The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

INTRO

ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening. On the eve of the first presidential primary we look at the last efforts of the eight Democrats contesting New Hampshire. We cover the debate over the network vote projections before the voting is over. Also tonight, how the nation's governors feel about what Washington is doing or not doing about the federal deficits. Jim Lehrer is off; Judy Woodruff is in Washington. Judy?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Also tonight we update the fighting in the Persian Gulf. An Iraqi attack has impact in Rotterdam.We update the newest Central American policy debate; this time it's Honduras. The U.S. Marines are gone; the fighting in Beirut continues. We have a documentary report on the struggle for power among Lebanon's religious factions. Governors on the Deficit

MacNEIL: The nation's governors were drawn into the political skirmishing over the federal deficits today. The National Governors Association opened its winter conference in Washington and is expected to adopt a resolution tomorrow calling for quick action to reduce budget deficits. President Reagan saw them at the White House and indicated that he might consider tax increases if a deficit that was considered harmful remained after further spending cuts. Reports of the President's remarks gave a lift to the last hour of trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones average, which rose 30 points on Friday, closed up another 14.86 points today, closing at 1179.96.

But the encounter with the President left many Democratic governors unhappy. Governor Tony Anaya of New Mexico said Mr. Reagan obviously did not intend to even listen. He simply brushed off any questions or discussions of disagreements. Since the meeting was not open to the press, reporters had to content themselves with governors' comments afterwards, and here is a sample.

Gov. DICK CELESTE, (D) Ohio: Well, I believe that there's an interesting and useful discussion. I don't know whether it's productive because I don't sense a commitment on the part of the President and his team to really tackle the budget deficit in a serious way.

Gov. JIM BLANCHARD, (D) Michigan: He talked about spending being out of control as if he had just gotten to town and had no responsibility for the previous three years' budgets. I don't think he really wants to deal with the issue right now, and he was looking for a lot of reasons to avoid us, especially with us, because he knows -- as he was a governor once -- that we know that it's his responsibility to propose a budget, and that's his responsibility and that when he was governor of California he proposed to balance budgets. As a matter of fact, he raised taxes when he was governor of California, as well, and he knows that we have credibility on the issue because all of us have done that.

Gov. JIM THOMPSON, (R) Illinois: Governor Robb, who is the current chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, told the President that he thought the President was the one person in the country who had the skills necessary to unite Congress and the people behind a deficit reduction program, and that he pledged on behalf of the Democratic governors to unite behind the President to get it done. And I think that's an offer that the White House will seriously pursue.The President, on the other hand, said that he had to pursue his down payment strategy as a first signal to the markets that we were concerned about the size of the deficit, and that those negotiations would go forward and that he wanted our help in making those successful. He thought that there really was not enough time in this year, not just because it's an election year and people are afraid to vote, but because of the time that Congress is going to devote to the issue this year to make the kind of structural changes necessary to make real impacts on the deficit, and that that would have to come after the first of the year. But he did offer to say that if after government spending had been trimmed as far as it could go, and the spending cuts, as painful as they might be, across the board, which the governors are supporting in their resolution, were made, and the present tax structure still did not support the spending that was left, he would consider increasing revenues in order to get towards a balanced budget.

MacNEIL: In another deficit comment today the White House rejected a Republican congressional proposal to cut the defense budget by $80 billion over three years. The proposal came from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici of New Mexico, who suggested that the real increase in defense spending be cut from the 13% sought by the President to 5%.

With us are two governors in town for the National Governors Conference, William Janklow, a conservative Republican governor of South Dakota, and Michael Dukakis, liberal Democrat from Massachusetts. Governor Dukakis, what did you understand the President to say about the possibility of a tax increase today?

Gov. MICHAEL DUKAKIS: I didn't get that message at all. I share the frustration, I think, of all of the governors there, but I didn't get the sense that the administration was serious about dealing with this problem in a serious way. And for governors, particularly, who will have to go through a budget process every year and make hard decisions and hard choices, it was a very frustrating morning.

MacNEIL: Governor Janklow, did you hear anything new about the possibility of a tax increase that might have justified that sort of surge of positive thinking on Wall Street?

Gov. WILLIAM JANKLOW: No, I think the key thing is, is that everybody in this community talks in code. You never quite are sure just exactly what it is that they're talking about. The fundamental thing is that there have been very, very substantial budget balances by all the states over the last several years. States have raised taxes -- 44 of them; 43 of them have cut spending. And the key thing is that the Congress and the President refuse to do the same type of thing. It's both the Congress and the executive branch's fault that America is continuing in this mess.

MacNEIL: So are you saying that all of the governors pretty well are in agreement that you are taking the deficit problem more seriously than Washington is?

