Seeks to Preserve Senate’s GOP Majority : Reagan Embarks on Barnstorming Tour

President Reagan, attempting to capitalize on his personal popularity, embarked Thursday on a 13-state barnstorming tour in a “go for broke” effort to preserve the narrow Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.

Speaking to supporters at a send-off rally at the White House, Reagan said the midterm congressional elections pose a clear choice between Republicans and Democrats on such issues as defense spending, tax policy and criminal justice.

He described a possible Democratic takeover of the Senate as a “threat to all we have accomplished and all we hope to do together,” calling a vote for Republicans “a vote for tough laws and tough judges.”

A Slender Majority

With polls showing the GOP in danger of losing its slender Senate majority of 53 to 47, White House tacticians decided it was time to “nationalize” the Nov. 4 elections and gamble that they could be turned into a successful referendum on Reagan’s leadership.

White House political director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. said surveys taken after Reagan visits a state indicate a 5 to 10 point “lift” in the approval ratings of local GOP candidates. While Daniels said he does not know how “durable” this boost is, some Senate races appear to be so close that even a percentage or two increase could make the critical difference.

“The Senate hangs by a thread,” Daniels said, adding that “the stakes are just too high for this presidency” for Reagan not to make the maximum effort. Republicans must win “a convincing majority” of the 34 contested Senate seats to retain control, Daniels said.

‘Out in the Real America’

A hardy campaigner, Reagan has taken to the hustings with gusto. His tour includes stops in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, Idaho and California before concluding next week.

“It’s good to be here today in Missouri--away from Washington and out in the real America,” he said at an exuberant rally at Southwest Missouri State University.

Reagan appeared here on behalf of former Gov. Christopher S. Bond, who has a comfortable, but not unassailable, lead over Lt. Gov. Harriet Woods in their campaign for the seat of retiring Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton (D-Mo.).

Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative has become an issue here, with Woods demanding Bond pull a television commercial in which he lauds Reagan’s hard-line position on SDI at the recent summit in Iceland and accuses Woods of being willing to “trust the Russians to stop weapons testing without verification.”

Woods denies ever stating such a position, and says she favors continued research into SDI and its use as “a bargaining chip” to win arms control concessions from the Soviets.

‘Our Insurance Policy’

In his speech here, Reagan called SDI “our insurance policy” in the event the Soviets cheat on any future arms control agreement. “No responsible President could rely on Soviet promises for his country’s safety,” he said.

But Reagan stopped short of declaring SDI a litmus test for candidates, a tactic he could not sustain because too many Republicans have expressed qualms about the weapons system in the past or voted to cap defense expenditures at a level that affected SDI.

Reagan also steered clear of any mention of the tit-for-tat expulsions of U.S. and Soviet diplomats that have marked superpower relations in recent days, instead heralding the Iceland summit as a “breakthrough” in arms control that will lead to significant agreements.

At a noonday rally in Waukesha, Wis., Reagan expanded on the themes his political advisers believe will pay dividends at the ballot box. Singling out retiring Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) as the symbol of “the tax-and-spend crew,” Reagan said he has asked every candidate for national office to sign a pledge not to raise the rates on his newly passed tax reform legislation.

‘Pay Through the Nose’

Reagan said: “Tip O’Neill spoke for all the liberal Democrats last year when he said, ‘Should (the American people) pay through the nose by taxation? The answer is yes.’ Well, come November, the American people will be going to the polls and saying loud and clear, ‘Sorry, Tip, the answer is no.’ ”

O’Neill’s office denied that the Speaker had been quoted accurately and demanded an apology. Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said the White House got the quote from an article in the Oct. 17, 1985, Washington Times.

While Reagan cast the coming battle over tax reform rates in partisan terms, Republican leaders like Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas and Rep. Robert H. Michel of Illinois have also been quoted as questioning the current rates. Some charge it places too much of the burden on business, threatening the health of the economy.

Despite Reagan’s efforts to cast Wisconsin’s Senate race in national terms, most local observers think the election is more likely to turn on issues of personality and character. Sen. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.) was arrested in Washington last December for drunken driving. Although he apologized for the incident, his opponent, Edward Garvey, former deputy state attorney general and former executive director of the National Football League Players’ Assn., hired a private investigator to probe Kasten’s personal life and behavior.

‘Watergate Tactics’ Claimed

In a chain of events that took on the character of a soap opera, the private investigator misrepresented himself as a reporter to the local press corps--a revelation that enabled Kasten to accuse Garvey of employing “Watergate tactics” in the campaign.

Hoping to submerge such issues under his personal popularity, Reagan made an emotional appeal to 2,500 cheering voters jammed into the Waukesha County Expo Center. “My name will never be on the ballot again,” he said, as the crowd responded with the chant, “Four more years.”’

Reagan pleaded with his fans to channel their affection for him into a vote for Kasten.