The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

Intro ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening. Leading the news this Friday, nine more Democratic senators joined the opposition to Robert Bork. President Reagan said South African sanctions don't work, and he'll fight additional measures. Los Angeles police patrolled for looters, and nervous citizens camped outside, fearing more earthquakes. The unemployment rate fell to the lowest in eight years. We'll have details in our news summary in a moment. Judy Woodruff is in Washington tonight. Judy? JUDY WOODRUFF: After the news summary, we get a newsmaker's view of the Bork nomination from White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker. Then, political analysis from Ann Lewis and David Gergen. Next, the drive in Arizona to recall that state's controversial governor, and the report on a scientific discovery that may change the way we live. We close with essayist Molly Ivins special look from Texas at the pro football strike.News Summary WOODRUFF: President Reagan refused to give up the fight today for Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, despite a growing list of senators who say they will vote no on his confirmation. Texas Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who had been considered undecided, announced his opposition, as did eight other liberal Democrats who had been expected to do so. In the yes column, Democratic Senator David Boren of Oklahoma, formerly on the undecided list, said that he would support Bork, as did Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. The announcements took place on the Senate floor and in the Senate Gallery.

Sen. JOHN McCAIN, (R) Arizona: I think that the opposition that we have seen will sufficiently convince anyone that the left in politics in America is alive and well. I regret the hysteria, I still believe that there's an opportunity for him to be nominated by the United States Senate. Sen. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, (D) West Virginia: The nomination is in trouble for a straightforward reason. Because perhaps a majority of the Senate and the majority of Americans apparently do not share the view of the Constitution and the Supreme Court embraced by Judge Bork, Attorney General Meese, and President Reagan. Sen. LLOYD BENTSEN, (D) Texas: I don't think government has any business intruding into the American home. Civil rights is another area where Judge Bork and I have profound differences that make it impossible for me to vote for him as a nominee. WOODRUFF: President Reagan again blamed much of the opposition to Bork to so called special interests that he says have distorted Bork's record. At a White House ceremony, the President defended Bork's position on civil rights, and said it was one more area the anti Bork forces were making misstatements about.

Pres. RONALD REAGAN: Now, the special interests are determined to pack the Supreme Court and distort the reputation of anyone who disagrees. Some say they are compromising and demeaning the judicial selection process. I hope we haven't come to a time when good men and women are afraid to accept nominations to the bench for fear of the kind of treatment we've seen in the last few weeks. This is no longer a battle over whether the most qualified man nominated in the century is confirmed to the Supreme Court. At stake here is the integrity and independence of the American system of justice. WOODRUFF: The President's top aide, White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker today accused Bork's opponents of actually going after the President himself. In an interview with the NewsHour, Baker said the anti Bork forces are making a blatantly political attempt to weaken Mr. Reagan. We will have that interview right after the news summary. Robin? MacNEIL: President Reagan told Congress today that U. S. sanctions against South Africa have not worked, and said he will oppose moves in Congress to strengthen them. Reporting on one year of the sanctions imposed over his veto, the President said the impact had been more negative than positive. He said they had not moved South Africa significantly away from apartheid, but had hurt blacks economically. In South Africa's Natal province, the death toll from heavy flooding reached 174 today, with more than 80 people missing. The government called it the nation's largest national disaster. Fifty thousand people were left homeless, and health officials fear outbreaks of cholera, dysentery and malaria. In the port city of Durban, five days of rains washed away all of the aqueducts supplying water to a million residents. WOODRUFF: The Senate today approved a $302 billion Pentagon budget that is guaranteed to cause a showdown with the White House. The bill passed 56 to 42. President Reagan immediately issued a statement saying he will veto the measure because of two amendments -- one stops money for Star Wars missiles test which violate a narrow interpretation of the 1972 ABM Treaty. The other bars spending for weapons which exceed the limits of the unratified SALT II Treaty. The President said the bill in its present form undercuts national security and his ability to negotiate arms reduction. MacNEIL: Southern California was trying to clean up today, the day after its worst earthquake in 16 years. The death toll is now at least six, and police were on stepped up patrol to prevent looting. Many families in the Los Angeles area spent the night in shelters or camped out in streets and parks, afraid to return home. WOODRUFF: The U. S. unemployment rate fell below 6% last month for the first time in almost eight years. The Labor Department credited a sharp increase in factory jobs for the drop to 5. 9% in September. The Associated Press said that economists believe that Americans workers are now benefiting from the two year effort to lower the value of the dollar against other currencies. Also today, North Carolina Republican Senator Jesse Helms threatened to shut down the government if the Senate tries to pass a ban on smoking aboard most U. S. airliners. Last night, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the measure, which would prohibit cigarette smoking on all flights of two hours or less. Smokers would be subject to a $1,000 fine for lighting up. The ban is attached to an omnibus government money bill. Senator Helms said today that he would filibuster the whole bill if the anti smoking provision is attached. MacNEIL: French minesweepers found two mines at the entrance to the Persian Gulf as Iran and Iraq continue their war at sea. The mines were found off the United Arab Emirates in an area used as an anchorage by tankers about to enter the Gulf. An Indian tanker was attacked and briefly set on fire today by an Iranian gunboat south of Dubai. The ll,700 ton tanker, Spic Emerald, was carrying volatile petrol chemicals. But an Iranian Exocet missile hit four empty tanks. The ship's captain described the attack.

