Suggested Republican Campaign Themes:  1976*

The President, the Administration and the campaign need a theme. I am concerned that the President is seen as a tactician without an overall strategy of his plan for the country. This lets voters and his opponents interpret many of his perceptions and programs as those done for political expedience or to appease special interest groups rather than as part of an overall plan to move the country toward a perceived set of goals or objectives.

We need an umbrella under which we can put all of the President's programs and end up with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

The President needs to set forth in a major speech sometime soon his idea for what the destiny of the country is and how his programs relates to it. I think the backbone of this theme ought to be anti- bigness. He ought to be against big government, big unions, big businesses, big school systems and the concentration of power in general.

At the same time he needs to be for individuals. Everything he advocates ought to be seen as helping the individual live his life as independently as possible and help him relate to the institution in a large complex society.

There are several advantages to this type of theme. First of all, it fits his style and ideas. Secondly, it can be very presidential and puts him on the high road for the campaign. Also it keeps him away from having to fight the election on a series of individual issues which, as an incumbent with a pessimistic public, would be difficult to win. Lastly, it would appeal to the Press, to Republicans and to Independents.

In addition to the anti-bigness or concentration of power idea, the theme ought to have a strong moral tone and one of hope. One of the problems with the issues now, and over the last several years, is that there is no element of hope which has been the underlying theme of successful politicians for many years.

Given the relatively short period of time, we have to set perceptions, it would be useful if the theme of the President's program were given a name soon. We have to set the perceptions. The hope element was implicit in the name "New Deal," "Fair Deal," "New Frontier"'and "Great Society." While it is important not to over- promise and to be responsible, we have to communicate that things can and will get better over the next few years With Gerald Ford as President.

While we want as wide as coverage as possible to such a speech, it would be most effective if given somewhere other than a joint session of Congress which epitomizes the establishment and the concentration of power in Washington. A youthful audience somewhere outside of Washington would probably be best.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Detente is a particularly unpopular idea with most Republican primary voters and the word is worse. We ought to stop using the word whenever possible.

There are not enough people out talking about the President positively. We particularly need more people from the Administration and Congress out, not only defending the President but boosting him. Probably the most single successful part of the '72 campaign was the surrogate program and something like it needs to be established.

The key perception between Reagan and Ford with the primary voters is not ideology as much as degrees of Republicanism. There are three groups of Republican primary voters, the hard- core Republican, the more moderate-liberal independent ticket- splitting group, and the this group made up of the hard core right (only about 5%) and of independent and new Republicans who tend to be lower socioeconomic than others. The President is doing well with the first two groups while most of Reagan s support comes from the third. It is very important in the primary that the President be perceived as a regular Republican candidate as Reagan is seen as the dissident. This is why the endorsement of respected conservative Republican officeholders and politicians is particularly important at this time as to destroy Reagan's credibility as a loyal Republican.

To: Richard Cheney

From: Robert Teeter and Stu Spencer