The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

INTRO

ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman is flying home tonight with the Reverend Jesse Jackson who secured his release from Syrian captivity. President Reagan has invited them to the White House tomorrow and told Syria's president the time is right for talks. Tonight we report on all the facets of the widening Middle East story and examine what new options they create for U.S. policy. Jim Lehrer is off; Judy Woodruff is in Washington. Judy?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Also tonight, updates on the new military government in Nigeria and the fate of the former civilian president; a new troublespot on the world scene, Tunisia; and angry rhetoric after an explosion in Nicaragua.

THERAPIST: David, who's speaking? Goodman's Release

WOODRUFF: We report on one man's gift of hearing, a gift courtesy of advances in medical technology. And we'll hear about the struggle of some barely-knowns in '83 who are trying not to be the forgotten in '84 -- the Democratic dark horses.

Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman is on his way home tonight after the Reverend Jesse Jackson persuaded the Syrian government to set him free. Goodman was the navigator and bombadier on a Navy plane shot down over Lebanon one month ago. He and Jackson are traveling together on a U.S. Air Force plane that left Damascus shortly before noon today Eastern time and was scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt, West Germany, early this evening. There Goodman was to have a medical examination and to be debriefed by military officials.

Jackson flew to Syria five days ago to try to win Goodman's release, and the candidate for the Democratic nomination for president was plainly elated when he and Goodman met reporters earlier today in Damascus. Jackson also made a point of praising the other American clergymen who accompanied him.

Rev. JESSE JACKSON: We want to express thanks to the great body of religious leaders throughout America and people around the world who prayed and fasted in a measure of self-sacrifice and discipline and for the common people who in their own way sent telegrams and who sent letters to make this day possible. We are grateful for the people for their many efforts. For this broad cross-section of ecumenical leaders who have come here, black and white, male and female, whether Lewis Farakkan[?] from the Islamic faith, for the Christian ministers who are here, for those who are able to rise above the lines of religious denomination and party affiliation, we are grateful for this unifiying moment in history.

Lieutenant ROBERT GOODMAN, Jr., U.S. Navy: Look, I don't know, I'm just happy to be going home. I think probably his presence helped. As I said before, he has gained a lot of respect in this part of the world.

WOODRUFF: Goodman and Jackson came out of the Syrian foreign ministry a few minutes later and walked through a crowd of reporters and cameramen to a car waiting to take them to Jackson's hotel. Goodman said later he had been treated well and felt well, except for a dislocated shoulder and a bruised hand. He suffered both of those injuries when he ejected from his plane.

Goodman's parents called their son's release fantastic and absolutely great when they heard about it this morning. Goodman's wife, Terry Lynn, was so excited she could hardly speak when she got the news. Goodman's mother, a bank teller in New York City, gave the Reverend Jackson credit for what she called a humanitarian plea on her son's behalf. Goodman's father, who lives in Pennsylvania, had indicated earlier some skepticism about Jackson's going to Syria, but today he was full of praise and hoping a way could be found to settle the dispute with Syria.

REPORTER: What are you going to do with your blue ribbon now?

MARILYN GOODMAN, mother: Oh, it goes into the scrapbook.

REPORTER: Have you spoken to your son?

Ms. GOODMAN: Yes, I have.

REPORTER: What was it about?

Ms. GOODMAN: We didn't make too much sense, you know? "Hi, Mom!" you know. "Ma?" "Yeah?" You know. But it was just good to hear his voice.

ROBERT GOODMAN, Sr., father; I also feel that perhaps this is the first step -- many more must be taken -- to a reassessment of our policy perhaps; ultimately to have withdrawn from an area of hostility American servicemen in this particular theater and perhaps around the world. It's just I'm very, very concerned about other families. I hope they won't have to go through what I have gone through.

MacNEIL: President Reagan, who had been cool to the Jackson trip, said he was delighted, and invited Jackson and Lt. Goodman to the White House tomorrow. The President also sent a letter of thanks to the President of Syria, Hafez Assad, and suggested that the moment is opportune for both countries to work for stability in Lebanon, including the withdrawal of all foreign troops. However, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that despite Goodman's release, the U.S. intends to continue reconnaissance flights over Syrian positions in Lebanon as a defensive measure for the protection of the Marines in Beirut.

President Reagan heard of the Syrian gesture as he was preparing a major review of Middle East policy, including the deployment of the Marines. He met with Special Middle East Envoy Donald Rumsfeld and later commented on Goodman's release.

Pres. RONALD REAGAN: I have been in touch with and talking with Reverend Jackson and with our ambassador there and with Lieutenant Goodman, who is of course pleased that he is coming home. And we, as I say, are very pleased with this and now Ambassador Rumsfeld will be leaving this evening for Lebanon, and we will with renewed spirit continue our efforts and our negotiations to advance the cause of peace in Lebanon.

REPORTER: Did Reverend Jackson to a good job?

Pres. REAGAN: You don't quarrel with success.