CAPTAIN, Spic Emerald: We were fired on early in the morning. We took a couple of shells, two holes in the ship, but we are safe. (unintelligible) We were attacked from zero to zero five hours, to zero to zero four hours. It was a small ship, a very small ship, without showing any lights. It started firing at us without any warning. We were putting out a distress call in general one six, but there was no acknowledgement, they kept firing at us. MacNEIL: Also today, Iraqi jets continued their attacks on Iranian ships, causing an engine room fire in a shuttle tanker flying the Cypriot flag. WOODRUFF: Soviet officials today granted an exit visa to a leading Jewish dissident. Ida Nudel, who is 56 years old, spent four years in exile in Siberia, where her activities on behalf of so called Jewish refuseniks. She has been trying to emigrate to Israel since 1971. Earlier this year, Ms. Nudel's efforts were the subject of a film based on her life, starring Swedish actress Liv Ullman. And in China, police shot and killed as many as six protesters who were demonstrating for Tibet independence. The Himalayan region of China was annexed in 1950. Reports say about 2,000 demonstrators threw stones at police, seriously injuring 19 policemen. They also set fire to a police station in Tibet's capital city of Lhasa. It was the second reported demonstration this week. MacNEIL: That's our news summary. Ahead on the NewsHour, White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, the Bork battle intensifies, Arizona's recall petition, the race for superconductors, and Molly Ivins on Texas without football. Howard Baker Interview WOODRUFF: We turn first tonight to the battle over the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork. As wereported earlier, nine more Democratic senators announced their opposition to Judge Bork, and one Democrat and one Republican spoke out in his favor. Meanwhile, President Reagan stepped up his campaign on behalf of the controversial nominee, blaming so called special interests for Bork's confirmation problems. We get the White House view first from Chief of Staff Howard Baker, who was formerly Senate Majority Leader. I talked with Baker earlier this afternoon at the White House. Senator Baker, thank you for being with us. The tide on Judge Bork seems to be so overwhelmingly against the White House. Why not just throw in the towel? HOWARD BAKER, White House Chief of Staff: I don't think it is, Judy. I think that we've known all along it was going to be a tough fight, but the fight is still distinctly winnable. The first thing we have to do is protect our base, and that means to protect the Republican support in the Senate, and we've done that pretty well. So far we've lost two Republicans, we've picked up a couple of Democrats, and we're sort of where we were to begin with. But I don't think there's a tide running at all. While it is true that Senator Specter announced yesterday against Judge Bork, Senator Boren, a Democrat, announced for him today. So there has not been an avalanche of defection, and I don't think there will be. WOODRUFF: But you've had on the other hand -- you've had Senator Bentsen, an influential conservative Democrat, Senator Johnston, and as you said yourself, Senator Specter -- these are key members of the Senate. Mr. BAKER: They are, and they're important people, and they also count. There are only 100 voters, so proportionately that's important. But there's still 15, 20, maybe more than 20 voters, Senators, who haven't expressed themselves, and most of them haven't made up their minds. Well, if you start with 40 plus votes, and I believe we do, for Judge Bork, the numbers are there to confirm him. WOODRUFF: But even some of your colleagues here in the White House staff here are saying privately that it doesn't look very good. At what point do you decide, ''Well, this is just not going to work, and we've got to go in another direction. '' Mr. BAKER: I don't think you do that. To begin with, it is still doable. And there is still a realistic prospect of success. And it would be very un Reaganlike to throw in the towel before the battle's over, and the battle's not over. So I expect that we'll continue just as enthusiastically and energetically as we know how to try to marshall the votes for Judge Bork, and I see no prospect of withdrawing the nomination, none at all. WOODRUFF: Have you asked, or has Judge Bork asked that his name be withdrawn? Mr. BAKER: No, he has not. And Judge Bork, at my request, came in to talk to the President yesterday about that, about the whole situation, and Judge Bork's ready to go the distance, the President is anxious to go the distance, and we're going to go the distance. WOODRUFF: What do you say to those conservatives and others who are saying this whole strategy that the White House has pursued of trying to make a conservative jurist look more acceptable to moderates has just been the wrong way to go, that you should have tried to sell him as a conservative, which is what he is. Mr. BAKER: That's not what he is. The strategy of the White House, the strategy of the Justice Department, meaning the Attorney General and those who work for him, has been to show Judge Bork for what he is, and that is a mainstream jurist. He is sometimes liberal on issues, he is sometimes conservative on issues. But to make sure that the real Bob Bork comes through, and the real Bob Bork is an intellectually agile man who has brilliant ideas, who has been a highly successful jurist, who has never been reversed by the U. S. Supreme Court, and who will be a valuable addition to that court. That's what we mean by the real Bob Bork, and he is a mainstream jurist. He is not a ideologue, he is not trying to impose a philosophy or politics on the court, he is what the country ought to want, and I think it does want, as a member of the U. S. Supreme Court. WOODRUFF: But, Senator, if that's the case, why are you having such a difficult time selling this man? Mr. BAKER: Well, really because this has become such a fierce partisan issue that I'm tempted to believe it's more an attack on Ronald Reagan in the final 16 months of his presidency, than it is a careful, judicial review of a nominee for the U. S. Supreme Court. And I think that's extraordinarily unfortunate, because I think it distorts the process not only now, but for future nominees by this president or future presidents. WOODRUFF: Do you mean to say that those people like Senator Specter -- I'm not naming names -- but some of these people who say they've thought long and hard about this decision are now really attacking the President? Mr. BAKER: I'm saying that every senator has his own reason. But I'm saying all you have to do is watch the hearings, to watch the confirmation hearings for the Judiciary Committee. And it comes through clear as a bell that in many cases the nature of those questions -- some of them I think outrageous questions -- to Judge Bork, outrageously political, were directed more at the Administration and the President than they were to test the qualifications of this judge. It has turned into a political campaign, complete with paid political advertising on TV -- the first time in history. And I think that's extraordinarily unfortunate for future precedent. WOODRUFF: Well, if that's the case, doesn't that say, Senator, that this president is in a weaker position than he's ever been before, because they think they can try that sort of tack. Mr. BAKER: It says that they're trying to make him a weaker president. But this president is not a lame duck, this president is strong, this president has an agenda that's important, not only to this country but to the world, and people are going to find that he will not roll over and play dead. WOODRUFF: I know you don't want to talk about what happens if, but in the event this nomination is not confirmed, do you automatically assume that whoever you send up next is