Inside Report (6)

August 29, 1980

The Talmadge victory in Georgia this week could spell defeat for McGovern in South Dakota in November. If Sen. Herman Talmadge had lost his primary bid, George McGovern would have been next in line to be chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. That would have been a blue-ribbon prize for South Dakota, which has an economy grounded on cattle, hogs, wheat, and dairying.

The chairmanship might have persuaded conservative South Dakotans to swallow McGovern's crusading liberalism and re-elect him. Without it, he's an underdog.m