Gov. JANKLOW: I don't think there's any question. I think the governors have felt this for several years. As a matter of fact, last year the governors for the first time, in a real bipartisan spirit, Democrats and Republicans alike, came forward with a policy position saying that we have to decrease the increasing rate of defense expenditures -- they didn't say cut it; that we have to do something about entitlements and, frankly, that we have to do something about raising additional taxes. There is nothing wrong with a tax increase if it goes for the right things.There's things wrong with a tax increase if it goes for the wrong things, and America will never get unbalanced again unless we raise the sufficient revenues to take care of our needs, at the same time make the cuts. And this Washington game of "you put your gun down before I put my gun down -- you offer yours before I offer mine" is nonsense. We have to do these things together. The final thing I'll say is Senator Dole has come forward with a revenue raising proposal.At the same time -- which are tax increases. At the same time Pete Domenici has come forward with a proposal that at least starts to deal with the question of decreasing the increasing rate of defense expenditures. And, finally, it's up to those people who have argued the most about entitlements to lay that card on the table and make it part of a tripartite, bipartisan discussion and do something instead of argue.

MacNEIL: Governor Dukakis, do you read it the same way, a pointless game of "you put your gun down first"? Is that how you see what's happening in Washington?

Gov. DUKAKIS: Well, I think there's a lot of that here right now, but I think what the governors are trying to do is to bring our collective influence to bear, and perhaps we've got more credibility in this budget situation than most people. Every year every governor in this country has to go through the process of putting a budget together, and we have to say no to things that we'd like to say yes to; we have to consider whether or not we're going to raise revenue, we have to take the political pain of that if we have to do it, and many governors have these past few years. And if any one of us on budget day were to get up and say, "Gee, guys, I've tried, but I can't make it balance and let's set up a commission," I think he'd be laughed out of office. But that's essentially what's happening here in Washington, and it's that which I think unites the governors in a very strong bipartisan way, as Bill has suggested, and we're here because we're very concerned about this country's future, about its economic future, and about what massive deficits as far as the eye can see mean for that future.

MacNEIL: Well, looking at those from the state level, what is it that worries you both so much? Governor Janklow?

Gov. JANKLOW: Well, the first thing is, is the financial -- you can't have financial solvency or fiscal responsibility in the states unless the federal government does, and 30% of all the medical expenditures in America are taken care of in one form or another by federal funding. In addition to that, you're going to destroy the foundational or the financial underpinnings of state government if you continue to increase this deficit at these incredible rates.We're talking about a $1.2-trillion dollar cumulative deficit.For every $100 billion-worth of additional deficit you're talking about a continuing underlying $10-billion interest payment that has to be made. We're going to end up with everybody in America making interest payments on the national debt and no other money leftunless we stop this collective insanity course that we're on, and as Mike says, I think the key thing is, is there isn't a state in this union that hasn't wrestled with this. We've cut programs. We've cut the increase in the decrease -- we've caused a decrease in the increasing rate in programs. We have raised taxes. And the key thing is is the federal government gives us rhetoric in both the executive and the legislative branches and will not give us the substance of a cut until they destroy the financial underpinnings of America when it's too late. There is no salvation for America in deficits of this magnitude.

MacNEIL: Now, what do you think, first of all, Governor Dukakis, are you going to pass this resolution, this draft resolution tomorrow?

Gov. DUKAKIS: I thing it has very strong bipartisan support, and I expect it to be passed.

MacNIEL: And what effect do you think it will have?

Gov. DUKAKIS: I think it will put a lot of pressure, we hope, behind efforts in Washington, both on the part of the administration and the Congress to move on this. And my hope is that the administration will go back to the drawing board, come up with a budget which really is a budget, go to the Congress and do what you have to do to shape a congressional majority around a responsible budget.

MacNEIL: Are you confident something's really going to happen this year before the election?

Gov. DUKAKIS: I'm not confident of much of anything. I suppose none of us are and the meeting this morning with the President hardly strengthend our confidence --

MacNEIL: Why was that?

Gov. DUKAKIS: Because the sense we had was that the administration really wasn't serious about dealing with this problem.

MacNEIL: Do you get that same sense, Governor Janklow?

Gov. JANKLOW: No, I sense that they're serious about dealing with it. I sense that the Congress is serious about dealing with it. But I also sense that nobody's going to deal with it, and that's the problem. And I think that we ought to look at this, that if we're not satisfied with the way the executive branch proposes a budget, well, then the answer isn't to just sit and wait until they propose another one. Let the Congress initiate one. In my state -- I don't know how other states work, but in my state if the legislature is not satisfied with a proposal of the governor's they initiate their own or they modify the governor's and they move on. But if in fact Congress is unhappy, the Republican Senate and the Democrat House, with what the President's proposed, then they ought to do what they tell the electors when they run for office. They ought to exercise that leadership skill that they claim they have, that most of America knows that they don't have, but at least that they claim they have, to get out there and do something about it.

MacNEIL: And what needs to have to happen to start that process again?

Gov. JANKLOW: I think what they have to do is sit down in a bipartisan way and address all three issues at one time. We can't just talk about the entitlement programs, we can't just talk about national defense, and we can't just talk about increasing taxes depending on what our philosophical perspective is. We have to lay all three of those cards cards on the table together and play them together in a composite and a package.

MacNEIL: Well, Governor Janklow, Governor Dukakis, thank you for joining us. Judy?

