European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes thursday. June 19, 1986 Mary Mcgrory Salt gives democrats their Chance to Shine Tiik resident u  Brodur noted in a re com Rel urn. He nod the democrats an Issue when to announced his u w in by nut of Salt ii. Tin1 question is. Will the democrats accept delivery Tor the Las four Yean inc parly has been split Down he Middle Between those who say Hal demo reals have to stand for something diff Cryn like arms control and those who say the Only Hope of survival is to  As republicans allies of Reagan although nol without Rescar Vairons in peace through  professor Stanley Hoffmann of Harvard Calls this philosophy less of the same and it has reached cull proportions since 1980. The Salt ii step Back offers inc democrats a Chance to redefine themselves As a party. Wilt they Lake it recent history has shown that democrats arc easily overpowered and intimidated. Let them be re minded thai Reagan is he most popular american president in recorded time let him Call them weak on defense and they panic and flee or else gel themselves invited to the White House to negotiate their Small differences with the president. Thai s what happened on the my missile fight in which the president s troops were led by three dem a Ornis who assured their colleagues thai the my was a bargaining Chip on the negotiating Lable. But not even rep. Los Aspin a wis. Who wus one of the Trio and who in .1 certain Diphl Tun even see Star wars As a bargaining Chip has attempted to portray the cancellation of Salt ii As anything but what Paul Warnke. The Carter arms negotiator promptly and rightly labelled it a sign that the mils have won1 in the Reagan administration. The democrats will find out what they arc made Ofin the Salt fight. Allies of other years arc Scal cred and disarmed. The democrats Are going to have to act out of conviction. They have of course Public opinion on their Side. But Public opinion while strongly in favor of arms control is easily intimidated and overpowered y presidential rhetoric. And Reagan s Genius for Tun quil izing the masses could mean that he will gel away clean on the most Radical and bizarre move of his administration. All he has to say is that he will to to another Summit and apprehension will fade. He is obviously gambling Hal Gorbachev zapped by chernobyl badly needs a Summit for his own Pur poses the democrats can t count on the europeans this time that s for sure. At the a Iceni nato foreign ministers meeting in Nova Scotia the diplomats pleated a hit about the a Wisdom of removing All constraints from the arms race but none of those recorded seemed to have names. No Western Leader has so far Puhlin in taken Issue with Reagan. There Are two Good reasons for this. One is that they Are lined up at the Star wars trough snouts Al rumble at inc seem offal contracts and technological Bonbons.  s crazy scheme for enriching the military Industrial Complex and sparing himself from the awful necessity of signing something with the soviets has altered european politics. The other is thai the Western leaders who went to inc Wall with their peace movements Over the euro can missiles have beaten them Back. In the Nell or kinds once a hotbed of anti nuclear rage voters have just re elected As their prime minister Ruud Lubbers a Champion of the missiles. So the Hope of cover from mobs of europeans marching through the streets and exporting indignation that will fire up the . Peace constituency is not Uherc. In 1982, when the freeze movement was on the Rise the Reagan administration got nervous and stopped talking about the evil Empire. Since then the Reagan people have Learned As icy say jauntily that europeans Don t vote  the democrats will have i Sake on the president because they have to. If they Don t stand for arms control what is left they can t look to the 22 Republican senators who Are up for re election and who might have wanted to Campaign on a platform of peace and Prosperity in Scad of a scrapped arms agreement and Aid to the contras. Bui they Are for the must part keeping 3 stiff upper lip. When asked about the effect on the november elections Senate majority Leader Robert Dole who in his quest for the gop nomination is positioning himself to the right of Jesse Helms quipped. A lot of people have stopped using  the democrats have to fashion Dole s joke into a make or Brcak Issue for themselves and by them selves. They have begun. Under inc auspices of the House leadership they arc talking about actually biting Reagan. They Are considering a Bill that would Stop any defense funds