Personal charge of his forces and today has been perhaps the most important for him with the key battles of his nomination fight coming to a head. Bob schieffer reports. Bob the president spent a lot of time visiting various state allegations. He went to some of the headquarters hotels and had other dollar legation to headquarters on the 18th floor of this hotel. One of the things you come away with after talking to people here, members of the white house staff is this the ford people seem a lot more comfortable about their vote count. On the other hand, they are 16c thingout this coming up tonight to force the president to name his running mate early. The organization conducted a poll and while it should they would win on the issue, they would probably win on a thin margin. The ford people know when you have a margin that then, anything can happen. Somehowo know that if the reagan forces push that through, there is a good chance it is going to cost mr. Ford some votes. That is why they will be working very hard against it and thats why the reagan folks will be working hard. A crucialis has been day for the presence challenger, Ronald Reagan. The reagan camp is operating on the premise that the actual delegate battle is much closer than most counts indicate. Governor reagan was busy going from hotel to hotel, delegation to delegation, stressing two main things. First, reiterating very firmly that he would not accept a Vice President ial spot on a ford order be the income in this conventions nominee. Reagan said over and over he would go back to the private life, turning out speeches and syndicated news columns, maintaining what he calls his independence to criticize government policy when he thought that was warranted. Second, he has been stressing this rule 16 battle, this is a reagan proposal that would force him to name his perspective running mate in advance of running tomorrow. Reagan has been arguing to delegations that since he has named his potential running mate, senator schweiker, that delegates have a right to know who mr. Ford would choose. This is a point he has been making throughout the day, over and over again. The reagan people think this is a test of strength and a win on this issue would indicate strength in this and think anyone ford would have to name in advance would offend someone and cost him some support somewhere in this convention. With whom i talk think a win by the reagan people on this issue would not automatically mean a nomination for governor reagan tomorrow. However, that a loss might fatally hurt his nomination chances. The people of the reagan camp dont go that far. They have their own delegate headcounts, they are not revealing it and i are not saying whether they see a win or loss but theyd do not appear to be too worried. Walter the reason this is so critical is the balance between the ford and reagan forces when it comes to the balloting tomorrow night is so narrow. Delegate poll,r issident ford at this moment running around 11 votes more than he needs. Our delegate count indicates he has 1141. In other words, he would win it. Still 78 undetermined, but anything such as this rule 16 fight could overturn those delegate counts. Until thee final balloting is actually done. 16 c is going to be a very interesting parliamentary fight. Up, bruceter comes morton will be following it all the way through and will be able to tell us what is happening from the podium. You can tell us in advance what you are expecting. Oure what we have learned queensied market shows break. The ohio state chairman and chairman of the rules committee will read a report on all the rules considered. Thats just take five minutes in and then there will be 30 minutes of debate on Vice President ial 16 c. There will be six unnamed speakers for the ford five. And there aree all sorts of rumors about other proposed rules changes. Those would supposedly get five minutes debate per side each. We will see how it goes. our floor correspondents will be following all of these intricate maneuverings tonight. They can tell us what they expect at the floor. First, roger mudd. Fords agentsnt have been working the floor and they are nervously confident. They say they think they will win by 25 even though it earlier report says they thought it would be about by 10. The biggest argument against rule 16 c as the reagan bandwagon slows down means the door would be left open for a reagan vice presidency and that is the argument you hear in this section of the floor. It, it would lose heighten the anticipation for tomorrow morning. One member of the ford staff president ford should never revealed his selection except in his will. Now to mike wallace. Mike there are two vital delegations here on this part of the floor new jersey and mississippi. Both of them caucus on this item and neither one of them gave the reagan people the support they wanted. In new jersey, 67 votes, 61 according to our understanding against the reagan 16 c amendment. For our for it, to abstention. All along they have said in new jersey there are hidden votes. That is what we are going to see here this evening. 