WOODRUFF: A new twist in the Iran-Iraq war impacted today on the world's oil markets.Iraqi jets bombed tankers at Iran's major oil exporting terminal on Kharg Island. The news of the attack brought trading to a standstill at the Rotterdam crude oil markets as traders stopped selling, waiting to see what would now happen to oil prices. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Iraq attacked its oil facilites. The U.S. in turn has said that it will not let the Strait, through which much of the oil from the Persian Gulf travels, be closed.

In other battlefield news, Iran says that it turned back four Iraqi counterattacks against its forces near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. And in Washington a State Department spokesman told reporters that Iran has exaggerated claims of success.

Another Central American policy debate is shaping up in the Congress. This time the country is Honduras and the issue is whether or not the Reagan administration is building permanent military bases there. Four Republican senators returned today from a trip to Honduras. They denied recent charges by Democratic Senator Jim Sasser of Tennessee that the Army was building more permanent bases in Honduras than the Congress had authorized. Senate Majority Whip Ted Stevens told reporters today he saw nothing that exceeded congressional guidelines or common sense.

Sen. TED STEVENS, (R) Alaska: We found the use of military operations and maintenance funds appropriate, and state simply that allegations of construction of semipermanent and permanent facilities with these funds are gross exaggerations. We can tell you we've seen them and they are not permanent. There is no question that they were part of the exercise, and I think from each one of our personal point of view we believe that the use of the exercise funds in conjunction with accomplishing objectives of the Honduran army for these facilities was good, but they are temporary. Anyone that tells you that that Aguacate Field is permanent is just not a pilot. That's all there is to it.

Sen. WARREN RUDMAN, (R) New Hampshire: These are temporary facilities. When I read in the Congressional Record on the way down some of my colleagues' statements, and I saw the huts that were alleged to be permanent, when I saw airort runways that were supposed to be permanent, I can only tell you if that's permanent we should fire the Corps of Engineers.

WOODRUFF: The debate over the U.S. role in Honduras is likely to heat up. Tonight, another congressional delegation, this time House Democrats, returns from their own fact-finding trip to Honduras. Robin? Beirut Report

MacNEIL: In Beirut fighting continued between Lebanese army troops loyal to President Gemayel and Muslim militias. The heavy machine-gun fire and grenade explosions closed the only crossing point in the Green Line separating East and West Beirut. The fighting occurred in spite of a nominal ceasefire negotiated last week. Druse and Shiite opposition leaders telephoned the U.S. Embassy today to protest about Sunday's bombardment by the battleship New Jersey of Syrian antiaircraft positions that had fired at an American reconnaissance plane and missed it. A Reuters news agency correspondent who inspected the site near the mountain village of Salima, 11 miles east of Beirut, said the New Jersey's 16-inch shells missed their target by at least 300 yards.The antiaircraft battery was intact.

With the departure of the combat units of U.S. Marines yesterday only the French now remain of the international peacekeeping force. In Beirut the situation is slipping back to outright civil war, with one difference: the new strength of the Shiite Muslims. Gavin Hewitt of the CBC reports on how the Lebanese are living on either side of Beirut's Green Line.

GAVIN HEWITT, CBC [voice-over]: The smoke from another night's shelling hangs over Beirut's Green Line. It is seven in the morning and cars and people gather to see whether the one crossing point in the divided city will open. Recent fighting has returned Beirut to the battle lines of the civil war. On the west side, the victorious Muslim militias. Facing them is an enfeebled Lebanese army, defending the Christian heartland. The Muslim militias swagger with their newfound confidence, but even as the Green Line is being opened, the Lebanese army resumes dropping shells on a neighborhood two streets away.

Only in a city so accustomed to violence could such a close bombardment cause such little concern. These, then, are the rituals of a Lebanon more divided today than ever. In the absence of a political solution death is the frequent price paid by the civilian population. In Beirut's southern suburbs a Muslim resident ignores sniper fire to sift through the debris of his life. He inherits the wasteland of an 18-hour bombardment by the Lebanese army. Strangely, these Shiite Muslims are the victors for this was the battle when the Lebanese army began disintegrating. Not only was it driven out of West Beirut, but one of its Muslim brigades deserted rather than fire on its own people.

But the price of peace has been raised. The leader of the Shiite Muslims has heeded the anger of the people in calling for President Gemayel's resignation.

CITIZEN: I now hate him. I've reached to the extent that now I hate him. I don't believe he is going to be anymore represents me. Me. Because he destroyed us.

HEWITT [voice-over]: The victory of the Muslim militias is also a victory for Islamic fundamentalism. Many of the Shiite fighters are followers of Ayatollah Khomeini.The Shia Muslims are now Lebanon's largest community. Their leaders say they want only to share power with the Christians and not to impose an Islamic society. How they will use their religious zeal is one of Lebanon's vital questions. In the Shiite militia Amal there are about 15,000 fighters.Many are inexperienced teenagers, but each day they engage the Lebanese army across the Green Line.

These are the Lebanese army positions directly opposite from where the Shiite gunmen were firing. Although half its officers are Christian, only 35% of its men are. Increasingly the army finds itself bunkered down defending a politically isolated Christian president. How long before more Muslim soldiers desert is crucial to how long President Gemayel can survive. The war is stalemated in a duel of snipers.