going to go through the same sort of scrutiny that this candidate, Judge Bork, had to? Mr. BAKER: I have no idea. I have no idea because I have not focused on that, I don't plan to focus on that. Our only objective, our sole purpose is to try to get Bob Bork confirmed on the U. S. Supreme Court. WOODRUFF: What argument do you make, Senator, that hasn't been made already? Mr. BAKER: We continue to make the argument that he's the best qualified man, perhaps in this country, to be nominated for the U. S. Supreme Court. And we believe that. WOODRUFF: At this point, though, don't you get into a situation where if you don't come up with some sort of political chit perhaps, that you're just not going to be able to persuade the number of people you need? Mr. BAKER: No, I don't think so. I spent 18 years in the U. S. Senate, and this is very unsenatorial in my view, to turn a confirmation process into a political campaign on television. I think finally the U. S. Senate will look at this thing, and focus on the merits, and they'll do what the Senate has done for 200 years, and that is pass judgment on this man as to his qualifications to be a Supreme Court Justice. And if they do that, as I hope and think they will, I think they'll confirm him. WOODRUFF: But in order for that to happen, don't you need a vote fairly quickly? Mr. BAKER: I don't think so. I think that the vote will come in due course. Nobody's trying to speed it up that I know of, and nobody's trying to slow it down. I would guess that you'll have a vote on Judge Bork by the full Senate sometime toward the end of October or the first of November. WOODRUFF: And what do you think the final vote will be? Mr. BAKER: It'll be close, but I think we'll win. WOODRUFF: Senator Baker, thank you for being with us. Troubled Nomination MacNEIL: We look at the fate of the Bork nomination now with two veteran political observers: David Gergen, the former Director of White House Communications, presently editor of U. S. News and World Report, and Ann Lewis, Democratic Advisor and former National Director of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. Ms. Lewis has been consulting with groups opposed to the Bork nomination. David Gergen, is Mr. Baker's optimism justified, is it still distinctly winnable, not a tide running at all, he says, not an avalanche of defections? DAVID GERGEN, U. S. News & World Report: Well, it's still possible, but not probable, that the Bork nomination will go through. The White House right now I think is pursuing a strategy which may work for the next few days, and that is to get it through the committee without an up or down vote, simply to get it to the floor, and I think that's probably what's going to happen. They then hope to fight another day. They think they're within striking distance. They think they can count on about 34 Republicans and they think they can count on about maybe two Democrats, and that leaves another -- as you know -- another four votes to get out of about 10 undecided Democrats. I think it's extremely difficult at this point, but they still think it's mathematically possible. MacNEIL: Do you think it's still distinctly winnable, Ann Lewis? ANN LEWIS, Democratic Advisor: No, I -- although I think it's never over until it's over. But as I heard Mr. Baker speaking, I thought we're really hearing two strategies here. First, the White House is engaged in this sort of drive to come from behind. They are trying to put those votes together, they do potentially have this very, very narrow window, there's going to be a last ditch effort vote by vote. Second, I hear him also trying to send a signal to his own right wing that we are really making an effort. And as we heard Judy say, there was a lot of consternation within Republican ranks, especially again among some of the right wingers, about how hard the White House tried -- should they really have tried to repackage Robert Bork as a moderate, was this a wise strategy? I think some of the language we're hearing coming out of the White House today is really directed at both of those. MacNEIL: David Gergen, is there a strategy for the White House? Can they mount an effective counter attack at this point, do you think? Mr. GERGEN: Well, they certainly haven't had a very clear strategy so far. Instead, what one senses is there's been a divided administration about whether youought to be presented as a hardliner or as a moderate. And just in the sense there's been -- people have had two senses about who this man is -- some people think he's very conservative, some people think he's not quite as conservative. I think they really have to get their act together now. It is a last ditch effort, as Ann says. More than anything else, besides just (unintelligible) for vote, I must say their real problem now is that they have misjudged the South. It seems to me what we're finding here is that the South has changed. There have been the fundamental political changes in the South. There is no desire to reopen the issues of the past among the Democratic Senators serving from the South. A lot of these new Democrats -- and I think there was a sense from the Administration that there was an interest in doing that -- and they've now learned that that's not true. What they're finding is the White Southerners, people they expected to have supporting Bork, a plurality of those Southerners, according to recent polls done by the Atlanta newspapers, are opposing the judge. So in that sense, there's no political constituency where they needed it the most in order to get it. So I think they have to wage not only a vote by vote campaign in the Senate, but they really have to go into a public campaign, particularly in the southern part of this country, if they hope to have any chance at all. Ms. LEWIS: I'd like to say, David, for just a moment, the battle for Senate votes may still be on. I think the battle for public opinion is over. The American public really has come to judgment on this, and the more they learned about Robert Bork, the less they like him. And as you said, those latest polls from the South are fairly conclusive evidence of that. MacNEIL: Ann Lewis, what about Mr. Baker's argument that the organized opposition to the Bork nomination is really aimed at getting Ronald Reagan? Ms. LEWIS: I really did not understand that. As someone who has been working with the opposition, and some days we feel more organized than others -- I appreciate the compliment, if it's not always deserved. The fact is what we had tried to do from the beginning is keep the attention on Robert Bork's record, and his ideology. You will find no statement there about the president. You will find no references to matters of foreign policy or domestic policy. What we have talked about is, here is what Robert Bork said about civil rights. Here is what Robert Bork said about poll tax. Here is what Robert Bork said about your right to privacy, which incidentally is that you don't have any. But over and over again, we've said, here's what Robert Bork said, here's what he has done, here's the difference it would make in your lives. That has been the substance of this argument against him, and it's been very effective. MacNEIL: David Gergen, what do you think of the White House argument that this has been turned into an attack on Reagan, that they hope to make him a lame duck? Mr. GERGEN: Well, sometimes when you're sitting there behind that fence and that bubble, and you see people coming over the fence, you think it's all aimed at the President. I must say, I don't agree with it. I think one has to distinguish between trying to reduce the president's power, which I don't think this fights is about, and trying to oppose the president's vision of what the court ought to be. I do think the fight is about that. In that sense, I think they're out for the President. But it's not a fundamental attack against the presidency, it's very much against what