Griffin's Gaffe

In the spring of 1977, Michigan's Robert Griffin had had enough of the U.S. Senate, in which he had served for eleven years. He was depressed over the election defeat of Gerald Ford. He was upset by his loss of the job of Republican Senate leader by a single vote to Tennessee's Howard Baker. Griffin decided to retire from the Senate and return to his law practice in Traverse City. He then seemed to lose interest in the Senate, missing 216 roll-call votes last year, which placed him in a tie for the chamber's fourth worst attendance record.

But G.O.P. leaders in Michigan, fearing they would lose the seat to a Democrat, urged Griffin to reconsider. So too did rank-and-file Republicans, who sent him thousands of cards and letters. Suddenly, last February, the Senator changed his mind and declared that he would seek a third term in the November election.

Griffin, 54, may come to rue re-entering the campaign as much as he now regrets getting out in the first place. The latest poll shows him trailing his Democratic opponent, former Detroit City Council President Carl Levin, by 3 points, largely because of the absences.

Levin pokes fun at Griffin's insistence that his roll-call record is not a fair measure of his effectiveness. Had he shown up more often, says Levin, "he would have voted the wrong way anyway." Campaigning for Levin, Vice President Walter Mondale told voters they need "two Senators who want to be there, who are planning on working for six years, who are excited about the job."

Trying to offset the political effects of his poor attendance record in 1977, Griffin stayed close to the Senate floor this year, to the detriment of his campaign. He is now back in Michigan attempting to make up for lost time, helped by a campaign treasury of about $1.5 million, nearly twice as large as Levin's. Says Griffin: "The mistake I made was to make that decision [to retire] and then to announce it as early as I did. I should have waited."

Griffin is attacking his opponent as a free-spending Democrat who would add to "the high cost of Levin." The Senator reminds voters of how he helped block Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas as U.S. Chief Justice in 1968 and Richard Nixon's nomination of Clement Haynsworth to the Supreme Court in 1969. Griffin also stresses, in current TV ads, the fight he made this year against the Panama Canal Treaties. Says he: "Next year I'll have even more seniority and my no will be even louder." Levin responds by scathingly calling Griffin "Senator No Show."

Griffin's newly aggressive campaigning has cut Levin's lead in the polls by more than half. But the Senator now is in the most difficult period for a Michigan Republican: traditionally, Democratic candidates get stronger in the closing week of campaigns as the state's large labor vote begins to solidify. If that pattern holds, Griffin next week may find himself just where he once wanted to be--out of the U.S. Senate.

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