COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Sen. Ernest Hollings, who has spent nearly a year on the campaign trail, officially declares his candidacy Monday for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination.
Hollings, Hollywood's image of a president with his neatly trimmed white hair and ramrod bearing, will make his announcement at 8:30 a.m. EST at the campus of Midlands Technical College near the Columbia Airport.
The site was chosen to recall Hollings' action in setting up one of the nation's best state-supported vocational educational systems as a progressive governor a decade ago.
Hollings will repeat the announcement in Washington at the National Press Club and hold a satellite-relayed news conference.
Hollings, 61, is considered a long-shot to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from front-runner Walter Mondale.
Other Democrats who have entered the 1984 presidential race are Sens. Gary Hart of Colorado, Alan Cranston of California and former Gov. Reubin Askew of Florida. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio plans his formal announcement Thursday.
In 1982, Hollings visited 42 states to spread his 'no nonsense' call for an across-the-board federal spending freeze -- and enhance his image as a down-to-earth politician able to firmly grasp the reigns of power.
In his distinctive Charleston accent, Hollings says the results have been encouraging and that he is a serious contender, despite not being a 'national' senator with widespread media exposure or backed by heavy spending -- so far.
Asked if a Southerner can win the presidency after Jimmy Carter, Hollings likes to quip: 'Richard Nixon didn't ruin California for Ronald Reagan.'
In 1982, when critics of Reagan's budget plans were told by the chief executive to 'put up or shut up,' Hollings offered a government freeze proposal as an alternative.
'Just as FDR closed the banks to save them and plowed under the crops to save the farms, we must freeze the federal budget to thaw the economy,' he says.
Hollings also would freeze tax rates at current levels and defer the 10 percent cut set for July.
The senator also called for limiting military spending to 5 percent real growth a year. Hollings, generally hawkish on military matters, does not approve of super-expensive programs like the B-1 bomber and he led the fight against the 'dense pack' basing plan for the controversial MX missile.
'With detente during the 1970s, we cut defense and stepped down our military-industrial complex,' he says. 'It cannot be reincarnated overnight. It will take a gradual buildup of about five years.'
The final proposal in his freeze triad would keep payments to federal pensions, Social Security and government employees at current levels for one year, followed by 3 percent cost-of-living adjustments in 1984 and 1985.
'All it requires is a president leading the call for all Americans to sacrifice,' he says.