Through the fighting the sound of a Muslim call to prayer. Later we crossed the Green Line and found the mosque. It was in a cellar beneath the rubble of the front line. The mullahs speak of an Islamic holy war that will end with the liberation of Jerusalem.It is a harsh message. Those Muslims who remain with the Christian army are fighting with the forces of Satan.

[on camera] It would be wrong to characterize the Lebanese civil war as being religious. It's primarily about power. For some time the Christians have been in a minority. And what the mainly Muslim factions are saying is that they are no longer prepared to accept Christian domination. Here, just outside Beirut, the Shiite Muslim fighters share a checkpoint with the Druse militiamen from the mountains. And without the agreement of these two factions there can be no peace. And as they've achieved militarysuccess they've become less willing to accept the reforms offered by President Gemayel. In fact, they've seen a chance whereby they can determine what the future shape of Lebanon will be.

[voice-over] Gunfire and celebration by the Druse having driven the Lebanese army out of the mountains southeast of Beirut. The Druse are allies of the Shiite Muslims and are supported by Syria. The capturing of the town of Abbe[?] was a special victory for the Druse, for on the outskirts is a Druse mosque where lies buried Abdullah, a holy man. The mosque, they say, had been blown up by Christian Phalangist forces when they entered the town after the Israeli invasion in 1982. It is but a small example of how much will have to be forgiven if Lebanon's diverse communities are ever to live together. Druse fighters revel in their captured equipment. They are now concentrating on the last Lebanese army mountain position at Suk al-Gharb, which controls the gateway to the presidential palace. The Druse want a Lebanon where the Christians have to share power and position, a Lebanon that is Arab and whose agreements with Israel are broken.

The Christians fear the Druse would deliver Lebanon into the hands of Syria. Across the Green Line Christians attend a makeshift grocery store two floors underground. We found that many of them believed that if only all the foreign forces would leave the country the Lebanese would find a solution among themselves. The blaming of the Syrians or the Israelis was a convenient way of avoiding the central question as to whether they would be willing to share power. When the question was pursued, some clearly saw the newfound confidence of the Shiite Muslims as threatening the survival of Christian Lebanon.

CHRISTIAN LEBANESE: The Shia people, they want to destroy the country.They don't want to live in it. They just want to destroy it. They don't care about it.

HEWITT: But they say all they want is an equal share.

CHRISTIAN: No, that's lie. I don't believe it.

HEWITT [voice-over]: This is the president's dilemma. If he refuses to make concessions, his Muslim and Druse opponents can apply the military screws. If he gives away too much, an embattled Christian community may prefer to go down fighting. Already, some units of the Christian militia, the Phalange, have been deployed against the Druse and the Muslim militias. It may be that along with the remains of the Lebanese army they can resist. But the result would be the permanent division of both a city and a country.

MacNEIL: In Washington, U.S. officials said that Special Envoy Donald Rumsfeld, who has been shuttling between Damascus and Beirut, will withdraw from diplomatic efforts to resolve Lebanon's problems. White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that Rumsfeld, who is back in Washington, would direct his attention to President Reagan's 1982 plan for a broad Middle East settlement.

In Amman, PLO leader Yasir Arafat met Jordan's King Hussein for a second day. A Jordanian spokesman said the King urged Arafat to accept U.N. resolutions in effect recognizing Israel's right to exist.

In the Soviet Union, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko charged that the Reagan administration had wrecked relations between Moscow and Washington by irresponsible behavior. Gromyko said the present government in the United States had disrupted and destroyed the achievements of preceding administrations, and said Washington must show a willingness to recognize Soviet interests before relations can be improved. Diplomats in Moscow said the new Soviet leader, Konstantin Chernenko, had assumed an additional job as chairman of the country's defense council. He also holds the title of general secretary of the Communist Party.

And in Montreal a team of United Nations experts said the Soviet Union made no attempt to identify South Korean Air Lines Flight 007 before it was shot down last September. The experts, who are with the International Civil Aviation Organization, also said the Soviet fighter planes did not fly alongside the airliner so the South Korean pilot could see them clearly.

[Video postcard -- South Fourche La Fave River, Arkansas] Eve of New Hampshire

WOODRUFF: The eight Democrats running for president spent this last day before tomorrow's New Hampshire primary making last-minute appeals for support. A new poll conducted for the Washington Post and ABC News showed Colorado Senator Gary Hart closing the gap between himself and frontrunner Walter Mondale. The poll had Mondale with 32% of the vote, Hart, 25% and John Glenn, 15%. Another poll conducted for the Cable News Network showed Mondale with a wider lead -- 38% to Hart's 22%. The candidates made news in different ways. Ernest Hollings said at a news conference that if Mondale wins a big victory tomorrow and the party's nomination it would probably lead to President Reagan's reelection. Hollings has been saying in recent days that Mondale cannot win in November because he is perceived as a big spender and weak on defense. George McGovern, mean-while, tried today to stress his similarities with the Republicans, saying they both agree that deficits and the defense budget must be cut some.

Because of new Democratic Party rules, this year marks the first time the New Hampshire primary has followed so closely on the heels of the Iowa caucuses. And, in a trip up there over the past few days, I found that that's having a significant impact on a contest that used to stand pretty much on its own.

