Washington By JERRY WATSON

SEN. CHARLES H. Percy's conduct as "chief prosecutor" in the Bert Lance affair brought him two bursts of publicity-- the first positive, the second negative. Percy's difficulties underscore the dilemma that has followed him throughout his political career. There was Percy, championing righteousness and the Proper Course — and being denounced and held suspect for his troubles.

Some of Percy's colleagues say that poor staff work is what caused some to question his judgment or competence. The bad publicity he earned also stimulated efforts to get Paul Simon to run against him and fertilized former Chicago Ald. William Singer's interest in a Senate bid. Beyond such developments, however, the Lance business is intersting for dramatizing the Percy Problem: the senator's personality, which served him well enough in two Illinois elections but appears to have crippled his national ambitions.

The subjective assessment of voters of a candidate's character and personality can rank with or override an evaluation of the candidate's posture on a catalogue of issues. Percy understands this obvious fact as well as any politician. As a candidate for governor in 1964, he was dragged under by Barry Goldwater, a candidate whom a large segment of the electorate saw as a loose cannon on deck. And in 1966, Percy defeated Sen. Paul Douglas partly by cleverly projecting himself as the fresh candidate of youth and energy. The subjective contrast with Douglas was sharp.

In the 1966 election and consistently since then, Percy has taken stands that have had the effect of presenting him to the Illinois public as independent. His judgement on Haynsworth and Carswell, for example, indicated a capacity for mature and discriminating moral decisions. Moreover, events often have upheld his views.

There is a good deal of irony, therefore, in the fact that Percy's perceived character and personality, which have been among the keys to his success in Illinois, have helped thwart his chief ambition nationally, which is to become president. If there is anyone in the national capital who believes Percy has a chance to be president, it probably is only Percy himself, and he has, publicly at least, abandoned the goal as unlikely (but not chimerical).

Ideological conservatives, to be sure, base their perfervid objections to Percy on his apparent liberalism. The alienation of the conservatives has been a critical problem for Percy, given the fact that the GOP has been dominated at its conventions by conservative cadres. But the belief held by many conservatives, politicians, journalists and others that his personality is somehow lacking has been a certain factor in the frustration of Percy's national dreams.

The personal factor, being partly subjective, can be elusive. Some candidates are said to have charisma, style or magnetism. In explaining this emotional appeal, Ike was said to be fatherly, Kennedy graceful, Ford decent. Partly because of their subjective impact, projected as a kind of political gestalt, some candidates are rapidly taken seriously, while others languish unheralded. Thus, Gov. James R. Thompson has been perceived as a "comer," while such politicians as former Gov. Dan Walker and Percy sought that label in vain. Thompson may or may not survive as a wunderkind on the national stage, but his early favorable reviews are substantially a product of his personality. He seems bright, competent, candid and persuasive.

In cold print, the words of politicians of similar stripe may be indistinguishable or unexceptional. Any compendium of the world's "great" speeches includes some that are dull to read.

Until Nixon's resignation put Ford in position to seek the '76 nomination, Percy had planned to test nationally the appeal he had demonstrated in Illinois. There are those who suspect that Percy, against the advice of aides, still dreams privately of running in 1980 if he landslides back into the Senate.

But Washington, which prizes savvy, was not set aflame for Percy by his handling of the Lance affair. A city keyed to pragmatism and cynicism is put off by him. One Illinois Republican who says Percy is "easy to work with, one on one," diagnoses the Percy Problem this way:

"He has acquired so many artificial mannerisms, he gives the impression of posturing so often. He's seen as a headline-grabber. As both a man of conscience and a guy who is self-righteous and moralizes too much. So there's a lack of rapport."

Percy, one is told, has been advised often over the years to work at correcting his style, but it has remained unchanged. Self-contained and certain in his convictions, Percy at times seems almost naively unaware of the impressions he conveys. For example, he has always been derided for name-dropping, yet he regularly engages in the practice.

He is a strangely complex, self-encapsulated man, this Charles H. Percy. He hears drums that have led him to great success in lesser marches, in Illinois. He will march there again, under a banner of personal honesty, courageous independence and pragmatic reform.

He has not been alone in being certified as senatorial but not presidential material. In presidential politics, many are called, but few are chosen.

December 1977/ Illinois Issues/35