being used for weapons Hal would go Over he Salt limits. Soon now we will find out if inc democrats have been dead since Ronald Reagan was elected or if they were Only sleeping. I m wig Chi to stay with a that has flaws met James Kilpatrick the South May Rise again on super tuesday 88 for two generations after the Laic War of Northern aggression so the Story goes every Gran Pappy in the South would leave a deathbed exhortation to his offspring save to Confederate Money son the South will Rise again politically speaking ii May in deed be so. With relatively Little notice in the National press inc Southern states arc ganging up for a regional presidential balloting during the second week of March 1988. The ploy will have a pro found effect on the Choice of a demo cratic nominee and will influence the course of National politics in of the next Century. For such Southern conservative dem. Cratsas Charles w. Cappsjr. Of missis Sippi this is a last gasp Effort for the party he and his forebears have loved. Capps has served 14 years in the missis Sippi Senate. In this period he has witnessed phenomenal changes in the South. A democratic nomination to state office used to be tantamount to election. Republican opposition was merely Token. Now Mississippi has u re publican senator Thad Cochin and two Republican members of the House Trent lotto and William a Franklin. Throughout the South republicans arc gaining strength. One More Walter Mon Dale says Capps and his party May be done for. Capps was in Washington the other Day to spread the gospel of a super tues Day in l�88. The situation is fluid but he counts 10 Stales firmly in inc fold Kentucky Oklahoma Maryland ten Nessee Mississippi Missouri Alabama Florida Georgia and Virginia. Ii is prob Able Hal Arkansas North Carolina Louisiana and Texas will sign on. South car Olina is Uncertain Ana West Virginia May abstain but super tuesday is now in the works. If All Coes As planned the participating Southern Stales will have chosen one third of the delegates to the 1988 democratic convention before the Resl of the country has begun to concentrate on the election. Iowa will hold its caucuses in january. New Hampshire will choose its handful of delegates he last tuesday in february. Meanwhile every presidential hopeful Wilt have been compelled to concentrate on the South super tuesday. Capps has saved his Confederate Money. The whole idea is to produce a demo cratic nominee More acceptable to Southern values Capps is not talking race or segregation or civil rights. Those issues arc pan of a dead Pasi. He is talk ing Fisca solvency Strong National de sense limited Federal government a stronger role for the states. In Brief he is talking sound Republican doctrine which is what conservative Southern democrats repeatedly espouse in presidential elections. Within the old confederacy every Southern stale in 1984 Rait at least 60 percent of its vote for Ronald Reagan. But Capps does t want to switch parties he wants to revitalize his own party. Without a candidate accept Able to the South by which he Means the White South the democrats Haven t a prayer of winning the White House in 1988." Southern republicans have raised no objection to super tuesday. They too Are concerned with choosing a party nominee who could sweep the Southeast As Reagan did. Among such prospective candidates As George Bush Robert Dole Jack Kemp and Howard Baker they see an embarrassment of pleasant choices. Yet of Southern regional movement is a. Democratic contrivance and South Ern democrats Are sorely divided. Black democrats and Charley Capps democrats Are politically Ali Terent Breeds. In 1984 inc Rev. Jesse Jackson so dominated the Black vote that he won 42 per cent of the vote in Louisiana s primary 25 percent in Tennessee Maryland and North Carolina 21 percent in Georgia and 19 percent in Alabama. Those Are potent percentages. It is entirely conceivable Hal super tuesday could turn into Pearl Harbor for conservative democrats Jesse Jackson and Colorado s Gary Hart recently identified by National journal As the most Liberal member of the sen ate could run off with a Herd of delegates and leave Capps and his co sponsors sad Der but Wiser in any event the regional primary should accomplish one desirable goal. It should put new Hampshire in better perspective. Candidates of both parties will have to Campaign in new Hampshire but even As they orate in Manchester they will be thinking of Richmond at Lanta Montgomery and Austin. Next Lime around traditional Southern democrats mean to have Clou. It s something they Haven t had in years