Reagan Hits Liberals in Election Preview

Striking familiar anti-Washington and anti-liberal themes, President Reagan kicked off his 1986 campaign to maintain Republican control of the U.S. Senate with a stop here Wednesday for GOP candidate and former Gov. Christopher S. (Kit) Bond.

In a lavish fund-raiser expected to net more than $500,000 for Bond’s campaign, Reagan told Republican donors that this fall’s congressional elections “will determine whether or not our country keeps moving forward with economic growth . . . or slips back into the morass of tax, tax, spend, spend.”

Blames ‘Liberal Dream’

In a preview of his campaign stump style, Reagan warned that “the . . . big spenders and big taxers . . . are still lurking in the wings.” And he blamed “the liberal dream” for creating the nation’s economic problems.

“Usually, when people grow up, they quit believing in the tooth fairy,” he said to appreciative chuckles.

Preserving the Republican edge over Democrats in the Senate, now a slender 53 to 47, is Reagan’s prime political priority this year. If he fails, he will be regarded as a lame duck on Capitol Hill with little chance of accomplishing his legislative agenda in his final two years in office.

Fund-Raising Role

A White House strategist said that Reagan could help his GOP allies the most in these early months by raising funds for them.

Of the 34 Senate seats up for election in November, 22 are held by Republicans. Moreover, a handful of the most critical seats are in the beleaguered Farm Belt, where Reagan’s market-oriented policies have combined with high interest rates and declining exports to create the worst farm depression since the 1930s.

In his speech here Wednesday, Reagan called the farm bill he signed recently “about the best thing we could get through the Congress.” The bill contained several protectionist measures, opposed by Reagan, that were designed to compensate for his policy of reducing federal price supports.

Trade Retaliation Feared

Reagan repeated his opposition to protectionism, calling it “the No. 1 threat faced by American agriculture,” and he warned that it would result in “retaliatory trade barriers” against U.S. products overseas.

“The way to correct the trade imbalance is not to decrease imports but to increase exports,” Reagan said. “Let’s balance up, not down.”

Reagan, accompanied by his wife, Nancy, stopped in St. Louis on his way to California for a three-day stay at his ranch north of Santa Barbara.

Motorcade to Ranch

Rain and fog forced them to travel by motorcade to their remote ranch in the Santa Ynez Mountains after landing at the Point Magu Naval Station at Oxnard, Calif.

The Reagans usually travel to their 688-acre Rancho del Cielo by helicopter from the naval station, but on Wednesday they were driven the 30 miles in a nine-car caravan accompanied by five police vehicles.

The Reagans rode in a four-wheel-drive vehicle up the winding road to their home while their luggage-laden limousine trailed behind.