10 Iowa Democrats Reach Decisions as Caucuses Near

They are counting heads in the township here.

Wray Hartschen, a labor activist, says 25 Democrats have promised to show up at the township caucus Monday night to stand up for Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt. That is half the total number who went to the township’s Democratic caucus in 1984. Yet Hartschen, fearful the other candidates will have more supporters, is uncomfortable. “That’s not enough.”

Mary Lee Rusk counts eight or nine for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis--far short of the campaign target of 21. No matter how many neighbors she calls, she just can’t seem to squeeze out more support. “If they want 21, I’ll have to pull out and dig up some graves,” she said in frustration.

Patricia and Jack Umbarger figure at least 21 will show up for Illinois Sen. Paul Simon. “A lot of people are undecided,” said Patricia Umbarger, who along with her husband has been calling township Democrats to find Simon supporters and persuade them to go to caucus.

At 7 p.m. on Monday, these activists will publicly declare their choices in the gymnasium of an elementary school, one of 2,487 caucuses in Iowa that together will stall some presidential hopefuls and rocket others into the New Hampshire primary eight days later with heady momentum.

Inundated by Information

For the past several months, the township’s Democrats have listened to the candidates’ speeches in Newton’s cafes, school auditoriums and motel dining rooms. They have read the political literature that comes in bundles to their mailboxes; they have watched endless candidate debates on television.

Now, at the end of a much-vaunted campaign, 10 of the Democrats whose views The Times has chronicled in a series of articles since last fall are basing their decisions on much more than the candidates’ platforms and records.

These caucus-goers have been influenced or even swayed by the opinions of their families and the positions of their labor union, by the candidates’ television commercials, their performances in debates--even the candidates’ eyebrows.

Rosemary Hartschen, 49, a substitute schoolteacher and member of the Jasper County Democratic Central Committee, plans to go to caucus even though she still can’t decide whether to stand up for Gephardt, Dukakis or Simon.

Likes ‘Heavy Eyebrows’

Asked to assess their strengths and weaknesses, she said: “Dukakis looks so good on TV. He has those heavy eyebrows--maybe they make him look more forceful. . . . Gephardt seems cool, calm and collected, but his problem is that his (light red) hair, his face, his eyebrows are all the same color. He ought to darken his hair. Simon has a nice voice. . . . He probably needs to have his hair styled. It would look better with a fuller look.”

Others don’t care how the candidates look; they just want Iowa to look good. Feminist activist Karen Silverberg, 52, who plans to stand up for Simon in the township caucus, said two of her friends told her they are standing up for the Rev. Jesse Jackson even though they do not want him to be President. “They’re afraid people will think Iowa is racist” if Jackson fares poorly here, she said.

What mattered to these Democrats four months ago may not matter now.

Hartschen, for example, said in October she could not support Dukakis because of his campaign’s role in spearing the candidacy of Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. Now the Biden affair is just a distant memory.

Newton attorney Lee M. Walker, 37, liked Gephardt initially but then dismissed him because of his “protectionist” trade proposal, which permits retaliation against countries that refuse, after negotiations, to lift barriers on U.S. products.

Influenced by Tough Talk

Walker still dislikes that proposal. But in recent weeks, he has been attracted by the candidate’s tough talk on trade in television commercials and in debates.

“I like the concept: getting even,” Walker said. “Somehow, we have to wake up Japan.”

For Walker, the choice now is between Gephardt and--”this will really shock you”--Dukakis. Four months ago, Walker had ruled Dukakis out because of his “Eastern accent.” That still irritates him. But over the months, Walker warmed to the governor. He liked Dukakis’ confident, “smooth” style in the debates and felt himself persuaded by the governor’s claim to have turned around the Massachusetts economy.

Walker, who lives with his wife and three children in the township’s well-to-do Bittersweet Acres, initially supported former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt. He abandoned Babbitt for three reasons: He does not think Babbitt, who has trailed in the polls, can win; he believes Babbitt’s proposal for a national sales tax would hurt the economy; he was turned off by Babbitt’s recent, “desperate” attacks on his opponents. Walker does not like negative campaigning.