the president campaigned on in the past and his vision of what this court ought to be about. MacNEIL: Is there still an identifiable bulk of senators that either of you could point to that the White House could work on, or is it just haphazard, one by one? Are there chips that could be called in and an identifiable group that could work on Mr. GERGEN: I think there are some southern senators who are out there still who are possible. I think Senator Sam Nunn, for instance. The White House still hopes, and there is a possibility that they can still get Sam Nunn to come in. He is an influential senator. Possibly a senator like Shelby. There are several. Gore hasn't spoken out to my knowledge. When you go down the list, Stennis hasn't spoken out yet, he's a possibility. Exon hasn't spoken out yet, he's a possibility. So there are a number in the south and to a degree the Southwest that are still possible. Again, let's not fool ourselves. It's still improbable that they can pull it off. MacNEIL: I think I read today that Exon has come out -- a wire report that Exon has declared for Bork. Mr. GERGEN: He has declared for him? MacNEIL: I think I read that, yes. Mr. GERGEN: Boren declared today -- David Boren declared today. MacNEIL: David Boren, yes. Mr. GERGEN: But there are a few out there -- but it's going to be tough. MacNEIL: How do you see the targets of opportunity for the White House, Ann Lewis, now? Ms. LEWIS: What's interesting is, first going back to David's point -- the decision by such senators as Bennett Johnston for example -- as former governor Terry Sanford -- have been damaging not just on the politics, not just on the vote count, but on the message they send about the substance, the extent to which support for civil rights and the advances -- the place we have gotten to on civil rights is now an American value. We won't go back. I think what that leaves the White House is they've got to be looking at it very carefully -- at some of their own moderate Republican members -- again people like John Chaffee of Rhode Island, who's facing election this year in Rhode Island, has to make a very difficult choice. If he is going to vote yes for Robert Bork, he's going to disappoint a great many of his constituents. So again, I would think the next difficult targets for them are to look within their own party at some of those moderate Republicans, especially those who are going to be up in 1988. MacNEIL: Let me ask each of you now -- if you had to predict this evening how it's going to go finally, what would you predict? David Gergen? Mr. GERGEN: I predict it will live on for a bit longer than most of its expected 24, 48 hours -- it will get through the committee to the floor, and I think that the White House will fight right up to the end, until they think they haven't got the 50 votes, and then it will be withdrawn. My expectation right now is I think it's probably running two to one against his confirmation. MacNEIL: Yes, what would you say, Ann Lewis? Ms. LEWIS: I'm very superstitious about declaring victory. I think -- and I want to be clear about that committee vote next week -- if, for example, the committee were to come out with no recommendation, people should understand that that would turn out to be a vote of no confidence in the president's nominee. The Senate is going to hear that loud and clear. They know that their colleagues on the Judiciary Committee had been following it and studying this. I do not see a combination of votes right now that could confirm Robert Bork. Mr. GERGEN: I'm sorry, could I just -- I really honestly disagree with either point that a vote of no confidence -- it is not a vote one way or another. That's the purpose of that kind of vote. And I think it's unfortunate and unfair to characterize it otherwise. MacNEIL: I see. Let's turn to the Democrats for a moment. Ann Lewis, how was the candidacy of Michael Dukakis hurt by his having to reveal the other day that it was his campaign manager and staff who had given the press the damaging material which ultimately killed the candidacy of Joe Biden? Ms. LEWIS: I want to thank you for raising that, Robin. So far, this week, and I guess the last few months, watching the Democratic primary is like going to the stock car races, and I want to make clear that I don't even watch stock car races on television. But I think if I can take that analogy a step further, where we have seen with some candidates really fatal crackups on their -- Michael Dukakis in a sense has sort of pulled over. He's going to change mechanics. He's going to miss a lap or two, and that's unfortunate, because his campaign has had a lot of momentum in the last couple of weeks, couple of months. He's going to lose some of that momentum. He's going to have to catch up with himself. But I think it's been slowed, and that's different. MacNEIL: What do you feel about it, David Gergen? Mr. GERGEN: I think that he's going to survive, and I think survive fairly well. The Des Moines paper this morning supported him editorially, there was a survey taken -- MacNEIL: That being important, of course, because the Iowa caucus is one of the first tests. Mr. GERGEN: Absolutely. And it's a critical test for Dukakis now at this point. And there was a survey taken in New Hampshire last night by a Boston television station. Three hundred Democrats -- and 3/4 of them said it would not make a difference in how they voted. I think, frankly, that we've -- unlike the case of Mr. Biden, unlike the case of Mr. Hart, the real sin here, as many people have said now, is the politics (unintelligible) truth. I don't think what John Sasso did was a dirty trick. MacNEIL: John Sasso was the campaign manager -- Mr. GERGEN: -- the campaign manager who made this quote attack video. As the New York Times said today, it was sort of like we've all gotten into this pit bull politics, one of these attack videos, this awful thing. I don't think it was an awful thing, I think it's the way the game has been played for time everlasting and for the press, which has so often taken this kind of information from campaigns and used them to investigate other campaigns or write up stories about other campaigns for the press and to make big issue of is one dirty trick, I think is hypocritical. MacNEIL: Dirty trick, Ann Lewis? Ms. LEWIS: No, again it was not a dirty trick. Because what we're talking about is information that was on the public record. We're not sneaking into anybody's files, we're not raising insinuation to questions that aren't quite true. But again the fact that it was done anonymously, or semi anonymously, and then denied is the damage. I'd say longer lasting for Gov. Dukakis, and I will pick up from what David said, what particularly hurt previous candidates who withdrew was their lack of support, their own support started to erode. In fact, in Michael Dukakis's case, we've seen, I think, 37 state legislators in Connecticut came out just yesterday, so people who've been on the line, who are expected to be supportive in Connecticut and Iowa still continue. That's going to be very helpful to him. (unintelligible) One other case to make -- much of his appeal is as a competent manager -- in fact, more than competent, a really excellent manager and leader. I think he may have to work a little harder now to make some of that (unintelligible). MacNEIL: Okay. Ann Lewis, David Gergen, thank you for joining us. Judy? WOODRUFF: Ahead on the NewsHour, the drive to recall Arizona's embattled governor, the development of superconductors, and essayist Molly Ivins on the pro football strike. Arizona Recall MacNEIL: We turn now to a political controversy raging in Arizona. The Republican governor Evan Mecham has been in office only 10 months, but already he's the target of an unprecedented recall movement. Correspondent Elizabeth Brackett has this report on the embattled governor. [film of women getting names on petitions in shopping center]

