Simon Contrasts His Farm Aid Record With Gephardt’s in Iowa

The Secret Service code name for Democratic presidential hopeful Paul Simon is “Scarlet,” and as he stood before six gray silos on a snowswept hill here Friday afternoon, his cheeks and ears were red enough to merit the name.

But Simon braved the bitter winds to unleash a few blasts of his own, mostly at the man he says is his chief rival to win the Iowa caucuses 17 days away.

Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, he said, has not shown “the consistent support for family farms that I have. . . . Mine has been a consistent fight, and not an election year fight.”

With Gephardt rising and Simon falling in three polls of likely Iowa caucus-goers this week, the 59-year-old Illinois senator canceled a planned trip to New England to shore up support here in three days of intense campaigning.

Barnstorms State

Abandoning the retail politics of living rooms and small groups, Simon instead barnstormed the snow-blanketed state to snipe at Gephardt in hastily called news conferences in each of Iowa’s seven media markets.

Simon said Gephardt is a “slickly packaged product” who is “inconsistent on the issues.”

He criticized Gephardt’s support of President Jimmy Carter’s grain embargo, as well as his votes for President Reagan’s 1981 tax cut and the 1986 tax overhaul. Simon said the bills benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

“I’m not just out here blowing whichever way the wind blows,” Simon said in Sioux City. “People deserve to know there are major differences between us.”

Asked about the suddenly combative tone, Simon said, “As you get into the final weeks of the campaign, your statements get more candid.”

Gephardt’s Ads Cited

Simon and his aides said they attribute Gephardt’s apparent surge of support to a series of recent TV ads. Simon is also running TV and radio ads, with a new commercial next week that describes him as a “real make-no-apologies Democrat.”

Pat Mitchell, Simon’s Iowa coordinator, said the campaign’s internal tracking polls show Simon still holding a tight lead in a close race between Simon and Gephardt, followed by Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

“Whoever gets the ball in the last week, whoever gets the surge in that last week, will win this thing,” said Paul Maslin, Simon’s pollster.

Simon’s search for the elusive surge was summed up by his comment to a local reporter struggling to set up her TV camera in a Massey-Ferguson farm machinery dealership in Mason City.

“Anytime you’re ready with that camera,” Simon said, waiting patiently before a giant red tractor. “You run our lives here.”