AL MANNING - A political columnist for The State Journal-Register, Springfield, he has written about politics and government for the past nine years.

Congressional Winners

Although Shipley endorsed Bruce, the congressman did not make personal appearances in the district on behalf of the Democratic candidate. As a result, Christian County, a Democratic stronghold, gave Bruce only a 200-vote plurality, and Shelby County, which leans Democratic, went for Crane. Bruce, according to the unofficial results, even lost on his home turf, the 54th Legislative District, and he carried his home county of Richland by the narrowest of margins. The final tally was 54 per cent to 46 per cent in favor of the Republican.

Dan Crane, of course, had much more going for him than some Democrats crossing over to vote for him. He is a 42-year-old dentist who shares a conservative philosophy with his brother, U.S. Rep. Philip M. Crane of Mount Prospect, an announced candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.

Crane outspent Bruce

Without question, one of the key actors in the outcome was campaign financing. Crane outspent Bruce by at least a 4-to-l margin. According to records on file in the Secretary of State's Office, the "Crane for Congress" committee raised $345,985 prior to election day. Crane had a total of 115 committees which contributed money to his campaign.By comparison, the quot;Bruce for Congress" committee raised $85,752, and there were 25 committees supporting Bruce.

Much of Crane's campaign money was raised and spent by Richard Viguerie Co., a direct-mail operation which works for conservative candidates.Viguerie is best known for fund raising drives using sophisticated, computerized letters which target specific households. He also masterminded an effective campaign letter written by the candidate's wife, Judy. This particular letter, mailed 10 days before the election, was handwritten by Mrs. Crane, and contained such personal touches as "The baby's crying so I must close for now. "The letter was mass-produced and mailed to one-half the households in the district.

The focus of the campaign, though, was on issues, not style. Crane described himself as a "very sincere conservative" and, with some success, labled his opponent a liberal. In 1978, with the voters in an anti-tax, anti-spending mood, that was an important distinction for Crane to make. "I'm running on the conservative principle that government is supposed to be a servant of the people, not the people's master," he said. Crane, a follower of former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, said the primary issue of the campaign was inflation. He opposed the Equal Rights Amendment and questioned the present method of financing Social Security.

Bruce attempted to portray Crane's right-wing philosophy as radical, and he used Social Security as an example. The Democrat said Crane favors investing Social Security funds in private enterprise such as insurance companies. " I can't see why private enterprise should make a profit on the money that is supposed to benefit the taxpayer,'' Bruce said during the campaign. Crane said his position was misrepresented by his opponent, and he claimed he only said that such financing should be studied.

Label for label

Crane had more success labeling the 34-year-old state senator as a liberal and big spender than Bruce did in labeling him a radical. Crane said Bruce was one of the state legislators who voted to spend more than the state had available, and he said if that was projected nationally, the federal government would be overextended in the billions of dollars.

Although Bruce is not exactly considered a liberal in the Statehouse -- he opposed ERA, for example — he did lead a group of maverick Democrats known as the "Crazy Eight," into a battle for Senate president which tied up the operation of the Senate for six weeks. In a year when the voters seemed

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14/January 1979/Illinois Issues

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to want an outsider elected to government office, Bruce's legislative experience at the state level didn't seem to count for much.

Despite his congressional defeat, Bruce remains in the Illinois Senate because he is in the middle of a four-year term. He could run for president of the Senate again in January, or he could even become a candidate for Congress in 1980 or later.

Once in office, though, congressmen are hard to defeat. Shipley, for example, won his first election by only 187 votes, then was reelected nine times. Crane openly questions how well he will like Washington once he gets there, so he may not make a career of politics the way some others do.

None of the incumbent Downstate congressmen faced a strong challenge in 1978. They all received more than 60 per cent of the vote. Even freshman Tom Corcoran, 15th District (R., Ottawa) bowled over former Rep. Tim Hall(D., Dwight) by a 62-38 margin. Here's the winning percentages for the other Downstate incumbents: Paul Simon, 24th District (D., Carbondale), 65;

Melvin Price, 23rd District (D., East St. Louis), 74; Edward Madigan, 21st District (R., Lincoln), 79; Paul Findley, 20th District (R., Pittsfield), 70; Tom Railsback, 19th District (R., Moline), unopposed; Robert Michel, 18th District (R., Peoria), 66; George O'Brien, 17th District (R., Joliet), 66; John Anderson, 16th District (R., Rockford), 67; John Erlenborn, 14th District (R., Elmhurst), 76, and Robert McClory, 13th District (R., Lake Bluff), 62.

16/January 1979/ Illinois Issues