'MIRACLE MAN', GIVEN CREDIT FOR FORD DRIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100030011-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2007
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: August 19, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

377CLE'APP.EA Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100030011-9
ON PAGE 19 GIJG 1976
`mirarlP
Spedai to The New York Times
1
KANSAS CITY; Mo Aug.'181
-The man most responsible foil
National- Convention tonight
may well be the - tall, suave
-Texan known as="the Miracle
' Man."
The sobriquet -is. the, -code
name for James Baker' 3d
"on the Ford campaign's walkie
aalkie network here. It --might
also serve. as a--description of
paign chairman; His gleefuiras-
r sociates' were crediting him.to-
night with having'turneth the,
That : alone ?was -something
like wine, trom`-water. What
'made it-seem even more a;mira
'cle was that .. Baker, a: gray
in' 46-yearold? establishment
;- lawyer from`" Houston, seemed
=such. an unlikely choice'to ac-
'?complish it: y, r: ?sT t',
There he; was;'1?minding,-:the
nation's' - business- -:-where the
. President pressed: him three
months ago to give :up his post
as 'Under `Secretary - of Com
mercer which he assumed-bare-
~ly eights :months- earlier and
loved. What Mr.. Ford wanted
orc Sri Ve:
STAT
.
r Bush, knew that well~'he 'Mr Baker to use razzle-dazzle,E canvasses. invariably confirmed,
acc epted- they C.I A:.1assignment ito toss: out--numbers withoutkthe switches and, within a ,?ew
last year and. thereby put him- names.and claim, delegates notidelegates- one. way or the'other
self out of consideration. for the yet confirmed and thus create` matched--the- Ford: count and
Vice-Presidential nomination. ; a momentum. in' fiction. 'that i rebutted-the Reagan=count.
dent;"-i=Mr., Baker , said:,?Iater;l
"there'd.be`no reason for him;
How HeDid It
. The firsts thing he 'did' was
'to try- to find out how to- hunt
"delegates. He'consulted. experts
'from pastcampaigns `and,therr
designed his own system,'with
regional: coordinators--a grid -of
'
sys-
`state whips and ar"buddy
tem to have one Forddelegate
. , "He's very organized;"" one
colleague ;said of Mr: Baker.
"He's always two steps: ahead
of everybody-else in-this organ
tr But'tihe,heartof the;:system
consisted' of two elements: the
tone set~,by: Mr."Baker: fora
low-keysales;pitch to`ahe un-
committed- delegates; " --who
would---determine the `; closest
contestJn.Republican: conven-'
:.tion history;; andthe'.establish-
~ment of,' credibility,`with the
.wnews organizations, ; . which
ere :'maintaining ti Ir own
him to do was;to direct a des-!
I perate. nationwide. search to
,convert' Republicans.. into Ford
delegates;::` as if, multiplying
: Mr:.. Baker did not, want; to
The President: had. just begun
to--suffer ;successive losses. to
Ronald. Reagan;: in: primaries in
Texas, .Alabama;; Georgia;rlndi-
dent Ford Committee;; already,
blessed with a 'surplus. of depu-
,> nal bickering -r `.b
"Things- looked.` quite dreary,"
Mr.:, Baker recalled` the"eother
,day, with ::typical - understate-
To top it all off, Mr.:Baker
'had dabbled' in ;-Houston and
,Texas campaigns, but never
been involved in, let alone di-
irected, a critical phase of a na-
tional campaign. And he would
be entering into a rivalry with
John P. Sears, the Reagan cam-
paign manager, who was reput-
ed to be the best delegate hunt-
er in national politics.
He accepted the assignment
because the President asked
George Bush theDirector of
Cen ra i ence, the close
"friend "who . had =1enlisted = Mr.
Baker' as-an- ally- in;. an, iinsuc
cessful_ 1970? Senate campaign
advised ;`him that' it__was >dif
1 refused ~.'., easy when he arrived in Kansas]
'? Why; wondered a visitor to City for the showdowns He
hiseoriimand'' post' atop'- the sprawled. -his- six-foot-one-inch
Crowns?Center-Hotel`- here;;had frame- on a bed in the combina-
he; always seemed: so confident tion -. -command post- sleeping
es-
and:'unshakable'when h'e mad'elcenter that the Ford forceses
]biihdt C Ctr
his 'delegate: c}aims to the_newstase :arown..ene media?,,
glanced aE aL list and-, muttered'
c
d
e
th
l
b
f
`-You can b&unflappable
when you're telling the truth;"I
he-sad x ':. :_"
-Unlike=his: counterpart. in the
Reagan'campaign,where claims
of'1,I40 delegates-=10 over, the
number="needed foci nomination
stood for'weeks-withoutevi
deince;.' Mr. =Baker edged along
slowly to ,the magic number Susair t a Rbman Catholic, 't"
in V
deIe
ates
irgi i
c
tin
thre
s:
,
g
l
g-
;
eT
mas
'- f
.. ', a or five inHawaiti-2nd-hand If the iunt had been 1250"
dresses. ?~ ;. that woulda't have been: neces
b} independent news media sary?,
`?telephoneYwith uncommitted}
delegafes?in every section of the
country;, Mr.-Baker was invari-':
ably ;cordial; Viand;--;.especially
with tfiosein.tlie-South, where
the: Reaganre campaign; had-hum-
bled,'the Psident he,"was un-
erstanding := i
st_We'dlove to have:you "?' he
would; say, in''-a smooth{'Prince
:ton voice!eoverlaid "--With" the
slight; Southern of -ithe~ Univer-
sity of Texas ~L`awx School and.
-his, native -Houston O` If: you're
inclined tot do- and moving,
{ please call me. I won't bug
you, ?L-'1L q; I
? Confidence Explained
Others bugged the-delegates
in'behalf bf blr .Ford.' But they
saved Mr. Baker for the soft
sell on* the hardest cases. .
"When-I couldn't "close--on
somebody," said Peter Roussel,
one of the' subordinate head-
hunters; "I'd give the delegate
to him. Believe me, if anybody
deserves the credit for winning
the nomination, it's James A.
Baker 3d." : - . - .
Some Ford operatives urged
isiv
ore ,
e
e
e ,
short
y
procedural- -,,vote,: last' night?
"There _are T5? .peops .ittS'; har
to figure out., Tneanscrutables"
And perhaps- hu:
that last Sunday evening, while
the-:rest ofthe-Ford, camp?wa_
frantically chasing after-: dele=:
gatMr. Baker, an Episcopa,.
liar. ' accompanied his-.{ .wife
Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100030011-9