October 31, 1976

Article views '76 Pres election as influenced by under-currents of conservative natl mood prior to '76 campaign; notes TV debates represent giant advance in pol dialogue as a convenient and workable mechanism to permit voters to assess contestants; says there is no single or simple explanation for volatile and unexpected character of '76 campaign, but perhaps, deeper and stronger, still misunderstood currents in Amer pol have been at work in close race

Consuelo Saah Baehr article describes phenomenon whereby homeowners, as soon as they feel house is finished to their liking, decide to move (L)

In 1968 when he began to write this majestic novel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez told an interviewer that the only image he had of It for years was that of an incredibly old man walking through the huge, abandoned rooms of a palace full of animals Some of his friends remember him saying as

Sierra Club, Wilderness Soc, Natl Audubon Soc, Friends of Earth and other smaller conservation groups form 'Alaska coalition' aimed at drafting and pressing for passage of legis to protect hundreds of millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness unaffected by trans-Alaska pipeline; group fears temporary Fed protection, scheduled to lapse at end of '78, will open door to developers before Cong designates permanent system of natl pks, refuges and forests; Natl Pk Service planner Robert Belous, Wilderness Soc officials George Davis and Breck Cook comment; specific problems group faces in attempting to protect area from outside interests and specific proposals discussed; area map (M)

'76 Pres race seen very close since final surveys indicate Pres Ford and Jimmy Carter only a percentage point or 2 apart in 6 crucial states; NY Times/CBS News Poll gives Carter slight lead, but for first time in campaign, contest is too close to call; Harris poll for ABC News shows Carter clinging to even narrower lead of 1 percentage point; details on Times/CBS poll findings on campaign momentum, expected turnout, electoral vote distribution, which gives Carter 253 votes and Ford 188, with 197 too close to call; election seen hinging on results in Miss, NJ, Penna, Ohio, Ind and Ill (M)