WALTER MONDALE, Democratic presidential candidate: I think I smell victory in this room.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: It was an almost cocky Walter Mondale who charged into New Hampshire last week, fresh from a runaway win in the Iowa caucuses, ready to tighten his grip on first place with this state his staff started organizing more than a year ago. But it isn't the frontrunner who has been the story this week. It is the two men fighting to be the chief alternative to him.

Sen. JOHN GLENN, Democratic presidential candidate: John Glenn needs you as never before.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: The results in Iowa having had very different effects on their campaigns. For Gary Hart, even a distant second place finish was enough to balloon the size of the press corps trailing him. More than 80 news people swarmed around as Hart met with a handful of Manchester residents concerned about a toxic chemical dumpsite.

DAVID LANDAU, Hart deputy campaign director [voice-over]: Iowa clearly gave us a very big boost going into New Hampshire. The second-place finish made us emerge as the top of the dark horse candidates, as a principal challenger to Walter Mondale. People could begin to focus on us, to say for the first time we see that there is a choice.

New Hampshire CITIZEN: All we read is in the paper what they're going to do, what they're going to do. But nothing's been done, and he's the only one that's ever come by here to really -- he cares.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: For those who couldn't see the candidate in person there were frequent TV commercials, a high-tech appeal to voters looking for somebody new and different.

ANNOUNCER [Hart TV commercial]: Gary Hart believes the politics of yesterday have failed us.

Sen. GARY HART, Democratic presidential candidate: Why not new approaches?

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: At Hart campaign headquarters there was a new burst of energy. Offers of money began to come in from all over the country. And newly-signed up volunteers went right to work contacting voters. They didn't stop for meals. And some from out of state were already boasting of victories beyond New Hampshire. Over at John Glenn's headquarters they weren't talking quite so confidently but there was just as much activity. Like the Hart campaign, workers were brought in from other states by the hundreds. The candidate tried to stop a slide in support triggered by his loss in Iowa.

Sen. GLENN: And I do not believe that the people of New Hampshire think this election is all over because Iowa selected 1 1/2% of the delegates. We have 98 1/2% of the delegates still to be selected.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: His staff, meanwhile, tried to put the best face on things. Campaign Director Paul Shone.

PAUL SHONE, Glenn New Hampshire campaign director: Well, it didn't help us very much, I don't think, but conventional wisdom is that it hurt us a great deal, and I don't think that's true either. Senator Glenn in the past few days has been better at communicating his message than he has in the rest of the -- he's just been much, much better at it, I think. He's had one great week since Iowa. Anybody who knows a little bit about American history in the last 25 years and has watched John Glenn knows that when you underestimate him and when you think he's down and when you think it's just about over, that's when he's at his strongest. And that's the kind of week he's had in New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: His target was independent voters, and Glenn displayed a verve his own staff admitted hadn't always been there before.

Sen. GLENN: I have said from the outset that I want to appeal to those mainstream Democrats who should be controlling their own party. And if we can get them out to vote next Tuesday, we'll take this thing, we'll send a message, we'll go across that South and take those states, and we can change the future of this country and it all starts right here next Tuesday. I want your help. Thank you.

ROBERT CRAIG, New Hampshire political expert: These people, however, are difficult to get into the primary. They have to be brought in. They have to be enticed in. They have to be attracted in because they're not usually found in the Democratic or Republican primaries, at least not in very great numbers.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: If the Glenn campaign has its work cut out for it in pulling less politically active independents to the polls, it also was handicapped with a late starting organization.

PAUL GAGNON, Hillsboro county attorney: Well, I was contacted by several people and it seemed to be a different person every month. And in fact it's still different people. And I never was able to find out who exactly was in charge of the Glenn campaign.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: But Paul Gagnon, who is the Hillsboro county attorney and who has met most of the candidates in the race, says it wasn't a better organization but personal style that led him to sign up with Mondale.

Mr. GAGNON: I had him over at my house maybe six or -- I guess it's going on a year ago now, and after he left everybody in the room, they were just saying, "Boy, what a nice guy.I really like him." Without really knowing a whole lot about what his stands on all the various issues were. So he's just personally a real nice guy.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: Unlike most American voters, New Hampshire residents don't have to rely on TV to meet the presidential candidates, be it Mondale or anyone else.

RON ROY, Mondale supporter: The times I've seen him and talked -- listened to him, I feel he's a man of character --

WOODRUFF: You've seen him and actually talked to him?

Mr. ROY: Oh, we've seen him.In New Hampshire we get to see them all, and about the second time around we make up our minds.

RICK GABRIEL, Manchester Democratic Committee: I've seen most of them, yes.

WOODRUFF: Democratic Party leader Mike [sic] Gabriel has an explanation for that that is not flattering to most New Hampshire voters, who he says are politically independent.

Mr. GABRIEL: Every study we've done on independent voters showed them to be less knowledgeable, less concerned, less interested, less informed and therefore less likely to vote. The good side of that is, as a consequence of that they are more subject to short-term political stimuli, such as media campaigns, shaking hands, meeting the candidate.

WOODRUFF: Mr. Mondale came by here, I understand. Did both of you meet him?