MacNEIL: Both the Reverend Jackson and Lieutenant Goodman said there were no strings attached by Syria to the airman's release. The Syrian government said it had responded to the humanitarian appeal by Jackson and the U.S. government to help create an atmosphere which would help the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Lebanon. Syria called on the U.S. to respond by taking measures to end its involvement in Lebanon.

For more on Syria's thinking, we have their ambassdor to Washington, Rafic Jouejati. Mr. Ambassador, you helped arranged the Reverend Jackson's trip. Did you believe from the beginning it would be successful?

RAFIC JOUEJATI: Thank you, Robin. I helped modestly. My role was very modest and I have the intuition that Goodman would be released because I have come across Reverend Jesse Jackson and I realized how his persuasive language of compassion, humanitarian language, and I thought that would have its profound impact on the people and the leaders of Syria.

MacNEIL: Why did he succeed when the appeals from the U.S. government had not succeeded?

Amb. JOUEJATI: I am not aware of appeals, previous appeals. Of course, there were contacts where the sequence of that raid, as I told you before, were discussed, but I'm not aware of appeals. That special appeal of Jesse Jackson with this compassionate tone, with this sense of humanity feel in it has been very impressive.

MacNEIL: I see. The statement put out by your government said it looked now to the United States to respond by moving to end its its involvement in Lebanon. What does your government expect Washington now to do?

Amb. JOUEJATI: Robin, let me make the difference. If we expect the United States to do something, it is not because of the release of Goodman, and I do not agree -- as you said quite rightly, I do not agree that there were any strings attached and Reverend Jesse Jackson is a leader; he is a private citizen and we responded to him out of brotherhood. But we had expected even before the release of Goodman or even before his captivity, we had expected the United States to follow rational paths of helping to end the Lebanese crisis by the withdrawal of the Israeli forces and by encouraging toward the reconciliation among the Lebanese and the formation of national consensus government as to stop and eliminate the ghost of civil war in Lebanon.

MacNEIL: The U.S. said today, and in fact carried out, as I understand, some more reconnaissance flights over Syrian positions. How does your government view that in the light of its gesture in releasing Lieutenant Goodman?

Amb. JOUEJATI: I did not hear this statement. If this statement is repeated, it is regrettable because we do not recognize the legitimacy of these reconnaissance flights. We made the point many times. They are unilateral. They are not justified. There is no notice about these reconnaissance flights. And we were faced, I think, in the last program, by somebody saying that the Lebanese government -- they said that the legitimate government has allowed them. And when we checked, we were told officially by the Lebanese government that they had never allowed these reconnaissance flights.

MacNEIL: I see. Do you believe -- you're an ambassdor in Washington and you are -- you have your fingers on the pulse there. Is it your impression, and are you reporting to your government, that Mr. Reagan seems to be preparing to get the troops out of Lebanon, the Marines out of Lebanon?

Amb. JOUEJATI: I really do not want to involve myself in this matter. It is up to the United States, it is their policy, but I took lot of comfort, I was very delighted, like my colleagues, to hear the President welcome Jesse Jackson and Goodman and to invite him tomorrow and to pronounce such kind words. They are really encouraging. And then he just said, as I sawnow, that Ambassador Rumsfeld go there with renewed spirit. Those words have their very nice impact -- "renewed spirit."

MacNEIL: Well, what practical steps do you think the atmosphere created by the release of Lt. Goodman now makes possible?

Amb. JOUEJATI: What this humanitarian gesture did is to have improved the prospects of more rational talk, less threatening tones, talking among civilized and human people to put their differences, their past misunderstandings alone and then to engage in serious talk about how to remedy the situation. The atmospheries have improved a great deal after the removal of this immediate obstacle.

MacNEIL: And remedying the situation, in Syria's view, if for the United States to persuade Israel to withdraw, to remove its own troops and thereby stop the overflight of Syrian positions.

Amb. JOUEJATI: Yes.

MacNEIL: Am I right about that?

Amb. JOUEJATI: You are right, but then we are offering something elso to encourage also the reconciliation and that the Syrian presence would not be needed in Lebanon; there would be no civil war and no infringement on the sovereignty of the Lebanon. This we guarantee this would be done.

MacNEIL: Mr. Ambassador, thank you.

Amb. JOUEJATI: Thank you.

MacNEIL: Judy?

WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the violence continued. Israeli jets bombed Palestinian guerrilla bases in a Lebanese mountain town 16 miles east of Beirut. In Beirut an unidentified gunman shot and critically wounded the driver for the French consul general. It was the latest in a series of attacks against French installations and personnel. Like the attacks on the U.S. Marines, there are believed to be the work of pro-Iranian Shiite Moslems who are trying to drive Western forces out of Lebanon.

Amidst the growing skepticism in Washington over the President's Lebanese policy, he got a significant show of support today from the Republican leader of the Senate. Howard Baker talked to reporters after a meeting with Mr. Reagan at the White House.

