Robertson Front-Runner in Campaign Travel Miles

Whether or not Pat Robertson defeats his rivals for the Republican nomination, he certainly is in contention to be crowned king of the Tarmac.

Seven states, nine cities, one day--and that’s not counting Atlanta, which he left at dawn Thursday.

Louisville, Ky., Bristol, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala., Columbus, Miss., Springfield and Kansas City, Mo., Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla., and Dallas--scheduled arrival, midnight.

This year travel is more extensive than ever because never before have so many states held primaries and caucuses on one day.

Super Tuesday Contests

On March 8, dubbed Super Tuesday, 17 states hold GOP contests, carving out a huge chunk of America--from Texas to Maryland, with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington state added for good measure. And South Carolina holds a Republican primary on March 5.

Covering this territory is a brutal job, but everybody has to do it if he intends to do well on Super Tuesday.

“We’re trying to be as imaginative as we can be,” said Patrick Caldwell, a campaign aide. “This is a way for us to get to a lot of people in a short period of time.”

If you call an 18-hour day a short period of time.

Other candidates also are a blur on the trail. Democratic contender Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, for example, made nine stops in two states on Monday, forcing his entourage to skip meals, sleep and other essentials. But few can top Robertson.

Supporters Jam Auditorium

On Thursday, Robertson made a series of quick “hits,” most of them at commuter airports for about an hour. The crowds, generally enthusiastic, were small until Robertson reached Mississippi State University, where 1,300 cheering supporters jammed an ornate auditorium.

Atop flatbed trucks bedecked with flags and balloons and with country music singer Ricky Skaggs standing behind him, Robertson gave his stump speech, opposing abortion and wasteful government spending, vowing to improve education, cut the deficit and “strengthen the family.”

Invariably, however, someone in the press asked him to explain one of his controversial remarks. At a stop in Louisville, he defended his contention that his Christian Broadcasting Network knew where American hostages were held in Lebanon in 1985. President Reagan wondered at a news conference Wednesday why Robertson had not told the State Department.

“I wasn’t meaning to start some major confrontation with a person I admire tremendously, but obviously the State Department must have dismissed what we had to say, or else they didn’t refer it up the line to the President.” Robertson said.

Fatigue Causes Errors

The pace takes its toll. Fatigued in Bristol, Tenn., Robertson assured an airport crowd that he did not “want to see America be Number 1” before correcting himself to Number 2.

At a Birmingham airport, Mary Sue Farmer, an ardent Robertson supporter, took a stoic view of hard travel. “We Christians have got to sacrifice,” she said. “The Lord says he will renew your strength, and he will.”

With so many stops, the odds of running into problems increase.

After landing at Springfield, Mo., the plane sat on the runway for about 10 minutes while anxious Secret Service agents said they had to take care of “a logistics problem.” Later, Robertson’s press secretary said an attorney had planted a subpoena server in the crowd in an effort to get publicity by having Robertson testify in a local divorce case. Robertson escaped un-subpoenaed.

Reporters get hassled too. Philip Wasserman, an NBC television producer from Studio City, Calif., was reading controversial quotes from a Robertson news conference to an editor on the telephone when a Robertson supporter hissed:”I’m sick of you media dogs.”

Said Wasserman later: “He kept saying it, so I barked at him.”