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Virginia Walls and 80 year old Naomi Howard have spent the morning in Arizona's 90 degree heat. They're gathering names on petitions to recall their state's governor. NAOMI HOWARD [voice over]: I really feel he's a threat to our democratic existence. He has all the symptoms of a dictator.

BRACKETT: Hundreds of volunteers like Howard and Walls have been pounding the streets for signatures since early July. They have already collected the 217,000 signatures required to throw the governor out of office. Movement organizers say they hope to get together at least 100,000 more names just to be safe by the November 3 deadline. The Republican governor first upset some Arizona voters when he won a surprise victory over two well known Democrats. The Democrats split the vote, and Mecham, a former Pontiac car dealer, slipped into office with a bare 40%. Critics charge that in his first 10 months of office there is hardly a group the governor hasn't offended. Gov. MECHAM: [from radio show] She made a statement, for example, of working women increased divorce. I believe that is a given fact. The church I belong to does not allow homosexuals to participate under any circumstance. Homosexuality in my opinion is not an acceptable lifestyle. [from television show] The NBA, I guess they forget how many white people they got coming to watch them play.

BRACKETT: Even some in his own party have been offended by the governor's remarks. Republican State Senator Greg Lun. GREGG LUN, (R) Arizona State Senator: He's divided people, one from the other, and in fact the divisions in this state now may very well be long lasting, and it has become extremely ugly, black and brown against whites, straights against homosexuals. You name it, there is an enemy, and the governor tends to see people as either with him or against him. And there's people that have increasingly voiced their opposition to his policies and his statements and his attitudes. He has really developed a siege mentality.

BRACKETT: And those with the feisty governor are just as vehement in his defense. To these men in rural eastern Arizona, the governor is a hero. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Sometimes maybe he speaks his mind a little too forcefully, but he speaks his mind. He's speaking for the people. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We have a lot of new residents in the state. Maybe they don't quite appreciate our heritage, our roots or our conservative thinking. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: For the first time in the history of the state of Arizona we have a governor who is honest. And he is, shall we say, not a politician. He doesn't belong to the Phoenix Forty and this and that group, he belongs to the people. The people elected him, and the people are very happy with what he's doing.

BRACKETT: The governor tries to represent himself as a man of the little people. He's run against the establishment, he's run against the Phoenix 40. Do you buy that? NAOMI HOWARD, Recall Chairperson: Not at all, because he represents a segment of the little people, but he only accepts people who have the same lifestyle, the same religion, the same philosophy of economics and government that he has. And I would not belittle that. But it's the far right that he represents. And that is just a segment of our society.

BRACKETT: One segment of society that the governor angered immediately after taking office was the black community. As one of his first official acts, the governor declared that Martin Luther King's birthday would no longer be a paid state holiday. Ten thousand marched on the capital on Martin Luther King's birthday to protest the governor's action. Mecham maintained that the holiday had been illegally established by former Governor Bruce Babbitt. Gov. Mecham did set aside the third Sunday in January in memory of Dr. King, and says he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. Gov. MECHAM: I don't think for a minute that Martin Luther King should be over Washington and Lincoln, who today don't have holidays on the federal level. But you know something that really baffles me -- why all the flak about it being a paid holiday? Does that honor anybody? This is a phony issue.

BRACKETT: Phony or not, when the governor cancelled the holiday, entertainers and convention groups started cancelling dates in Arizona. In a state where tourism brings in $5 billion a year, cancellations have an impact. Sally Cooper of the Phoenix Convention Bureau says the state has been hurt. SALLY COOPER, Phoenix Convention Bureau: We had a total of 45 groups cancel. This translates to about $25 million worth of business.

BRACKETT: But even when the National Basketball Association joined the list of cancellations, the governor was not concerned. He told a local talk show host: Gov. MECHAM: Well, the NBA, I guess they forget how many white people they got coming to watch them play. And I think -- that's the one that I think they made a very bad judgment on. Do you know we're one of the fastest growing states in the nation? So I believe we'll run our affairs in Arizona and let the people who want to make a political statement -- those who want to do that stay home and run politics in their states.