61 out of the 67 against 16 c. The big one was mississippi. They held a caucus this afternoon and voted 31 to 28 against 16 c. Some people say that is fords strength. Some people say the reagan people went along because they did not want gerald ford to nominate Ronald Reagan for his Vice President ial running mate before this came to its climax tomorrow. The fact remains that they voted as a unit and there will be 30 votes cast against Ronald Reagan. Now to dan rather. Dan ive been talking to delegates and its difficult to find a delegate on either side trying to force president ford to name his selection before the nomination. Its very difficult to find anyone on either side of that who believes if the president is forced to do that that he will not name howard baker of tennessee. Chanceschances, bakers jump considerably. The speculation that runs fairly heavily down here. The big delegation to watch is pennsylvania. Is one where if the reagan forces are going to get what they want tonight on this issue of forcing president ford to name his Vice President ial nomination. It indicates they will not be able to do that. We have a rough vote of 85 if thatthe proposal , the reagan forces can win. The nixon people slip of the tongue, sorry to say the ford people were out here early checking out all of their communications equipment. They still have an organizational set up that is much better anything be reagan people have put out. And telephonelkie to medication and a lot of experienced convention people. Have a farpeople less efficient telephone system. As far as i know, they dont have any walkietalkie system at all. The chairman who figures he can deliver all of his 100 delegate votes for the reagan side on the Vice President ial matter was telling his delegates that the session may last well past midnight. Andold them to stick it out snore in place if you have two but do not let your body depart. At the risk of restating the issue does create a faceoff situation between mr. Reagan and mr. Ford, but it is not quite just that. There are a couple of things happening that could muddy the entire outcome on this vote on 16 c. Some ford people say they are going to vote against president ford. They seem to be thinking while they wantto buy ford, to sue the accessories look like before they finish the purchase. And we have heard from some reagan delegates who say they are going to vote against reagan on this amendment because they is anit is unfair and example of the kind of intense pressure and battle being waged on every, if not every seat in hall is this little piece of paper handed out by the Ford Committee that says vote no on 16 c. Oppose the should amendment because it prevents a fordreagan ticket since governor reagan could not consent to the president s Vice President as required by the amendment. Point number 2 it eliminates a consultation with governor reagan for the Vice President hostile nation. In other words, the ford people are saying reagan is not going to win this president ial nomination. Unless you vote against 16 c, reagan is not going to be considered for Vice President , nor will he have a say in the Vice President ial nominee. Walter there are other subtleties in the matter as suggested by dan rather and that is if 16 c is voted tonight, the chances of resident ford naming it tomorrow morning a moderate sway against him any of those who would support people on the fringes is greatly enhanced and that would be a for instance, howard baker, though there are other moderates who might satisfy liberals and more conservatives in the party. So we are all standing aside here for the shootout from the kc stockyards. Nationallican Convention Coverage by cbs news will resume after this message. Walter the session is set to begin 15 minutes from now, the session that will tell whether president ford will get the nomination of his party or whether it will be Ronald Reagan. We will be watching this rules fight tonight and we have some thoughts full it some thoughts. First toesident is choose winning the nomination rather than winning the election and in terms of the future of the country, the Vice President becomes president four out of the last six president s were Vice President s. Of course the ford people would not oppose it. He wants somebody who can help them in the election, but also somebody who could be president if necessary. Tonight,ses the fight what walter and dan rather are suggesting that it would be someone like baker, and inoffensive moderate. Yes. You have to keep in mind this firstrn not out of any for reform. They tell a story about texas about a fellow who had to have a shotgun wedding. You took the onus off his own indiscretion. To turneagan is trying this convention into a double shotgun wedding. He wants to call for the support of delegates to be angered no matter who he chooses. Is thatigh moral tone it must be so. They are talking at the eastman case. Would 10 hours make that much difference . That is the point. People would have 10 hours to react whether they make that choice or not but to react in , theyof investigating could do nothing. It also highlights the fundamental rule of politics, which is reciprocity. President ial leader would be unable to select the loser as his running mate and closing down politics into an ideological view unto and at agent of reconciliation. There is also the longdistance practical matter of future conventions here and you set a precedent. Each of the big blocks of delegates thinking they would have a serious chance to be president , none of them could designate one or the other as Vice President and it would betray their followers. That is a secondary consideration but a real one. If a liberal nominee or conservative announces 10 hours in advance, he is not going to make anyone happy if he chooses a liberal, he runs the risk of making the battle more pitch and enduring and unreconcilable. The selection happening here is more important than what happens in november. No Vice President has ever increased the popular vote by more than 2 . They can bring in an occasional state like lbj with kennedy, he helped to get texas and louisiana. That was a close calculation, him a littlecost bit. I would expect right now that gerald ford doesnt know who he should take for the best interest of the party or for the country. I think he has to find that answer before he does. Walter we will be back in one minute with cbs News Coverage of the Republican National convention. Walter this crucial session of the Republican National convention is just 10 minutes or so away. It is generally agreed in kansas city that the momentum is with president ford. Nearly all of the delegate polls by various news media indicate ford has gone over the top, somewhere around a margin of five or 10 votes and upi, united press new service quoted a reagan aide as saying he has lost it. I dont see how he can pull it off. A Campaign Manager and a very smart political manager. Ronald reagan hoped to hold off by such maneuvers as the fight , possibly a fight over the platform. That comes up tonight. The 21,000 word document that sets how candidates should campaign, what the Republican Party stands for. There are going to be some amendments offered tonight and one would be an amendment supported by reagan forces in the socalled independent conservatives that would in effect criticize the henry foreignr gerald ford policy. That matter will be on the floor if they get these rules things settled before dawn tomorrow. 