b A NYTimeg FEB 1 0 1975 dIVDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1975 GoO.P. Right wing Seems to Rule Out Support for Ford for 1976 Campaign By CHRISTOPHER LYDON meanwhile, is using words such ing. Under comparable cross Special rto The New York Times as "awful," and "dangerous" to pressures to address the Water- WASHINGTON, Feb: 9 - characterize the Ford Adminis- gate issue at the conservatives' Leaders of the conservative tration budget deficits. convention a year ago, Mr. Re- movement in Republican poli- 9Human Events and its right- gan refused to attack President tics are talking about campaign wing columnists sound increas- Nixon, strategy for 1976, seemingly ingly alarmed about the Ford `Waiting for Regan' with scarcely a thought of sup- Administration. "There is no se- rious evidence that the Presi- Mr. Phillips said. "If he gives porting President Ford as a us a flag-waving speech as he candidate. dent is determined to reverse the explosive growth of gov- did last year, a lot of us will Most of them guess Mr. Ford be ready to give up on him. will not be running, in which ernment spending," the paper concludes in its upcoming is- What he's got to du is strike case they foresee an easy vic- a balance between being suffi- tory by former-Gov. Ronald sue. "It's a little early," says ciently critical and being fair. Reagan of California over Vice the Human Events editor, Thom- And he'sgotto give some hint President Rockefeller for the as S. Winter, "but the chances he's going to be a part in the party's nomination. But if Mr. of Conservatives supporting '76 thing.' Ford does run for an \elected Ford with any enthusiasm are slim. He's not moving to A variety of motives and term, organized conservatives re- strategies are involved in the here see prospects of a serious duce the size of government. These are enormous deficits conservatives' planning. Some challenge within the Republi- of the editors at Human Events can party, or else a third-party and they're going to mean worse inflation." would be satisfied to exert race, or both. some budget-cutting influence Signs of Discontent Convention Schedule on President Ford. Other con- Signs of right-wing discon- One important test of the servatives think mainly about tent with the Ford Administra- conservatives' cohesion and se- electing Ronald Reagan. Still tion continue to multiply, all riousness comes later this week others think less of candidates the more since Mr. Ford an- at the American Conservative than of reviving a movement. nounced his new $349-billion Union convention here—the Mr. ' Phillips worries imme- budget with its record peace- first substantial gathering of diately about putting the new time deficit of $52-billion. the movement since President campaign subsidies to good use Among the fresh signs are the Nixon left office last Aug. 9, for conservatives. Any number following: under threat of impeachment. of Democrats will get Federal William A. Rusher, a Rea- "I think it will firm up the matching money for their pri- gan adviser and publisher of conservative consensus that Mary campaigns for the nomi- the weekly National Review, there's no stake in Ford," says nation, he notes. Mr. Phillips has just finished writing "The Howard Phillips, a young mili- is determined that Mr. Reagan, Case for the New Majority tant who two years ago di- or a t'stalking horse" for him, Party," due in April from Sheed rected, and nearly dismantled, should exploit the same op- & Ward, Inc. "What I'm talk- the Federal anti-poverty pro- portunity in the Republican ing about is the total replace- gram on behalf of the Nixon primaries—"to get the con- ment of the Republican party," Administration. Later Mr. Phil- servative message across and Mr. • Rusher explained in an lips formed a conservatives' soften up Jerry Ford," he said. interview — "the same way Committee to Remove the Pres- Conservative activists have the Republicans replaced the ident, or "CREP 2," as he called different ideas about the next Whigs." Whether the new it, in mocking memory of Mr. two years, but they share the party takes shape by 1976 or Nixon's 1972 Committee for the confident belief that they com- not, the chance that conserva- Re-election of the President. mand the money, the mailing tives such as himself will sup- "Most of the people at that lists and the grass-roots mili- port Mr. Ford is "dim," he meeting will be willing to risk tancy to dominate the Republi- said. the third-party idea," Mr. Phil- can convention in 1976, if they 9Senator James L. Buckley, lips went on in an interview choose, much as they have Conservative - Republican of this weekend. "It's a question dominated every G.O.P. con- New York, is planning a con- Of a leader emerging to say, vention since 1964. s erence here within the next 'Mush!' " In 1972, many of them sup- three or four weeks of about The leader in question is Mr. ported Representative John M. 35 like-minded politicians, in- Regan,. The retired Governor is Ashbrook of Ohio in an abortive cluding Gov. Meldrim Thomson urged by some members of his challenge to President Nixon, Jr. of New Hampshire and Sen- old staff, including Robert at the height of his powers, for ator Jesse A. Helms of North Walker and Jeff Bell, to seize the Republican nomination. Carolina, Mr. Buckley says the the new-party initiative. Finan- "But this will not be a tedious meeting will not be explicitly cial backers such as Holmes repetition of the Ashbrook anti - Ford or pro - third party, Tuttle have counseled Mr. Re- campaign," Mr. Rusher said. "It gan to stick with the Repub- will eventuate in something though other participants see it lican party. Others have urged much more substantial, if not implicitly as both. Mr. Buckley, him to wait quietly for an open- in the Presidency itself." .