BRACKETT: The governor's relationship with blacks soured further when he defended a textbook on the U. S. Constitution that contained an essay on the history of slavery. The essay refers to black children as picaninnies. The governor's support of the book catapulted him into Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. The governor was not amused. Gov. MECHAM: If some people object to the use of the word ''picaninny'' that's fine with me. I personally never use it, nor did I ever call any child a picaninny. There's a book called the Making of America by my friend Dr. (unintelligible), a fine scholar, a fine constitutional scholar, been doing a lot of good. And some said, well the word picaninny is mentioned in it, and I said, ''Yes, I'm aware of that. '' It's an excellent book. That was used in a historical sense. And I don't know why anybody'd make such a flap over that, because the word picaninny has been used throughout much of our history.

BRACKETT: The governor's defense has only energized the recall effort. [song lyrics:] If you are a picaninny, you can wash my Pontiac.

BRACKETT: This song spoofing the governor was the number one request on a Phoenix radio station for nine weeks. And the signatures continue to pile up. But even if the goal of over 300,000 signatures is reached, the recall of the governor is far from over. First, the signatures must be given to the Secretary of State who will organize them by county. Then, each one of those signatures must be validated by county recorder. Despite that scrutiny, and the fact that only one other effort to recall a governor has ever succeeded in this country, movement founder Ed Bucks says this recall will succeed. ED BUCKS, Recall founder: We are shooting for a goal that would allow 38% of the signatures to be knocked off. We expect that we're going to in fact have one of the highest validity rates of any campaign (unintelligible) ever. It's an unbelievable textbook example of what a grassroots organization is supposed to be. It really is the people.

BRACKETT: But Ed Buck himself has been controversial. A self made millionaire, and an admitted homosexual, Buck and the recall movement became an instant target of the governor. Gov. MECHAM: I said it is led by a few homosexuals and a few dissident Democrats, and it was a true statement. I said led by that. True statement. TALK SHOW HOST: Led by a band of militants -- Gov. MECHAM: No, I didn't say a band, I said by a few homosexuals and dissident Democrats. Are we to where it is bad to tell the truth? Mr. BUCKS: So what if a homosexual was involved in the organization? So what if a black was involved, so what if a Hispanic, so what if a lesbian, so what if a working woman was involved? We're all involved in this together.

BRACKETT: The recall movement has gotten under the governor's skin. A letter from the governor's fundraising committee asked conservatives across the country to pick up and move to Arizona. If not that, send money. ''I need $1. 2 million in the next 45 days. Without it,'' said the letter, ''I risk being crushed by the militant liberals and the homosexual lobby. '' In a news conference, the governor denied writing the letter, although it was on his stationery and over his signature. He interrupted a reporter who questioned the explanation. Gov. MECHAM: When I make a statement, you hadn't better say what the truth is -- REPORTER: I'm not saying -- Gov. MECHAM: Listen, you are questioning my truth. I gave you the statement -- REPORTER: I most certainly am not, governor -- Gov. MECHAM: (pointing finger) Don't you ever --

BRACKETT: The battling governor has never had much use for the press. Gov. MECHAM: They don't give a doodley darn about real information. The real information hasn't gotten out in the press except in bits and pieces. But they're doing exactly what the press is designed to do, and that is to entertain and make money. They don't give a doodley darn about the real truth. BRACKETT: So you think the press doesn't tell the truth? Gov. MECHAM: Oh, I know they don't. I've got a case history right here.

BRACKETT: Though the governor has come under sharp criticism for his views, he shows few signs of moderating them. Political observers in Arizona say part of the reason lies in his background. Mecham grew up in a devout Mormon family in a small Utah town. He was a World War II fighter pilot and a prisoner of war. Back home, he founded a successful Pontiac dealership, started a right wing newspaper, raised seven children, and became a bishop in the Mormon Church. Deborah Lake, a daughter of a Mormon bishop and a reporter who covered the governor, says some of Mecham's behavior can be traced to his strict Mormon upbringing. DEBORAH LAKE, reporter: Having grown up as a Mormon male, he has believed from the time he was very young that he had the power to act for God on earth. I think the other part of it is that he has held a series of church positions where a great deal of authority has been granted to him, that there hasn't been much challenging about authority. It's a basic tenet of the church that you should support your leaders in decision making whether you agree with them or not. BRACKETT: How do you think the Mormon religion influences you as governor? Gov. MECHAM: It has a great effect on what kind of a person I am. I'm taught to tell the truth. To be true to the principles of right and wrong.

BRACKETT: As the governor digs in, the recall effort continues. If enough signatures are validated by the county recorders, the governor will be asked to resign. If he does not resign, a new election will be called, and the governor can run again. With several other candidates already thinking about the race, the chairman of the Republican Party says Mecham could not only run again, he could win again. BURTON KRUGLICK, Republican State Chairman: That's the irony of this thing. All this effort and all these abuses and the things that are going on, and yet I feel that he stands a better than 50/50 chance of winning the recall.

BRACKETT: The governor thinks his chances are even better than that. Gov. MECHAM: I'll win or walk, of course. Then we'll shut 'em up, and we'll have it behind us. Super Search WOODRUFF: We turn now to the development of superconductors, material that can transmit electricity without any loss of power. It was reported today that communications lines made from superconductors may transmit data up to 100 times faster than current technology permits. That is the kind of discovery that some scientists say gives superconductors an impact on modern life similar to that created by the transistor. Correspondent Tom Bearden reports.

