Word: conlan
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Arizona--Both candidates for the Arizona Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Paul J. Fanin have emerged from difficult primary fights, but the Republican contest turned particularly ugly. The eventual winner, Representative Sam Steiger, has not received the endorsement of his opponent, Representative John B. Conlan. Conlan constructed his political base around his Christian fundamentalism and during the primary, Steiger, who is Jewish, accused his opponent's campaign of anti-Semitism...
...defeated adversary, Conlan, 46, a two-term Congressman who often wears white patent-leather shoes and white socks, is equally aggressive, but somewhat more polished. A former Fulbright scholar and Harvard-educated lawyer, he is an evangelical Protestant and heads a controversial movement called Christian Freedom Foundation, which seeks to weld conservative Christians into a powerful voting bloc...
Both men have almost identical philosophies and voting records-Americans for Conservative Action rates them as 100% conservatives-but have hated each other for years. The campaign never rose above the personal level. Charging that Steiger had "scandals and skeletons" in his closet, Conlan preached a hard-nosed gospel of "getting all Godfearing people to come out of the pews and go to the polls to stop the moral decay that is eroding our country." Supporters of Conlan wrote letters asking some 800 clergymen to persuade church members to vote for him because "it sure would be nice to have...
Never Honest. Conlan maintained a narrow lead until the closing weeks of the campaign, when the religious issue backfired. The seemingly anti-Semitic tone of his campaign angered Senator Barry Goldwater, the most highly respected figure in Arizona politics. He endorsed Steiger, who had already won the support of Senator Fannin. Throwing aside all caution, Conlan further provoked Goldwater by telling a reporter: "I don't know what it is with Barry. Maybe it's the pain [from a hip operation]. Maybe it's the drinking he's been doing." The outraged Goldwater struck back...
Though Steiger promised to raise the tone of the forthcoming election campaign by focusing on issues and not on personalities, he was still bitter about the primary fight. Said he: "You can live a full, rich life and never run against John Conlan." Conlan was making no move to heal the party's wounds either, which was good news to the obvious beneficiary of all the G.O.P. discord: Dennis DeConcini, 39, of Tucson, a former county district attorney, who handily won the three-way Democratic primary. If the split among Arizona Republicans continues, he will have a good chance...