HOWARD BAKER, (R) Tennessee, Senate Majority Leader: I really didn't want the Marines there to begin with, but that once the President made that decision, which is his decision, I support it, and will continue to unless there is an overwhelming reason to do otherwise. I do not feel that once they're there they should be withdrawn unilaterally and without ample justification or until their mission is complete.

WOODRUFF: But among Democrats, what was initially impressive -- fairly broad support for presence of the the Marines in Lebanon -- is clearly starting to crumble. House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill gathered a group of Democrats together today to reassess their endorsement of administration policy, and afterwards it was plain that that reassessment isn't working in the President's favor. Among the first to emerge from the meeting on Capitol Hill, California Congressman Gus Hawkins.

Rep. GUS HAWKINS, (D) California: Those of us who have tried to support the President have been disappointed in what has been accomplished, and we are now somewhat fed up with optimistic evaluations of what is being accomplished. I think they should be pulled out. They're no longer serving the mission. I think a gesture has been made and I think it is up to our side to make a gesture on our part. On the Democratic side at least and among many Republicans there will be a meeting to evaluate the situation in the light of recent events, and I think that there will be a consensus that will certainly not go along with the 18-month approach.

WOODRUFF: Questions about the administration's Middle East policy were also raised today by Democratic Presidential contender Walter Mondale. In a speech before the National Press Club here in Washington, Mondale suggested the world is less safe than when President Reagan took office three years ago. He called the administration's foreign policy incoherent and then outlined his own ideas for bringing peace to the Middle East.

WALTER MONDALE, Demogratic presidential candidate; The Gemayel government has to be pressed and helped by our government to expand to include other pro-Lebanese elements now excluded from the central government of Lebanon. And I don't think our government has been pressing with the insistency and the urgency that that situation requires. Without an underlying political progress in Lebanon, I don't see how there is much hope over the long run. That's the first point. The second point -- and this is what has troubled me from the beginning -- is the safety of American forces and American troops. From the very beginning, when they were initially put there, they were there for peacekeeping forces. It was agreed by the parties that they would not be subject to attack by any forces, but as we now know, that is all changed and for that reason and for the growing evidence that there does not seem to be an answer in terms of protection, in my opinion the time has come, no later than 45 days from today, to withdraw all American troops, ground forces, from Lebanon. The third point is that the Syrian involvement in Lebanon in my opinion has been very irresponsible. This is not their country. The Gemayel government has asked them to leave; they haven't left. They are occupying a broad portion of that nation, and in my opinion we should have a full-court press on the Syrians in the United Nations, in other public fora, with our -- through diplomatic relations in the Middle East to try to cause the Syrians to withdraw from Lebanon.

WOODRUFF: Mondale said the Reverend Jesse Jackson deserves unanimous public approval for obtaining the release of Lieutenant Goodman. Another Democratic candidate for president, John Glenn, also congratulated Jackson, but Glenn added that there are still another 1,800 Americans in Beirut exposed to great danger with no clear purpose. In Glenn's words, "Only President Reagan can bring them home. The President and our nation should have no higher priority."

Robin?

MacNEIL: For a further look at why Damascus decided to free Lieutenant Goodman, we turn to Talcott Seelye, a career foreign service office who served as the U.S. ambassador to Syria from '78 to '81. Ambassador Seelye also served as the special presidential envoy to Lebanon in '76. At present he's a Washington-based consultant on international affairs. Mr. Ambassador, why do you think Syria agreed to release him? What did it expect to gain by it?

TALCOTT SEELYE: Well, Robin, I think there are probably several signals that the Syrians are addressing to us. First, I think what the Syrian government is saying to us is that political dialogue with Syria can work, but military confrontation cannot work. Secondly, I think that the Syrian government may be reminding us of its contention that Syria has a pivotal role to play in the area, the United States should recognize this role, and that this is not necessarily bad. And, finally, I think that this humanitarian gesture, which follows a similar gesture of about six months ago when the Syrains facilitated the release of David Dodge from the hands of the Iranians, the former acting president of the American University of Beirut, probably is intended to an extent to offset the very negative impression that Syrians have created in the world community as a result of the very brutal repression of Syrian dissidents in Hama about a year and a half ago.

MacNEIL: If a constructive political dialogue with Syria would be better than a military confrontation, what would come out of that? What would that produce, a political dialogue with Syria?

Amb. SEELYE: I think in the first instance what it would produce would be a coincidence of views between the United states government and the Syrian Government as to the nature of the Lebanese internal solution. That is, what kind of broader-based government will be acceptable not only to the Lebanese, but to Syria and the United States as well? I think that would be the next prime objective.

MacNEIL: And you think that if Mr. Reagan and Mr. Assad themselves sat down or U.S. and Syrian diplomacy got to work on that that it could hasten the reconciliation process in Lebanon?.