TOM BEARDEN: This rather nondescript (unintelligible) laboratory on the University of Houston campus may someday become one of the shrines of science. This is where a slender, soft spoken physicist named Paul Chu made a fundamental breakthrough, violating what scientists thought was the natural law of physics. What he found was a mysterious mixture of common chemicals that does something that no other material can: conduct electricity with no loss of energy over any distance, forever, at a temperature once thought impossible. Chu's new superconductor has the whole scientific world enormously excited. PAUL CHU, University of Houston: People didn't expect within our lifetime -- at least my lifetime -- that one could see a superconductivity above 77 degrees. In that sense, it's a great surprise. BEARDEN: There were some who thought it was impossible. Dr. CHU: That's correct, yes.

BEARDEN: Before explaining why Chu's discovery was such a surprise, it's necessary to understand what superconductivity is. Normally, electricity flowing through a conductor like a copper wire encounters obstructions to its passage. The very atomic structure of the wire slows down the flow. Some energy is lost, dissipated into heat. That's called resistance. If resistance is high enough, the wire glows, like the filament in a light bulb. Loss to resistance is why generating plants have to be located near cities. If they're too far away, too much power is wasted. But in a superconducting state, the same wire can transmit electricity without any loss. But there's a catch. To reach superconductivity, the wire has to be cooled down to almost absolute zero on the scientific Kelvin scale. That's 460 degrees below zero fahrenheit. As a result, only liquid helium, a difficult and expensive coolant, could be used to reach superconducting temperatures, making superconductors uneconomical, except for a few scientific and medical uses. Over the years, after a great deal of research, scientists succeeded in pushing the temperature of superconductivity up by only a few degrees. The breakthrough came when Paul Chu found a combination of elements whose resistance would drop off to nothing at 93 degrees Kelvin, minus 292 fahrenheit, three times warmer than ever before. The discovery was a shock for two reasons. First, it defied the accepted theory that superconductivity was impossible at that temperature. And second, it made possible the use of liquid nitrogen as a coolant. Liquid nitrogen, which cools to 77 degrees Kelvin, or minus 321 fahrenheit, is inexpensive and easy to use. Suddenly, superconductors might be commercially practical. Dr. CHU: I believe these were prepared in March.

BEARDEN: Chu's discovery wasn't made in isolation. For 20 years he had doggedly pursued higher temperature superconductors, even though most other scientists thought the field was at a dead end. A vital clue came last November when one of his research assistants brought an article in an obscure German physics journal to his attention. It was written by two IBM scientists in Switzerland who had discovered a group of ceramic materials that were superconducting at 30 degrees Kelvin, minus 405 fahrenheit. At the very edge of what was explanable by the existing theory. Dr. CHU: When I came to this office, my student put the copy of that paper on my desk. When I looked at it, I got all excited, I went to the library, looked up all the references and went through them all, and then they came in, because they worked very late in the evening -- they came in, I got them all together, and said, ''This must be true. ''

BEARDEN: Chu began to substitute new materials for those in the IBM formula. Painstakingly working his way through the periodic chart of elements, his intuition telling him higher temperatures were possible. Dr. CHU: Since between November and February I was always at the excited state, and in fact I didn't realize until recently, I looked at some of my pictures taken during -- after New Year's Eve, that's when we gave gifts to our children, my wife took the picture -- I didn't know I was so thin. I lost a lot of weight, because during that period of time I slept maybe three or four hours a night -- continuously working.

BEARDEN: Chu wasn't the only one burning the midnight oil. By December, other labs had also seen the article, and the race was on. BOB CAVA, AT&T Bell Labs: So for the first four or five months, there was no time off. You knew that a day that you spent at home was a day that other people were not spending at home. And that it would be nice to stay at home with the kids and do something, but every day people are working.

BEARDEN: But Chu's group won the race. After two months of day and night work, they found it. They call the formula ''one, two, three. '' (To Chu) Tell me about one two three. Dr. CHU: One two three refers to the formula of the high temperature superconductor. As you can see here, one atom of it, (unintelligible), and two, barium atoms, and three copper atoms, and that's why we call it one two three compound.

BEARDEN: It seemed deceptively simple. Mix the elements together, use an ordinary hydraulic press to squeeze them into a pellet and then bake. The rest, as they say, is history. Dr. CHU: I think that always in science, luck is part of the game. You have to be at the right place with the right people, and the right time.

BEARDEN: And Chu may be one of the luckiest scientists ever. His recipe may someday be made into powerful superconducting magnets that could allow trains to float above the rails on lines of magnetic force, like this experimental train in Japan which uses magnets cooled by helium. It may revolutionize the transmission of electric power. Generating plants could be located in wastelands thousands of miles from cities, lessening environmental impacts. At least, those are some of the vast potentials that emerged in the explosion of publicity that greeted Chu's discovery. Pres. REAGAN: Well, for most of us laymen, superconductivity was a completely new term. But it wasn't long before we learned of the great promise it held out to alter our world for the better.

BEARDEN: Even the White House got into the act with this unusual conference on superconductors designed to stimulate cooperation between business and researchers in hopes of beating foreign competitors to the marketplace. But the euphoria has faded. The possibilities running into the hard realities of economics. Dr. CHU: I think we really have to tell the public there's something potentially great here, but still a lot of work laying ahead of us, and we have to overcome before we can make full application of high temperature superconductivity relative.

BEARDEN: It may take the resources of major corporations like AT & T and IBM to overcome the major obstacles that stand between what is now a laboratory phenomenon and a marketable product. AT&T Bell Lab's Bob Cava says a lot of very difficult development work remains. Mr. CAVA: The work in the 90 degree material now has swung the door open. But I still feel that we're not on the inside. We haven't stepped through the portal into where superconductivity can really get us.