16 c is the name of the game because that comes up first. We have not had a test vote of this nature in a Political Convention since 1964 when the liberal scranton forces put a platform fight before the convention and lost it. It was proof the goldwater forces controlled that convention in san francisco. Roger mudd is with a georgia delegate who is against the Vice President ial amendment but is going to vote for it anyway. This is the state chairman of the gop in georgia. If Ronald Reagan is going to win on 16 c, hes going to have to get all the votes he can get. Thatia is a reagan state there are some that will not vote for 16 c. Attempt, at as an to notn technique necessarily embarrass the president but put him in a corner to change delegate votes. Reagan sees this and it could be indicative to how it goes. Roger while it is true you dont favor 16 c, youre going to have devote for it . Yes, i will. There are a lot of allegations. Hat are not sound like i am votes, no matter how it comes out tonight is not going to be indicative of the vote tomorrow night. As it stands right now, i believe president ford probably has the edge. The only way the governor probably has a hope of trying to win the nomination is trying to get the president to name his residential nominee. Most of the mississippi delegation remains officially uncommitted on the question of who should be the president ial nominee, but they made up their mind on this rules thing. Mike Gil Carmichael is the leader of the ford forces in mississippi. He ran for governor and almost took it last year. Gil carmichael, 30 votes against Ronald Reagan, how come question mark how come . There was a vote today and it could not help the interpreted as a ford vote. It was a real desire in the delegation to be very fair. 3128. He people voted as a result, you invoked the unit rule. Does that reflect the fact certain reagan people simply went along . Explain the vote. What happened is a decision was made. The ford strength is there and a lot of people did not believe it. Theres a strong support for president ford and a strong support for governor reagan. Room. Ided up in the mark reid voted for 16 c but has committed himself to president ford, so that gives us 32 votes. Seem to be saying is the mississippi delegation could go for president ford tomorrow night . A try. Mike you remember the uncommitted delegate who said she was going to give up the news first. You have now decided in favor of . President ford. Mike you said you were going to get a message from up on high. Is that where you got it . Back i prayed all night last night. 30 votes against 16 c and conceivably a ford majority for the nomination. Walter dan rather is with one of the ford floor leaders who will be watching his delegate closely on these floor fights. Dan what is the strongest argument you have found to use going tole who say im vote for president ford for the nomination but i really want to support the reagan people on this matter of getting out front with these choices . I dont know any ford people who would do that. To locka scheme schweiker in for Vice President. Reagan has his backers. If the convention would force ford to have a package, they vote between it to packages and swiger would be home free. He can be nominated on the floor of this convention in a straight out fight. If this new rule is adopted, it locks schweiker in if reagan wins. If ford wins, it locks reagan out. Why it would prevent ford from conferring with reagan about Vice President because he couldnt do it until after the contest was over. Dan there were three or four members of the delegation trying to convince you that was not true. Did you find that persuasive . At all. They cannot nominate him on this floor. Is the rules to lock him in without a direct vote. Who would run best with him in the brassica . Reagan. And as locked out if they vote for this new rule. Dan do you think theres any chance despite what he said . Yes. Now he would say no. He would probably say no until thursday morning, but at least he can become altered. Past, ive known a lot of candidates who said no and in the morning, they said yes. Dan that is the kind of argument supporters are giving against 16 c. Walter there is a large Movement Among the more conservative delegates here that even if their candidate is nominated for the presidency, they would vote against his Vice President ial choice when i got to that vote on thursday. It seems almost every few minutes since early this afternoon, we got another indication from our delegate count that ford is building his momentum. We just got word from our people keeping track of the delegates feeding them into our computers, a delegate from virginia just told cbs he would vote for president ford. He had previously been counted as having no preference. To 1141. Goes up is just getting underway now. This crucial session of the convention with the trooping of the colors into the hall. Cbs News Coverage of the Republican NationalConvention Continues in a moment. Announcer cbs news continues its special report, campaign 76. Tonight, the second session of the Re