Candidate Reagan Is Born Again

His staff is grooming him as a middle-of-the-roader

At his palatial home on Point Loma in San Diego, Savings and Loan King Kim Fletcher had gathered 150 real estate developers, oil contractors and other members of the local gentry to meet former Governor Ronald Reagan. For $200 each, the guests sipped drinks, munched on roast beef and chicken, and listened to the man who is universally considered to be the G.O.P.'s front-running candidate.

He didn't disappoint them. "I feel just fine." he chuckled, waving aside the unmentioned fact that he is 68. Holding out his glass of tonic water, he said,"Look, not even a ripple"; and sure enough, the surface of the drink was as tranquil as the candidate's mood. He told a questioner that he had just spent his August vacation at his Santa Barbara ranch putting in 400 ft. of fence posts the size of telephone poles. "Age is not a major question," he said. "Maybe there is nothing wrong with a little maturity --someone who remembers the Great Depression."

Reagan dwelt upon a favorite theme from the past: the size and waste of Big Government. "The energy crisis is the doing of Government," he said, and Washington should "turn the oil industry loose in the marketplace." But then, as he neared the end of his remarks, he gave the party faithful a glimpse of the "new" candidate that his staff aides have been promising. Instead of urging an arms buildup against the Soviets, he called for a mutual cutback on strategic nuclear weapons.

He took the same line at the state Republican convention when he said SALT II was "fatally flawed" and should be renegotiated. But he opposed SALT II, said Reagan, because it does not "fairly and genuinely reduce" the number of nuclear weapons, and he would support a treaty that would diminish "nuclear armaments to the point that neither country represents a threat to the other." Just three years ago, by contrast, Reagan had said that "peace does not come from weakness or retreat, it comes from restoration of American military superiority."

The new strategy of moving toward the center is based on an assessment by his advisers that the former California Governor has the Republican nomination just about sewed up, and that he should begin courting middle-of-the-road voters for next fall's election. Certainly he is far ahead in the polls. The Harris survey shows him leading Jimmy Carter, 51-44 (while Reagan's principal Republican opponent, John Connally, trails the President, 44-52). Therefore his staff is creating what it calls an "expanded" or & "more reflective" version of the old Reagan. Says his national political director Charles Black: "We must demonstrate that this guy is practical and has the ability to run the country. We will be offering solutions, not just criticisms."

So far, Connally has not decided whether to fight Reagan in the California primary on June 3, but the Texan's supporters in California have been working hard to strengthen his chances. They are trying to change the present law under which the victor in the California primary --undoubtedly Reagan --would automatically win all of California's 168 delegates to next year's G.O.P. convention. The anti-Reagan forces would like to revise the law so that if no candidate got 50% of the primary vote, the huge California delegation would be proportionately divided among the winner and the losers. Reagan supporters remain blithely convinced that however the matter is resolved, their man can win the nomination.

Reagan lost a longtime aide last month when Lyn Nofziger resigned, but the Reagan staff still appears to be quite strong. Campaign Manager John Sears is building a national organization and concentrating on those "first wave" states that will hold primaries or caucuses before April 1. The goal of Finance Director Michael Deaver is to raise a $12 million campaign fund by June.

The candidate himself is looking well, conveying an image of sun-dappled middle age. His hair is no longer "prematurely orange," to recall Gerald Ford's devastating remark from the 1976 campaign, but a dull and uniform brown. He stands tall (6 ft. 1 in.) and mixes smoothly and easily with the party faithful.

One crucial question about his political future is whether his traditional supporters will accept a shift toward the center. Reagan fell into a similar trap in the 1976 campaign, when he alienated many of his followers by naming Richard Schweiker, a relatively liberal Senator, as his running mate. William Roberts, who is directing the Connally campaign in the West, professes satisfaction over the Reagan strategy. Hearing reports that a "new" Reagan is on the way, Roberts scoffs: "He could get into trouble even before he says anything." .

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