DENNIS GOUDREAU, Nashua sanitation worker: Well, it wasn't the first time, but yes, we did. We were right at the front door, greeted him in.

WOODRUFF: Well, how many times have you met him?

Mr. GOUDREAU: Six times, seven times.

PAUL SOREL, Nashua sanitation worker: The fact that he did take the time to come down to see, you know, basically sanitation workers, street workers, not exactly the elite in the country, you know, really impressed a lot of people.

WOODRUFF: But Dennis Goudreau and Paul Sorel, sanitation workers in Nashua, would have never met Mondale if it hadn't been for their union, which urged them to get involved in their first political campaign.

Mr. SOREL: If we can't stop Reagan and his administration as it's being run now, we're going to end up all out of a job. And that's basically what I've been telling all the other employees to get them to register to vote.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: Between them they talked three-fourths of those co-workers, members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, into registering to vote. It is that sort of an effort that gives Mondale an edge going into tomorrow's primary, even as polls show some of his support is not terribly firm. After church yesterday he left New Hampshire to campaign elsewhere while his state coordinator insisted that wasn't a sign of overconfidence.

CHUCK CAMPION, Mondale New Hampshire campaign director: There are eight people in this fight in New Hampshire, eight good Democrats who are fighting. And what we hope, come election day, when they slice up that pie, we'll have the biggest piece.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: The Glenn campaign's Paul Shone, meanwhile, was still saying his man would do well.

Mr. SHONE: It seems now that we have to finish -- that we should finish in second place. And it seems that we can do that.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: Over at the Hart campaign, however, they were saying Glenn was out of it.

Mr. LANDAU: We think that Gary is a stronger candidate than John Glenn at this point in the field, and we're confident that he's certainly going to surpass him in New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: The Hart people were so confident they said their momentum could win the race if it were just held a few days later. While the campaign managers argued and played the expectations game, their volunteers met the voters face to face, with mixed results.

Mondale VOLUNTEER: Hi, any registered voters at home?

1st VOTER: Oh, sure.

VOLUNTEER: Great. Mr. Mondale wanted you to have information on the new polling places, and he'd ask for your support on Tuesday.

1st VOTER: Okay, thank you very much. I'm sorry to say we're Republicans.

VOLUNTEER: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

1st VOTER: We're going to the polls.

VOLUNTEER: Okay, thank you.

Glenn VOLUNTEER: Morning. I'm Joanne Fields, and I'm from Hamilton, Ohio. I've come up here just to represent Senator Glenn, and we'd like to know what you feel about Senator Glenn.

2nd VOTER: Who?

VOLUNTEER: Senator Glenn. John Glenn.

2nd VOTER: You know something?

VOLUNTEER: What?

2nd VOTER: I'll tell you something right now, ma'am. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the eighth one, Jackson, none of 'em could run a hot dog stand.

3rd VOTER: We think Gary Hart is good. We'll take your literature. We also think there's altogether too much money being spent, that the whole thing is being manipulated by the media, and we need a whole new system for the primaries.

WOODRUFF: Just to help put the New Hampshire Democratic primary in perspective, we should point out that no one has ever become president without winning it; that is, in the years since the New Hampshire primary was first held, in 1952.

There is one subject the Democratic contenders agreed on today, and that was to commend Jesse Jackson for his public admission last night that he had made an ethnic slur against Jews. Charlayne Hunter-Gault has more. Charlayne?

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: The issue of Jackson's alleged anti-Semitic remarks has been dogging him since The Washington Post reported it in a routine story two weeks ago. The story said that in private conversations Jackson had referred to Jews as Hymies and to New York City as "Hymie Town." At first Jackson would not comment; then he would neither confirm nor deny it. In the interim he said that he had been pursued and persecuted by elements in the Jewish community since his meeting with Yasir Arafat in the Middle East in 1979. But last night, before a packed synagogue in Manchester, New Hampshire, he dealt only with his own transgressions.

Rev. JESSE JACKSON, Democratic presidential candidate [in Manchester, New Hampshire synagogue]: It was not in the spirit of meanness, but an off-color remark having no bearing on religion or politics. I deny and I do not recall ever making such a statement in any context that would be remotely construed as being either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. However innocent and unintended it was insensitive and wrong.

HUNTER-GAULT: Most Jewish leaders today applauded Jackson's apology, but few believed that it had put the issue of Jackson and his relationship with the Jewish community to rest. Late this afternoon I got a sample of some of that reaction.

HYMAN BOOKBINDER, American Jewish Committee, Washington: From our point of view it couldn't have come too soon because we are very anguished over the misunderstanding that had arisen, not only in connection with the use of certain words to describe Jews in New York, but for other reasons. Too many Americans were beginning to think that our antipathy to Jesse Jackson's campaign is a reflection of a black-Jewish conflict. It never was and never should have been considered a black-Jewish conflict. It was just disenchantment with and unhappiness with the views of a particular man.

Rabbi ALEXANDER SCHINDLER, president, Union of American Hebrew Congregations: Well, I think it was wrong for him to say what he did, but it was right for him to admit that it was wrong, and hopefully now this particular matter will be behind us and we can refocus on his issues and his programs and that of the other candidates and make our decisions without this deflective aberration, if you will.