Amb. SEELYE: Well, I think that of course the reconciliation process depends basically and fundamentally on cooperation between the Lebanese factions. But I think that we and Syria both can play a role, and I would note that we do have a mutual interest in returning Lebanon to a situation of stability, and indeed in maintaining equilibrium in Lebanon and a more broadly based government. We were successful last September in negotiating with the Syrians a ceasefire which led to the convening of the talks in Geneva toward creating a national Lebanese consensus, and I think that if we revert to that phase and deepen the dialogue that there is a good chance that we can work out an understanding over the Lebanon's political future.

MacNEIL: Do you think this is -- Mr. Reagan today was considering his options with the Marines and you heard what the Democrats have just said. Do you think this is the time for Mr. Reagan to pull the Marines out? Would that contribute to this process?

Amb. SEELYE: Well, it's difficult to pull them out precipitously, obviously, but clearly the Marine presence is really not serving any useful purpose except the fact that it does provide a kind of reassurance to the Lebanese government of the longstanding U.S. commitment to Lebanon, to Lebanon's integrity -- territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence. But I think there are other ways that we can emphasize that commitment, and I think that over a period of six to nine months there are ways that we can devise a practical rationale for withdrawing the Marines, hopefully substituting a U.N. presence and demonstrating to the Lebanese government that the way to put Lebanon together again is not through a military presence but through concessions made by President Amin Gemayel to other factions in Lebanon who deserve broader representation.

MacNEIL: So do you regard the release of Lieutenant Goodman as a hopeful sign which can lead to more constructive progress in Lebanon?

Amb. SEELYE: Yes, I would agree with Ambassador Jouejati that it improves the atmospherics in out relationship. I think it demonstrates in this instance that Syria has good will toward the United States, that it wants to make -- wanted to make a gesture toward as and did so, and I think it's a good auger, good omen for the future, frankly.

MacNEIL: Thank you. Judy?

WOODRUFF: One man who opposed Reverend Jackson's mission to Syria when it was first proposed was former Special Middle East Negotiator Sol Linowitz. Ambassador Linowitz served during the Carter administration and was instrumental in the talks leading to the Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt. Mr. Ambassador, to you still think the Jackson trip was a bad idea?

SOL LINOWITZ: As an idea I still have concern about it. I didn't oppose it; I just expressed my concern that when you take a private citizen and involve him in very delicate, complex negotiations, there is a danger it'll be counterproductive. I still am concerned. I am delighted, gratified that it worked out so well in this case, but it's hazard and I hope will not set a precedent.

WOODRUFF: Why do you think the Syrians decided to let Lieutenant Goodman go?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Obviously for reasons of their own. I don't know what it was that would have motivated President Assad. Quite clearly, he must have felt it would serve Syria's interest to let Lieutenant Goodman go now at the behest of Jesse Jackson, and for us to speculate I think is fruitless because we don't know what the considerations were that he was balancing.

WOODRUFF: Well, Ambassador Seelye has just said that this, you know, that Syria was acting out of good will, that this is going to have the effect of improving atmospherics between the United States and Syria.

Amb. LINOWITZ: I hope he's right. Certainly there must have been an element of some good will in it, but I think we'd be naive to assume that he made this gesture purely out of good will. There had to be some consideration in his own mind of what Syria stood to gain. I hope that this will lead to some kind of rapprochement that would be advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East, but I would caution at this moment that we don't know enough to make that judgment.

WOODRUFF: Well, now, why, what sort of gain would Syria be thinking of?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Well, for example, if the public opinion in this country should move now to be less indignant with Syria for some of the things that we have been concerned about in the past, if there should be some indication here in this country that we perhaps ought to find a way to accede to Syria's desire to remain in Lebanon -- if something of this kind should materialize, then it would be, I think, helpful in the Syrian view.

WOODRUFF: Well, I mean, you said you didn't want to try to guess at what President Assad's motives were, but I mean, realistically you're saying that there was an ulterior motive there, that it was more than a humanitarian gesture on his part.

Amb. LINOWITZ: Well, I think there was indeed much more than just the humanitarian gesture. I think, as the president of his country, he had an obligation to weigh all the pluses and minuses and he obviously did; that's why he asked Jesse Jackson to extend his stay there while they weighed the pros and the cons, and he made his decision, I think, because he deemed it to be in the best interest of Syria.

WOODRUFF: Does Goodman's release change anything in the Middle East?

Amb. LINOWITZ: I wish I could say it did, but I'm afraid it doesn't. I'm afraid what it means is that we have, thank heavens, been able to rescue one American, but the problems are still there; the difficulties are still there; the antagonisms are still there; the history is still there. And it would be premature to judge too much by this isolated incident, gratifying as it is.

WOODRUFF: What do you think? Do you think the situation -- relations between the United States and Syria realistically stand a chance of improving as a result of this?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Well, you know, this could be an opening. There are so many things in the Middle East depend on personalities.If as a result of this gesture on the part of Syria, the letter from the President to President Assad, the expression of warmth as between Jesse Jackson and President Assad and the other Syrians while he was there, there is now a sense of perhaps we ought to reexamine the situation and see if we cannot, for example, persuade the Syrians that they ought peacefully to withdraw their forces from Lebanon at the same time the Israeli and the PLO are removed, then this would be a hopeful sign, but I think, as I say, it's early, and we want very much to hope that this is going to mean a change of tone and change of atmosphere, but we don't know that.

