Reaganites offer Ohio the stars

By Joseph D. Rice

Plain Dealer Convention Bureau

KANSAS CITY

The battle was on for the hearts of Ohio's 97 delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Ronald Reagan's supporters are using everything from dinner time chats and Hollywood entertainers to promises to bring in The Man or his top aides to speak to the delegates.

Peter E. Voss, Reagan's Ohio chairman, complained yesterday he wanted to bring Reagan before the Ohio delegation today, but statę party chairman Kent B. McGough, a Ford delegate, said the schedule was full. McGough said Reagan could appear tomorrow morning.

Voss said he wanted Reagan to

talk to the delegates about his proposal to force President Ford to name his running mate before the nomination.

The convention rules committee, chaired by McGough, rejected that proposal Sunday but Reagan forces will take the fight to the floor tonight.

McGough, however, said Voss had suggested that Reagan appear tomorrow, not today. McGough said only Ohio political figures would be allowed to address the delegation today and that he had told this to Ford aides when they inquired yesterday.

"I would be proud to have Gov. Reagan come and I hope he does tomorrow," he said. McGough said he has invited Ford or a member

of his family to also address the delegation tomorrow.

One Reagan staffer said Voss had received no commitment to appear from Reagan, who is busy wooing uncommitted delegates. The staffer questioned whether Reagan's schedule would have permitted him to speak to the Ohioans today.

Singer Pat Boone, actor Don Defoe and Reagan's older brother Dale talked to 50 to 75 Ohioans at a reception at the delegation hotel yesterday. The crowd included a dozen delegates. Reagan has six delegates pledged to him from Ohio.

Some people such as State Sen. Oakley Collins of Ironton, a Ford delegate, came mostly out of curi-

osity. After Boone, Defoe and Reagan's brother finished their pitch there was no groundswell for the Californian.

"Just because I'm going to see Pat Boone doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind and vote for Reagan," one woman said.

Boone told the crowd: "I like Gerald Ford and he's my president, but I don't think he can beat Jimmy Carter, I really don't."

Boone said he considers the issues of abortion, drugs and homosexuality more important than other issues such as the economy.

"Jimmy Carter, though he is a Christian, has courted homosexuals and has taken has taken ads in homosexual newspapers," Boone said.