BEARDEN: One of the biggest problems is that no one really understands why these materials work. Michael Schluter is a physicist at Bell. MICHAEL SCHLUTER, AT & T Bell Labs: It's fair to say that our understanding right now is extremely fragmentary. It's shaky. There's certain structures that seem to come out, like in a fog, you see something emerging. But I can guarantee you that if we had a new experimental finding tomorrow, that whole structure could just topple over, and we would have to start again. So we really don't understand what's going on.

BEARDEN: In fact, before they are mixed, the materials don't conduct electricity at all. Mr. SCHLUTER: If you compare it to copper, to silver, you wouldn't give a damn for it. It's very bad metal until it becomes superconducting, and then of course perfect. We want to understand how can something that is such bad metal suddenly become such a good superconductor.

BEARDEN: Schluter's colleagues are pursuing several promising avenues. Some may find their way into products relatively quickly, like so called thin films, they can be incorporated into electronic equipment relatively soon. But the bigger applications will require a superconducting wire, and that may be a much tougher nut to crack. Bell has fabricated such a wire, but there's a problem. It won't carry enough current to be useful. Back in Houston, Paul Chu is looking for practical applications too. On this day, he and his assistants are trying to find out if one two three will react to laser light. If it does, it could have potentially lucrative uses in optical switching for computers. The sample is placed in a glass vessel, and liquid nitrogen is poured in, boiling furiously at room temperature. When it's stabilized, Chu turns on the laser. More fiddling to make sure the light is hitting the sample. And more fiddling. Finally: Dr. CHU: Yep! The effect is there. Now the thing is this -- too small, the effect's small. We have to find out more about it.

BEARDEN: It's not enough to make a public announcement. Dr. CHU: That's the way it goes. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose (laugh). BEARDEN: Where do you hope all this will end? Dr. CHU: I really hope eventually that large current application can be realized, and that would be nice, because you will have a fundamental impact on all of our lives, in all aspects of our lives. And because right now we're using electricity in so many things, whenever we use electricity it will be affected by the use of superconductivity. And that would be really nice if that happened, because it will save lots of energy, it will remove lots of ecological problems. And of course it will change our pattern of life. Mr. CAVA: We have no idea where it's going to lead for scientists in the physical science, to be able to really contribute to something in some way. For me, it's like a dream come true. And I think that other people feel that way. I kept saying in my career if I could only have something that would really make a difference, that would be very important to me. And this thing could make a difference.

BEARDEN: What would make the most difference is a superconducting material that would work at room temperature, requiring no cooling. That would be revolutionary. For now, scientists can only point to curiosities, like the fact that an ordinary magnet will float above these new superconductors, when they're cooled. Last year, any serious scientist would have laughed at the idea of a room temperature superconductor. But nobody is laughing now. Kickin' the Habit MacNEIL: Finally, we have an essay that takes note of the two week old strike by most professional football players. Despite the strike, NFL owners are going ahead with scheduled games this weekend. But Dallas columnist Molly Ivins says the labor unrest has already caused a lot of woe to football fans in Texas.

MOLLY IVINS: Football is the foundation of the entire Texian way of life. The game is not a mere sport here. It's art and religion. It's science and beauty. It's life itself. [on camera] So you want to know how we're getting along without football? The first thing I have to report is that the NFL strike has led to widespread loss of faith. People say, ''Two football strikes in five years? How can there be a god?'' We're watching the progress of the NFL strike with a kind of horrified bemusement. All those guys egging each other, brandishing weapons. Good grief, they're all acting like Texans! Texas is not much of a union state, but even if you're pro union, you have to admit this is a damned peculiar strike. That mega millionaires like Herschel Walker of the Dallas Cowboys and Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers should wind up as the spiritual heirs of Mother Jones and Joe Hill, over all the exploited masses forced to toil for pennies a day, that's an irony so rich, if we could figure out how to tax it, we could solve the federal deficit. The football deprivation situation is most critical in Dallas, where even the local college team has been shut down. Now, Dallasites are so desperate for a football fix, sports writers from major papers are out covering fraternity touch games, school boy games, anything. It's pitiful. People planning to donate their bodies en masse to the slicer dicer demonstrators at the state fair. To appease the fans, NFL owners have come up with football substitutes -- gridiron scabs. The has beens, the not quites, and the no hopers will be out playing football, wearing our team's uniforms, but they're not our teams. We may buy sugar free soft drinks, decaffeinated coffee, and non dairy creamer, but there are two things Texas will never accept: vegetarian chile, and imitation football. Fortunately, for the future of the Lone star State, there is a sound Texas alternative to football. We can still go out and kill things. Well, what did you think we were going to do? Take up the study of Italian, or origami? Start reading novels by Joyce Carol Oates? No. Texans are out on Sundays in droves now, killing doves. Doves are the symbol of peace. We're very fond of blasting them to kingdom come. Even better, deer season opens soon. All Texans know it's more satisfying to kill something large than something small. Speaking as a non hunting Texan, I can't tell you how grateful I am to the doves and the quails and the geese and the deer for being out here and killable. I do not like to think what Texans would take to shooting if hunting weren't legal. Recap WOODRUFF: Taking a final look at the main stories of this Friday, nine more Democratic senators said they will vote against the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. President Reagan says he will continue to work for Bork's approval and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker told the NewsHour that Bork's opponents are really going after the President himself. The Reagan Administration told Congress that sanctions against South Africa don't work, and it will fight additional measures. And the unemployment rate fell below 6% for the first time in almost 8 years. Good night, Robin. MacNEIL: A little clarification before we go. I said earlier in the program I thought I had read where Democratic Senator James Exon of Nebraska had declared for Bork. He has not. He is still undecided. Good night, Judy. That's the NewsHour for the night. We'll be back on Monday night. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.