WOODRUFF: All right, thank you. Robin?

MacNEIL: Ambassador Jouejati, you heard Ambassador Seelye suggest that Mr. Assad, your president, was sending a message to President Reagan and one of them was that constructive political dialogue is more fruitful than military confrontation. Would you agree with that?

Amb. JOUEJATI: The very fact, Robin, of this meeting between Assad and Jackson, a meeting based on communication -- I dare say, communion and, I dare say, spiritual communion -- sets an example of how countries, even if they are superpowers, should approach other countries who have an immediate concern in a crisis, and listen to there concerns, discuss them, instead of using gunboat diplomacy.

MacNEIL: Ambassador Seelye, what would you ask the Syrian ambassador, who is beside you there, he thinks this can constructively lead to? I know you said a moment ago that perhaps a dialogue might clarify what kind of new government in Lebanon would be acceptable to Syria and the United States. I'd like to hear you ask him what you think this could produce.

Amb. SEELYE: Let me add one thing which I did not mention. The Syrians, as you probably know, and those factions in Lebanon that are closely associated with the Syrians are making, as a precondition to working with the Amin Gemayel government, putting the Israeli-Lebanese withdrawal agreement of last May into deep freeze. We have not agreed to that; the Israelis have not agreed to it. But the Lebanese government, conceivably if it wanted to, could do that on its own; that is, the Amin Gemayel government. And that would then enable the parties to sit down again and perhaps move towards some kind of agreement. Now, I can understand why we are hesitant to put it into deep freeze, but I think that would certainly help in getting more Syrian cooperation in terms of a broader-based Lebanese government.

MacNEIL: Is that right, Mr. -- Ambassador Jouejati?

Amb. JOUEJATI: It is right by the very logic of what you call the opposition. Today the opposition would not join a national government if it is on the basis of that agreement, which is very -- which very gravely infringes upon the sovereignty of the Lebanon. They do not want to be associated with this infringement on the sovereignty of their country.

MacNEIL: Ambassador Linowitz, what do you think of these propositions Mr. Seelye has put forward that could be constructively negotiated if the atmospherics now produce a dialogue?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Well, if you're talking about putting, as he puts it, the Lebanese-Israeli agreement into a deep freeze, then that seems to be something that is not going to happen. The two sovereign countries, Lebanon and Israel, have come to an agreement at the behest of the United States and with our cooperation. There may be aspects of that agreement which are unacceptable or undesirable or that Syria would like to have modified, and those can be discussed, of course. But to say that the whole agreement should be put on hold or in deep freeze is, I think, unrealistic and is simply not going to happen.

MacNEIL: Ambassador Seelye?

Amb. SEELYE: I agree it's not going to happen. What I'm saying is that this is the condition the Syrians place on facilitating a reordering of the structure of the Lebanese government. So I guess what I'm saying is this isn't going to happen.

MacNEIL: Well, Mr. Ambassador Jouejati, what is going to happen? If the United States won't pull its troops out, it won't stop its overflights, and it's not going to force Israel to abandon that agreement with Lebanon, can anything move? What is Syria going to do?

Amb. JOUEJATI: You have the crisis -- you have the crisis of which you are yourself complaining, your Congress, your public opinion here. You must suffer the results of this crisis.

MacNEIL: Ambassador Linowitz?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Well, it just seems to me that if Syria genuinely wants to further the prospects for peace in Lebanon and the area generally, it will undertake to explore a basis on which its troops will be removed from Lebanon. It will make clear that it seeks to further, by joining in other steps, the peace process which is in motion, and then, it seems to me, there is a good deal of basis for going further and trying to arrive at common ground. But absent that spirit, I don't see that it's going to happen.

MacNEIL: Do you think spirit exists, Mr. Jouejati?

Amb. JOUEJATI: Mr. Linowitz strangely enough doesn't speak at all of Israeli troops who are at a distance of 23 kilometers from Damascus. This for him is in the skies, but he can give lessons to the Syrians to be flexible and to do this and that --

Amb. LINOWITZ: On, no --

Amb. JOUEJATI: Why doesn't his excellency with the advise the government to press Israel to start evacuation of a land which they invaded, of -- and observing the Security Council resultions of which your government has participated in encouraging other people to vote for.

MacNEIL: Mr. Linowitz?

Amb. LINOWITZ: Yes, Mr. Ambassador, with all respect, I made clear, I thought, at the outset that we're talking about removing the Syrian forces and the Israeli and the PLO forces. All foreign forces must be removed from Lebanon. That is a program to which we are committed, and it takes, I think, the commitment of Syria towards that objective as well as the commitment of Israel and the PLO. We know that Israel, pursuant to its agreement with Lebanon, is committed to withdraw its forces, and there is an understanding it will do so when Syria is ready to move.

