The Difficulty of Selling Soap

"As far as I'm concerned," says Pierre Salinger's campaign publicist, Christy Walsh Jr., "Pierre is a bar of soap, and we're going to sell him as effectively as we can." The only trouble is, that particular bar of soap doesn't seem to be selling very well these days. By general agreement, Salinger has fallen behind State Controller Alan Cranston in their race for California's Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate.

The latest Field poll shows Cranston 33%, Salinger 27% and Incumbent Clair Engle, whose name remains on the ballot despite his withdrawal, 17%.

On both domestic and foreign issues, Cranston and Salinger take exactly the same stands. Well, almost. Salinger has come out in favor of saving the trumpeter swan, while Cranston remains neutral on that one. In any event, their contest boils down to a major power struggle between Governor Pat Brown, who is backing Cranston, and State Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh, who is for Salinger.

"Front Man." Brown is a whiz-bang campaigner with a wide personal following, and he has been working for Cranston as if his own political neck were at stake--as indeed it may be. "Big Daddy" Unruh, on the other hand, is an organization man who has about him the aura of the political boss. His work for Salinger has been behind the scenes; on the theory that his endorsement might hurt more than help, he has not come out publicly for Pierre.

This suits Cranston just fine, and he delights in calling Salinger a "front man" for Unruh. Replies Pierre lamely: "To my knowledge, Speaker Unruh is neutral." Retorts Cranston: "Unruh has never drawn a neutral breath in his life. He'd take violent sides in a Little League game if he thought he could own the winner."

"I Remember When . . ." So far, Cranston's tactics have worked well, and account for most of his apparent lead over Salinger. But Pierre is still in there pitching. He bounces out of bed at dawn each day for a dozen or more appearances--about twice as many as Cranston. He draws bigger crowds than Cranston, but California politicians have long since learned that crowd size doesn't mean much in their state. Invariably, Salinger's campaign pitch includes recollections of the days of glory with Jack Kennedy, of his own meeting in Moscow with "Chairman Khrushchev," of how he and a few other New Frontier notables spent seven days and seven nights "looking down the nuclear barrel" at Castro. He insists that he knows more people in Washington than Cranston, and as a Senator could get past more doors. Replies Cranston: "It is one thing to get in the door. It is another thing to know what to do when you're inside."

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