Identifies With Underdog

For Walker’s wife, Randa, 37, a schoolteacher who is taking a leave to help out at her husband’s law office, there was no choice to make. She supported Jackson in 1984 and knew from the beginning she would support him again. She identifies him with the underdog, as a man who truly knows hardship. And she considers his race a plus, “just as being a woman is a plus.”

It was sound campaign organization that kept Mary Lee Rusk in the Dukakis camp. After attending a small breakfast for him in Newton, she received literature, telephone calls and invitations from his campaign. She appreciated the attention and marveled at the campaign’s efficiency.

She flirted briefly with Simon. But the Dukakis campaign continued to call her, and Simon’s performance in the debates foundered. She said she didn’t like Simon’s television commercials either.

Her husband, Forrest, 62, who runs an insurance business, has decided to stand up for Dukakis too. His wife is more partisan, however, and Forrest admits to being influenced by her enthusiasm for Dukakis. “We usually go together,” he said.

He is concerned that Dukakis may be too ethnic for Iowa, and Mary Lee, 62, agrees that Dukakis’ Greek heritage could hurt him. When their daughter married an Italian-American named DiGiacomo, countless neighbors snidely asked: “Oh, DiGiacomo. What kind of name is that? “

Mary Lee grew so exasperated that she looked one inquisitor in the eyes and replied: “Dutch.”

Follows UAW Lead

Just as campaign staff work helped win over Mary Lee for Dukakis, the United Auto Workers’ affection for Gephardt pulled in Wray Hartschen.

“I didn’t commit officially until I knew that was where our union would be,” said Hartschen, 54, a UAW member who works on the dryer assembly line at the Maytag Co., headquartered in the city of Newton. “This is our legislation--his trade bill. So if he’s done that for us, I think we owe it to him. We have a responsibility to back him.”

Maytag dominates the city and township of Newton, located 34 miles east of Des Moines. Newton residents are proud to live in “the home of the dependability people,” and the association between town and company is so strong that Maytag uses a basset hound named Newton in its television commercials.

But in recent days, the company has inadvertently dismayed Hartschen and other Gephardt supporters. The plant recently launched a night shift to meet bursting demand, and many workers will not be able to attend Monday night’s caucus.

“If it hurts anybody, it will hurt Gephardt,” said Hartschen, one of the lucky ones who will be working days.

Sees a Good Sign

Hartschen is still trying to persuade his wife, Rosemary, to stand up for Gephardt, and takes as a “good sign” that she did not remove the Gephardt bumper sticker he put on her car.

Once committed, activists like Hartschen feel pressure to remain in the candidates’ camp, even if polls or a meeting with another candidate make them regret their choice later.

“I think your reputation as a political person of your word would definitely be tarnished” if you defected, said Jasper County Auditor Linda Gifford, 45, who admitted to momentary regret that she had endorsed Simon instead of Jackson.

Despite her commitment to Simon, she does not mind occasionally helping out another campaign. She said she would have aided the Gephardt campaign recently if it had approached her differently. A Gephardt staff member called her office and left a message with her secretary. He wanted Gifford, because she is “a relative” of Gephardt supporter Chuck Gifford, to escort a Gephardt campaigner around the county courthouse.

Chuck Gifford is Linda’s ex-husband. She did not return the campaign’s call.

Commitment to Simon

Like Linda Gifford, Jack and Patricia Umbarger decided to support Simon at a time when he was riding high in the polls. Jack, 56, a sales manager, liked Simon after seeing him in the Houston debate last summer. Patricia Umbarger, 57, a homemaker, initially seemed more taken with Dukakis but ended up in Simon’s camp with her husband. “We influence each other,” she said.

Jack is now counting the days to Feb. 9, when the candidates and their campaigns will pack up and ignore Iowa for another four years.

“It will be a relief,” he said. “Every time you pick up the paper, there’s a caucus story. Every time you turn on the TV, it’s politics. After a year and a half, it just kind of gets old.”