MacNEIL; Gentlemen all, I thank very much for joining us this evening. We have to end it there. Thank you.

Judy? Democratic Dark Horses

WOODRUFF: Jesse Jackson's success in winning the release of Navy Lieutenant Goodman may well give him at least a temporary boost in his bid to win the Democratic nomination for President, a boost that would be coveted by his rivals, especially by the long-shot candidates in the race, those contenders who are at the very bottom of the polls but who are hoping somehow to cross the finish line. They are South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings, Colorado Senator Gary Hart, California Senator Alan Cranston and former Florida Governor Reubin Askew. Although they have not done what Jesse Jackson has done for himself this last week in name recognition, they are each hoping that at some point they will break away from the pack and become more of a household name. But for these dark horses it is an uphill struggle.

Sen. ERNEST HOLLINGS, (D) South Darolina, Democratic presidential candidate [June 16, 1983]: I've been trying to break into this race. They say perhaps the best way is to do it the way old Mo Udall did -- get out of it. Fritz Mondale got out in 1976 and they made him Vice President. Teddy now is a master of ceremonies! He got out. I think we're going to approach it with the Jimmy Carter approach, that's the best one. I've talked it over and this afternoon we took out an advertisement in next month's Playboy, "I am lusting for the nomination."

WOODRUFF: Joking aside, it's not easy being a long-shot candidate for president. It means being on the road day after day in town after town, trying to overcome a dark horse's biggest problems -- money, name recognition and just being taken seriously. This cold morning marked Senator Gary Hart's 32nd trip to New Hampshire with shill another two months before the state's primary.

Sen. GARY HART, (D) Colorado, Democratic presidential candidate: Good morning, I'm Gary Hart. I'm running for president. I'd like to have your --

Sen. HART: I don't think anyone who has been through a national campaign would dispute that it's very, very hard work. There are no shortcuts. The way it's done in 98% of the cases, whether a national campaign or a state campaign, is just hard work.

WOODRUFF [voice-over clips of Cranston staff]: Right now the dark horses are working hard, especially in New Hampshire and Iowa, the states with early contests that will get a lot of attention. Former governor Reubin. Askew shares Hart's sentiments on what it takes.

REUBIN ASKEW, Democratic presidential candidate: The strategy is just to work and work hard. All you have to do in Lowa is to try to cover 2,500 precinct caucuses the same night at the same time.

WOODRUFF [voice-over tape of Hart birthday parties]: All this effort to get people to pay attention is costly, and the candidates are struggling to raise the money they need to help get their names and faces known. Some are trying less traditional ways of doing it. Take Gary Hart. For his birthday he staged for himself some 300 parties across the country. The hosts were supporters who asked partygoers to contribute to the Hart campaign. The candidate spent a couple of hours on the phone that night from his headquarters in Washigton.

Senator Alan Cranston tried one slightly more direct approach. [film of fundraiser]

One reason the cost has gone up so much is advertising, but TV commercials are vital for a candidate who is showing up with a rating of less than 5% in the public opinion polls.

Sen. ALAN CRANSTON, [Cranston TV ad]: Why vote for a 69-year-old man who they say isn't charismatic, who is bald. . .

WOODRUFF [voice-over]: So you get a few people to take you seriously, you raise the money to buy the ads, and the ads help you win a little more name recognition. But there's still the matter of getting the news media to pay attention, one of the most frustrating problems a long-shot must face.

Sen. HOLLINGS: You could get any one of the particular news celebrities -- Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbul or the rest -- and they'd immediately announce tomorrow and they'd have more name recognition, then the news media would right say they're leading the presidential race.

Sen. HART: A lot of outsiders wonder why a candidate can't do some bold, dramatic thing and sort of leap to the front of a race, and it almost never happens. If it does, it's very circumstantial.

WOODRUFF: We all know politics is never predictable, and it will be interesting to watch if Jesse Jackson moves closer to the front of the race as a result of the Goodman release and whether or not something bold and dramatic will happen for the other long-shot candidates.

We'll be back in a moment.

[Video postcard -- Grand Tetons, Wyoming]

WOODRUFF: In Tunisia, which for years has been one of the most stable countries in Africa, a state of emergency was declared today after six days of food riots. The riots started after the government announced the price of bread would go up by 110%, effective New Year's Day. According to unofficial reports, at least 19 people have been killed and many more have been injured in rioting in the southern provinces.

In Nigeria, the former president Shehu Shagari was flown to the capital at Lagos today in handcuffs and under military guard for questioning by the military group that overthrew his government on Saturday. Shagari evidently was arrested in Kaduna, a provincial center. Reporters who were at Lagos airport said he was driven away to an army barracks. Meanwhile, the new head of government, Major General Mohammed Buhari, lifted a dawn-to-dusk curfew and created a new supreme military council, which will in turn name a cabinet to govern the country. Telephone service to the outside world was restored, and Nigeria made a gesture evidently intended to show that the new regime will pay its debts. It repaid $50 million on a loan from a British bank.

