Rice Incident Helped Them Grow Personally, Harts Say

Gary and Lee Hart said Friday the embarrassing incident that led Hart to quit the presidential race last May turned out to be more positive than negative for them, both personally and politically, and Hart said that getting back into the race despite the odds has cured the “character” issue that has dogged him since he ran for President in 1984.

The Harts gave their first extensive joint interview since Hart left the Democratic race eight months ago after reports that he had spent part of a weekend with Miami model Donna Rice.

“No matter how negative an experience, if you allow it to help you grow then that’s the thing,” Lee Hart said as she sat beside her husband in a van transporting them to a campaign stop.

‘Some Major Adversity’

Gary Hart added: “It’s how you use it. I don’t know of a major leader who has not had some setback, some major adversity.

“Adversity either strengthens you or weakens you. It’s a test of character. You want to talk about character? A test of character isn’t whether you make mistakes.

“Of course we make mistakes. I’m a human being; don’t expect me to be flawless. Can I analyze psychologically how I’m stronger? No. Somebody else can do that.”

Hart also contended that the event last May helped him solve another problem that has plagued his political career--that he is a cold, cerebral policy maker with no feel for people.

‘Not Cardboard Cutout’

“What it did was show people that I’m a human being, not some cardboard cutout.”

What all this adds up to is a belief by the Harts--strongly disputed by some political professionals--that the combination of Hart’s human frailty and the celebrity status he has achieved makes him a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination.

“What Gary did by getting back into the race,” said Lee Hart, “is show that he has guts and self-confidence. His message of independence is getting through.”

And indeed, as the Harts left New England Friday and took their low-budget campaign to Chicago and on into Iowa, they continued to attract large crowds and television crews.

Although he leads the polls in Iowa, site of the first Democratic test Feb. 8, Hart refuses to make any predictions, in part because he does not have the organization usually necessary to turn out caucus voters on a bitterly cold night.

Turn Problem Into Asset

But he is attempting to turn even that problem into an asset, saying that if Iowans “sit home expecting someone to call them and get them out to a caucus for me, it isn’t going to happen. But if they want to come out and support me on a cold night because of what I am saying, then fine.”

And what Hart is saying to campaign crowds is that he has laid out in his writings and speeches a comprehensive plan for committing the country to excellence in education and business, and to toughness and humaneness in foreign policy.

Although it is not clear if it will lead to a lot of votes, the response the Harts are getting as they visit shopping malls and schools is overwhelmingly positive.

Hart said in the interview Friday that during what he calls his “sabbatical” from the race last year, he learned that Americans want bold solutions to problems and that “Americans are a forgiving people.”

Wife Emerges as Key Figure

Since Hart’s re-entry Dec. 15, his wife has clearly emerged as the key to the revived campaign.

People seek out Lee Hart as much or more than her husband, and he acknowledged that Friday when he said he had given her as a Christmas present an editorial cartoon that concluded she should be President.

Asked Friday if she steeled herself every day for possible derisive comments about the Rice affair as she campaigns, Lee Hart said, “No. Look, I understand human nature.

“I have never given a lot of interviews,” she said, “so consequently a lot of people don’t know who I am. So I get pigeonholed as either a doormat who is led around by staff and her husband and told what to do, or as an ambitious person who just wants to be in the White House.

“I would hear that and fall down on the floor laughing. Did it bother me? No. I know who I am, and I will continue to work for the rest of my life to find out more about myself.”