Reagan Accuses Democrats of ‘Power Politics’ in Indiana

President Reagan accused Democrats of “a naked display of power politics” as he campaigned here Wednesday for Republican congressional candidate Richard D. McIntyre, whose narrow victory in a 1984 House race was revoked last year after an investigation of contested ballots by a House task force controlled by Democrats.

“I’m here today because I was hoping you could right a great injustice,” Reagan told an enthusiastic crowd of GOP supporters at the Municipal Stadium. Charging the Democrats with ignoring544503663McIntyre the winner, Reagan declared: “They simply handed your district to their man.”

Task Force Appointed

After various recounts had alternately declared McIntyre and Democrat Frank McCloskey the winner, the House--exercising the power that the Constitution gives each chamber to decide its own contested elections--finally appointed a three-member task force (two Democrats and one Republican) to investigate the election early last year.

In the end, the task force decision--a split one along partisan lines--was to declare McCloskey the winner by four votes out of 233,000 cast.

Reagan’s stop here is the only one he is making for a House candidate as he stumps the country in an effort to preserve Republican control of the Senate. Polls show very few House GOP incumbents trailing, and White House strategists hope to hold losses to fewer than 10 seats.

Limits House Campaigning

Historically, the party in power in the White House loses upwards of 40 House seats in a midterm election. With that as a benchmark, Reagan has limited his campaigning for House candidates to this single, symbolic appearance.

“One of the principles the Democrats have abandoned most dramatically is the principle of fair play,” Reagan said.

Rep. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), head of the Democratic congressional campaign committee, replied in Washington: “It appears that President Reagan knows less about Indiana than he knows about ballistic missiles.” He charged that Republicans in Indiana had a “systematic program” in 1984 that eliminated 5,000 black voters from the rolls.

Polls Show Close Contest

At a later campaign stop in Rapid City, S.D., Reagan was greeted by a handful of pickets declaring: “Reagan’s farm policy stinks” and “Let Nicaragua live.” Polls show Sen. James Abdnor (R-S.D.) in a close contest with Rep. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.).

Reagan told the Rapid City crowd that he has instructed Secretary of State George P. Shultz to inform Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze at their meeting in Vienna next week that “the proposals we put on the table in Iceland remain on the table.”

“We are ready to take up where we left off in Reykjavik,” Reagan said, referring to the summit meeting at which the two sides made substantial progress toward nuclear arms reductions before the talks broke down over Reagan’s “Star Wars” research program.