The government of Nicaragua charged today that the United States was directly involved in a rebel attempt to attack fuel installations in the seaport town of Puerto Sandino. A statment by the Nicaraguan foreign ministry said it assumed an American warship had launched two assault boats used in the raid yesterday. The attack boats opened fire on a Nicaraguan fishing boat and it's captain was killed. Later, Nicaraguan planes spotted American naval vessels nine miles from the port.

Robin?

MacNEIL: The Commerce Department today released what it called somewhat mixed figures for U.S. factory orders in November. They increased 2.2%, helped by a surge in defense business. But orders for non-military capital goods, the equipment to be used for future production, fell in November.That disappointed economists who have been looking for signs that the economic recovery will be strengthened by business expansion plans. By contrast, the confidence of American consumers has reached the highest point in five years. The Conference Board, which compiles a monthly index from interviews with 5,000 households, said the new confidence was due to rising income, more jobs and lower inflation.

On the human side of the economy, the Children's Defense Fund today criticized the Reagan administration for cutting programs to help poor children. The Fund issued a report analyzing poverty data on children from 1970 to 1982. It was released at a press conference by the Fund's president, Marion Wright Edelman.

MARION W. EDELMAN, Children's Defense Fund: We want programs for poor children to be adequately funded in 1984. We want the $10 billion that were cut from bare-bones survival programs for children restored. We are pleased that the Congress put back a billion of that money last year, but that was not enough. Programs serving poor children and families did not cause and will not cure growing federal deficits. Economic recovery does not depend on hurting children and neglecting their needs. Even with a sharp recovery, no more than one third of the newly poor 3.1 million children will be rescued from poverty in the absence of targeted governmental and private sector efforts.

WOODRUFF: A report submitted to President Reagan today calls for federal aid to help public schools prevent violence in the classrooms. The report by the Cabinet Council on Human Resources found that three million high school students are the victims of classroom violence every month. In December the President declared that violence in the schools must be stopped. However, the White House has said he would not decide immediately what to do about the report presented by several of his Cabinet secretaries.

We turn now from the troubles of the present to a report about what some innovators are doing to come up with tomorrow's cures. Charlayne Hunter-Gault has the story.Charlayne? High Tech Healing

CHARLANE HUNTER-GAULT: If there is one field where the future seems to hold nothing but promise, it's medical science. Already we've seen such medical miracles as the artificial heart, produced by the marriage of high technology and healing arts. Now scientists say there is much more to come. Our report tonight looks at three specific research projects that scientists hope may someday revolutionize the treatment of deafness, heart disease and brain disorders.

[voice-over] Fifteen years ago David Columpus lost his hearing, joining the ranks of the 250,000 Americans who are totally deaf. To adapt to his silent world, he learned sign language, how to lip read, and took a job as a vocational counselor for the deaf. But today Columpus can hear, thanks to an experimental artificial device implanted in his inner ear. The artificial ear was developed over the last eight years at the University of Utah, the same institution that invented Barney Clark's artificial heart.Columpus was one of four deaf people chosen by researchers to test the device.

With his artificial ear, Columpus can now understand about 70% of the words spoken to him without lip reading, as he demonstrated in an experiment with his co-workers.

1st CO-WORKER: David, what is my name?

DAVID COLUMPUS: Say that again.

CO-WORKER: David, what is my name?

Mr. COLUMPUS: It's Carl.

2nd CO-WORKER: David, who is speaking?

Mr. COLUMPUS: It must be Cindy.

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

Mr. COLUMPUS: 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 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.Columpus explains.

Mr. COLUMPUS: 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. COLUMPUS: 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.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: One of the scientists who developed the artificial ear was Dr. Donald Eddington, who is now with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Dr. DONALD EDDINGTON, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary: There are a whole set of technologies that needed to be in place to go as far as we have gone -- the microcircuit technology being able to do the signal processing in a small box so a person doesn't have to, say, climb into a big truck with a processor in the back and connect himself up. The technology of understanding how to stimulate tissue without doing damage to it, and the technology or at least the knowledge in how the ear takes sound and turns it into these electrical patterns that the brain recognizes.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: Eddington predicts it will be several more years before the artificial ear will be generally available. He estimates 100,000 deaf adults and children may someday benefit from the artificial ear.

Another device that may benefit thousands of people is being developed by a New York City doctor. His surgical laser may one day make obsolete one of the most widespread forms of heart surgery.

Dr. DANIEL CHOY, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City: I think it's a common goal of all of us that we can offer the coronary artery disease patient an alternative to coronary bypass surgery. That is, we are trying to offer the least invasive method of clearing out clogged arteries. You might call this a very sophisticated form of rotorooter. It's a laser rotorooter.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: Choy's laser rotorooter idea was born here, at Lenox Hill Hospital, one day in 1978 when he was examining and elderly woman with a dangerous blood clot in her leg.