HUNTER-GAULT: What about the charges that there was an orchestrated attempt by Jews to disrupt his campaign?

Rabbi SCHINDLER: Insofar as the Jewish community is concerned, we categorically reject that charge. The truth of the matter is that most mainline Jewish organizations have roundly condemned the JDL and their kindred extremists now as in the past for actions which violate the democratic process and therefore do damage to all Americans, blacks as well as Jews.

Mr. BOOKBINDER: There is a very, very tiny group that organized itself and called itself, presumptuously, Jews against Jackson. I have, and others have, and I know that I personally have spoken out publicly and said that their activities -- that is, those activities that were designed to hamper his speaking were outrageous. That's the word I've used in the past, not just today. They are indeed outrageous. But it is a very tiny group, and I believe Mr. Jackson made a mistake in making so much of it. The Jewish community believes that every candidate, and he is a legitimate candidate, has every right to go out unhindered and state his views.

HUNTER-GAULT: What impact is this going to have now on the relations between blacks and Jews?

Rabbi SCHINDLER: None of us wants a group conflict, and this is why I, for one, welcome Jesse Jackson -- the Reverend Jackson's call for a renewed dialogue between blacks and Jews on the American scene, because that which unites us is infinitely more important than that which divides us. We are very close, blacks and Jews, on the American scene in our vision of what America ought to be.

Mr. BOOKBINDER: I don't want to be hard on Jesse Jackson today when he's done a right thing, but there are many things that still disturb us very much. References, for example, to the fact, as he put it, that he's sick and tired of hearing Jews talk about the Holocaust. Well, I'm sorry if he's sick and tired, but I personally lost 82 of my relatives in the Holocaust. I don't believe the world should ever get sick and tired of asking what happened and why. Now, if he begins to realize now that that kind of statement, very understandably and properly has disturbed the Jewish community, if he understands that, starts to understand that, that will be another sign of progress.

HUNTER-GAULT: Other Jewish leaders we spoke with today were equally cautious and equally demanding in their attitude towards Jesse Jackson, and it was clear from what they said that such progress will not come easily. Robin?

MacNEIL: Another aspect of modern elections got an airing today in Washington, the controversy over early network projections. There were protests last week when two networks, CBS and NBC, projected Walter Mondale as winner of the Iowa caucuses before the voters had expressed their own views. Based on polling of delegates entering the caucuses, CBS projected that winner at 8:12 p.m., NBC at 8:18. When the caucus delegates themselves were not allowed to express preferences until 8:30. At hearings of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, the networks were criticized, beginning with the chairman, Colorado Democrat Timothy Wirth.

Rep. TIMOTHY WIRTH, (D) Colorado: We are here to discuss the civic reponsibility of the electronic media and the implications that their methods and their announcements of projected voting results have on the electoral process. It is my own belief that network news does a remarkably good job of fairly and objectively reporting the news.But from time to time good news judgment appears to be skewed by the pell mell rush to be first and in the rush to be first in reporting election results.

CHARLES MANATT, Democratic National Committee: I think enough is enough, and when we see the election called before it started last week we need to deal with it now or else much greater mischief may come in the future. Such projections do not inform voters; they discourage voters. They do not really illumine the issues of elections.They obscure the issues of our elections. And they do not contribute to our democratic form of government. Really, in their zeal to be first, television broadcasters are in danger of putting our national interest last in our election process.

FRANK FAHRENKOPF, Repubican National Committee: We become so enamored of the glamour of presidential politics that we forget that an election as we're going to have on November 6th, 1984, is -- there are a lot of other people running for political office across this country, whether or not it's for the state legislature, for the governorship of their states, Congress and United States Senate. And I think we must bear in mind, when we're talking about this subject that a call of a race that would inhibit voters from going to the polls whether or not its a presidential call may also affect other races.

RALPH GOLDBERG, CBS-TV: We at CBS News believe that we've reported on election results carefully and responsibly and with an outstanding record of accuracy. I think we cannot fail to recognize the intense public interest which exists in the outcome of elections, and our society has long placed a high value on accurate and timely news reporting. The journalistic imperative to get it right and get it first did not originate with election reporting. We believe it is our role as journalists to report and not withhold information.

TOM PETTIT, NBC News: NBC News has no qualms about suggesting that it tries to be number one. That is to say, there have been some comments about competition. As you gentlemen to, we believe in the value of being number one. We try constantly to examine those things which we do and to apply the highest journalistic standards and subject them to thorough and continuing review. And in terms of what was done in Iowa, what we did was accurate. What we uncovered in Iowa turned out to be the facts. What we put on the air was true. We make no apology for what we broadcast. Reporters and journalists are strange people, as you've discovered, and they seek to find the truth. They seek to find the fact. They seek to know what is hidden. They spend their lives trying to find out. So that journalism is the finding out of fact. It is the determination of fact. And that's what a poll is and that's what a vote is. That's what this hearing is, is a fact.

