentiousness of its grounds
and more concerned about t h e
welfare of its students, tuition
hikes would be a lot easier to
take.
-Sue Coveleskie
October 16
to cut funds". This is the head-
line I was faced with this
morning. Under other circum-
stances I would have probably
laughed it off with a "yes but
his eyes are closed," but this
is not a laughing matter.
Mr. Fleming, you said that
"we've edged into non-salary
items about as much as we
can." If I believed that, I would
not be writing this.
The fact is that windows in
almost every university build-
ing will be open all winter to
keep room temperatures below
the 80 degree mark and because
of this steady outflow of hot air
it takes about 30 ner cent more
energy to have the building at
70 degrees (windows open) and
at least 40 per cent more enr-
gy than would be necessary to
heat the b'iilding to a com'ort-
able (windows closed) 68 de-
grees.
NOW, I am not going to men-
tion the tens of thousands of
dollars wasted on "scramble
system" dining at South Quad,
or the 20 to 30 grounds keepers
with their 1974 Ford pit-ups
I see each morning on my way
to class. But I sense that this
40 ner cent waste in an admit-
tedly small segment i~f your
bv'dget is not without company.
You only need to find one-tenth
as much waste in other depart-
ments and you are home free.
It can be done.
-Michael Smith
November 18
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to
anyone who wishes to submit
articles. Generally speaking,
all articles should be less
than 1,000 words.
-waste
To The Daily:
OPEN LETTER toI
Fleming: "Fleming sees
Robben
no wny
...and tobacco madness
--- SCSW ipCS
Governor Ella Grasso
as Dem VP nominee?
_________________By BOB SEIDEINSTEIN --
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT about
how much good land is being
wasted growing potatoes, wheat, corn,
etc.? Think about all the problems
that would be solved if all this land
was converted to growing tobacco:
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Stephen Hersh, Cindy Hill, Judy
Ruskin, Jeff Sorensen, Jim Tobin,
Becky Warner
Editorial Page: Marnie Heyn, Steve
Stoici
Arts Page: David Blomquist
Photo Technician: Scott Benedict
0 Cigarette prices would come spir-
aling down so everyone, and not just
the rich, could afford to smoke.
" The Income Tax could be done
away with because of the vast in-
crease in cigarette tax revenue due
to increased sales.
* No one would ever have to walk
into a kitchen and smell asparagus
cooking.
" No one would starve or get hit
by cosmic{ rays because everyone,
would die of lung cancer.
-STEVE LEMIRE
Definitely not ait home abroad
By DAVID GARFINKEL
"LES ANNEES FOLLES sont revenues," de-
cadently proclaims an opulent magazine ad
for a sterling silver pen.
It could mean "Happy days are here again."
But I prefer the liberal translation, which is
"The crazy years are back." And you can bet
your bottom franc on that.
Why? Here's a little hint: If I should be lucky
enough to get this article to The Daily, you can
be sure it wasn't mailed from France. That
would be impossible, because for the last two
weeks there has been no mail here.
The unions serving the PTT are all on strike.
The PTT includes the mail, telephone and tele-
graph services. Automatic telephones still work
(word hasn't gotten around to the machines yet),
but telegrams are sent "au risque de l'expedi-
teur." In other words, the operators are glad to
take your money, but they give no guarantee
of delivery. Meanwhile, piled-up sacks are crowd-
ing jets out of their hangers at Orly Airport
in Paris...
'It A TRTVY V iri ff' a nop" is n' ,-. .. - ri - rA
the Gaz et Electricite de France decided to
jump on the bandwagon and turn off the juice
next Tuesday.
I guess if
to the south
I still have a
things get
of Spain,
few weeks
really
I was
left on
bad I could go
telling a friend.
my railpass, and
By BOB SEIDENSTEIN
CONNECTICUT'S govern o r -
elect Ella Grasso has n o t
spent one day in the office and
yet she is already being men-
tioned as a possible Vice-Presi-
dential nominee.
Considering the number of
VPs who have become VIPs,
we normally would be a little
wary of such a rise to political
stardom. But for all practical
purposes she is serving more
as a trumped up symbol of
women in politics than as a
prospective candidate.
The anti-abortion Grasso has
become a champion to some
because of her anatomy. Never
mind that throughout her poli-
tical career she has been known
as "just one of the boys" by
many of the bosses whose ma-
chine she has constantly sup-
ported in her ascent to the
state house in Hartford.
IN CONNECTICUT this sum-
mer the aforementioned phrase
kept popping up, it seemed to
assure the voters of Fier large-
ly Italian, Democratic,aideolo-
gically conservative state that
Grasso played the power game
by the generally accepted rules.
Yet her picture appears cn
the cover of Newsweek and, lo
and behold, on the front page
of that journalistic gem, the
D~etroit Free Press. Two days
after (rasso's victoryT e Free
Press even asked its readers to
respond to the question of whe-
ther they think it is time to
have a woman on :he presiden-
NORMALLY NOBODY would
get too excited over the gover-
nor of a state whose major
export is insurance policies. If
you know that Thomas Meskill
is the outgoing governor of the
Nutmeg State you pro'ably a:so
remember the name of Tonto's
horse.
While Grasso will be a gover-
nor with important tasks o.fore
her' in an economically a ling
state, to much of the nation she
new politics. The national Demo-
will be a sign of a supposed
cratic party is sure to exploit
her as just ,that, in spite of her
skillfull old-style political pro-
fessionalism and, regirdless of
how able an administrat)r she
becomes in office.
In Connecticut most voters
viewed Grasso as a trusted
Democratic politician, though
admittedly some thougat it
would be a nice or a not so nice
idea to elect her because of her
sex.
BUT RATHER than trumpet
the fact that a woman hot been
elected governor of an import-
ant industrialized srite, f o r
truth's sake we might want to
say that she actually wool as a
party loyalist who happens to
be a woman.
She is not a feminist, which
some feminists may sav makes
her victory even more s gnifi-
cant. However, a lot of us would
rather see a candidate genuine-
ly interested in "w men's is-
sues" which affect all of socie-
ty elected to such a hign office.
"Oh, haven't you heard?" she said without emo-
tion. "The trains are going on strike tomor-
row."
SO THE ONLY hope I have of getting this
article back to the USA is that there's a rumor
floating around that "the phantom courier" is
going to be taking a batch of mail to Geneva,
a mere 400 miles from here.
Actually Italy is a lot closer. But very often,
the main in that country is ground up and sold
as paper pulp.
Oui, oui, mesdames et messieurs, les annees
folles sont certainment revenues.
P.S. The phantom courier idea became unfeas-
ible when I discovered that he had involuntarily
prolonged a stay in Greece on account of the rail