Dr. CHOY: And later on, out in the hall, I said, "Now, what we could do for this lady is to find a worm that likes to eat blood clots. Introduce the worm dystally, dystal to the blockage, and let the worm climb up this vein until it got to the clot and then it would eat its way through the clot." You see?

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: Choy then hit on the notion that the worm could be a laser beam inside the hair-thin tubing of quartz fiber, a tubing so thin it could be placed in a person's vein. Once inserted, the laser could be inched along until it reached the clot, then turned on, vaporizing the clot. After extensive testing on animals, Choy applied last February for a Food and Drug Administration permit to use the device experimentally on humans. The FDA has not yet given its permission, but last September the French government invited Choy to Toulouse.

Dr. CHOY: The first time this technique has been used in humans was during coronary bypass surgery in the operating room in France, and we performed this procedure on five patients, and we selected patients who were about to be bypassed because we wanted no harm, number one, and we were only after the very limited objective of demostrating that it was feasible to do this in the human under operative conditions and that we could succeed in opening up a blocked artery.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: In four of the five patients Dr. Choy's laser successfully destroyed the blockages. In the future he hopes to use a much simpler procedure, inserting the laser through the skin and directly into the blocked artery under local anesthesia. But until he gets an FDA permit, Dr. Choy's work with human patients will continue to take place outside of this country.

Like heart disease, millions of Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, stroke and Parkinson's -- all diseases which destroy vital brain tissue, bringing on senility, muscular disorders, even death. At the University of California at Irvine, researchers are working on a novel process which one day may slow or even reverse the destructive progress of brain diseases. Dr. Carl Cotman and his research team have developed a new method for successfully performing brain tissue transplants. That means transferring healthy tissue from the brain of a fetus into a damaged adult brain with the hope that the healthy cells will grow and replace the damaged ones and cure the disease. To date, his transplant work has only taken place on animals, but researchers hope that someday this revolutionary procedure will benefit humans.

The key to Dr. Cotman's success has been the use of a chemical protein naturally produced by the brain. This chemical, called neurotropic factors, helps nourish and repair brain cells, particularly after an injury. In preliminary studies, Dr. Cotman found that when he applied the chemical to transplanted brain tissue, it greatly improved the chances that the transplant would succeed. In Sweden, researchers have done some brain tissue transplants on humans with Parkinson's disease, but so far without much success. Cotman thinks he knows why.

Dr. CARL COTMAN, University of California at Irvine: Well, the actual survival of most of these transplant cells is not very large; mostly only a small percentage of the transplanted cells survive. We believe that they need sort of these neurotropic or neuron survival factors as an adjunct to the transplant. So we think that the transplants will actually be aided by the use of these growth factors in the future.

HUNTER-GAULT [voice-over]: To demonstrate the beneficial effect of the chemicals, Dr. Cotman took color photographs of one of his recent transplant experiments. This photograph shows an undamaged area of a rat's brain. The brain cells, in white, are plainly visible. In the next photograph the brain cells have been destroyed by acid, similar to what would happen after a stroke. The final photograph shows successfully transplanted brain tissue. The cells appear healthy, their growth nurtured by the presence of neurotropic factors. Besides aiding in brain tissue transplants, Cotman foresees the day when these self-repair chemicals might be given orally, much like antibiotics, to help people who have suffered some type of brain damage. But as with the artificial ear and Dr. Choy's laser, much work still remains to be done.

HUNTER-GAULT: Just to reiterate, none of what you've just seen is available from your local doctor yet. They're all very much in the experimental stage. It will likely be years before they move from the research lab to the doctor's office.

Robin?

MacNEIL: Before we go, a late comment from a significant source on what to do in the Middle East. Speaker Thomas O'Neill and 14 other House Democrats were briefed on the area today by Kenneth Dam, an assistant secretary of state. Suggesting that House support for the presence of Marines in Lebanon is shrinking, the Speaker called for more action on the diplomatic front.

Rep. THOMAS P. O'NEILL, (D) Massachusetts, Speaker of the House: I am convinced after listening to the administration representatives today that diplomatic initiatives need to be dramatically accelerated. The release of Lt. Robert Goodman presents an opportunity for the administration to redouble their diplomatic efforts. These initiatives must meet with some success quickly because maintaining the status quo position of our Marines in Lebanon, to this committee, is absolutely unacceptable. After consulting with my colleagues, I believe patience in the Congress with the administration policies is wearing very thin. Unless measurable progress is achieved in the very near future, I will join with many others in the Congress in reconsidering congressional authorization for Marine presence in Lebanon. In other words, what we want to do is we want to give the President an opportunity, an opportunity in view of the fact that what has happened in the last 48 hours over in Lebanon, an opportunity for him to move a first-class team in there and see if he can negotiate.And if he stays the status quo, then I'm sure that there's going to be action other than would be pleasing to the President of the United States concerning our forces in Lebanon.

MacNEIL: And to recap the main story of the day, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Lieutenant Robert Goodman arrived in West Germany late today. They're due back in Washington tomorrow morning. Good night, Judy.

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