R.E. TED TURNER, Turner Broadcasting System: Polls conducted by networks or a group of networks are not facts. The polls that have been taken over the years, that is a long way from facts. Polls have nothing to do with facts. Facts are something that have already occurred. And I don't see any reason why there need to be polls going on, pre- or post-election polls. Why don't we just wait for the results to come out after everybody's voted? You have to have polls to find out what people are watching various television programs because there's no other way to do it. But on elections there's no need for those polls.

MacNEIL: All three commercial networks did agree not to make any projections in tomorrow night's New Hampshire primary until 8 p.m., Eastern time, when the last polls have closed. Judy?

WOODRUFF: The Supreme Court today handed a procedural setback to the makers of Agent Orange. The high court decided to let the largest class action lawsuit in U.S. history go ahead as planned. Starting in May, a federal court in New York will hear a case that was brought on behalf of all people possibly harmed by exposure to the defoliant, which was used in the Vietnam War. The plaintiffs allege that Agent Orange and the dioxin it contained causes cancer, birth defects and other illnesses affecting millions of people.

In another ruling, the justices upheld a federal regulation permitting the use of highways to move radioactive material through crowded urban areas. The court rejected arguments by New York State and City that Washington had not adequately studied the potential dangers of highway shipments.

Robin?

MacNEIL: According to the Associated Press, the level of dioxin, the toxic chemical that causes cancer in laboratory animals, at Times Beach, Missouri, is nearly four times higher than was reported previously. The AP said it obtained data from 540 samples taken from roads, ditches, wells and homes in Times Beach, a town so badly contaminated that the federal government bought the whole community. The AP reported that dioxin levels as high as 1,200 parts per billion were found.Previously the Environmental Protection Agency had said that the dioxin levels ranged up to 330 parts per billion. A dioxin level of more than one part per billion is considered as possibly dangerous to human health.

A warning from the Commerce Department today said serious spring floods are likely in several states, particularly in the West, because of record snow packs and heavy saturation of the soil. A flood expert at the Department said Utah is the most seriously threatened state, but flooding is also quite possible in the areas of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho and Oregon that border on Utah.

[Video postcard -- Wister, Oklahoma]

WOODRUFF: Turning now to a final look at today's top stories. With political attention focused on tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, the nation's governors meeting in Washington sent a political message of their own to the White House.They want the President to reduce the deficit by increasing taxes and cutting defense spending. The President said he was sticking by his plan to work out a deficit down payment in talks with the Congress.

There was more fighting in Lebanon, but today the U.S. Marines watched from their ships offshore, their base at the Beirut airport now in the hands of Moslem militiamen.

And there was a potentially ominous development in the Iran-Iraq war. Iraqi planes bombed oil tankers at Iran's major petroleum terminal in the Persian Gulf. The raid had the effect of shutting down the Rotterdam crude oil market, as traders waited to see if Iran will carry out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Robin?

MacNEIL: The Food and Drug Administration has given a limited go-ahead to a revolutionary new device designed to restore hearing in deaf people. The so-called artificial ear developed at the University of Utah is surgically implanted in the patient's inner ear. The FDA has now approved plans to implant the device in 20 patients this year as a step towards making it more widely available. Right now only two patients are using it on an experimental basis. Recently Charlayne Hunter-Gault reported on one of them, David Columbus of San Diego. And here is an excerpt.

CARL: David, what is my name?

DAVID COLUMBUS, artificial ear recipient: Say that again.

CARL: David, what is my name?

Mr. COLUMBUS: It's Carl.

CINDY: David, who's speaking?

Mr. COLUMBUS: That must be Cindy.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: Columbus and his wife Jerri live on a boat in San Diego where he explained how life sounds to him now.

Mr. COLUMBUS: The speech quality is quite natural.I hear other people better than I hear my own voice, and that bothers me. I want them to work on that so that I hear my own voice better. And if a person speaks very softly or has a low-pitched voice, I'll have trouble with that. So it's not quite -- it's not nearly as flexible and adaptable as natural hearing.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: The device works rather simply. Unlike a hearing aid, it does not amplify sound. Rather, it translates it into an electrical signal. Columbus explains.

Mr. COLUMBUS: What we have right now is a microphone right here, and the sound comes in the tube and goes to the microphone, and then the signal goes down to the box here.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: The box, or sound processor, much like a telephone, then processes the sound into electronic signals and sends them to the inner ear via a wire that enters the head through a surgically implanted socket.At the end of the wire are six electrodes that have been implanted in the inner ear. These electrodes stimulate the inner ear's nerves. Once these nerves are stimulated they send the electrical signals on to the brain, which translates them into normal sound. In most deaf people these nerves have lost their ability to respond to sound at all.

Mr. COLUMBUS: The secret to the whole thing is that even though the nerves don't respond to sound they're still alive, and if they're stimulated with an electrical current they do respond.

MacNEIL: Doctors say that artificial ear may some day help two-thirds of the estimated 500,000 Americans who are totally deaf.

Now an update on our own medical story. We're very happy to report that Jim Lehrer returned to work of Friday in fine spirits and eager to resume his duties. His doctors have told him that he's made an excellent recovery. Jim will gradually be phasing in his participation in the program over the next few weeks.

Good night, Judy.

WOODRUFF: That's a wonderful piece of news to close on.

Good night, Robin. That's our NewsHour for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff.Thank you and good night.