Spring Plowing

In the spring of each year preceding a presidential election the political sap rises, and speculation about candidates is borne on every breeze. This spring the game is somewhat one-sided; Republican brows are unfurrowed, their nails unbitten. Although Dwight Eisenhower has said no definite word, his party leaders are convinced that he will be a candidate and Richard Nixon will be his running mate. The thought of an Eisenhower candidacy is most comforting to Republicans, who note that in a last week's Gallup poll a whopping 71% of sampled voters generally approve the way the President is handling his job, and only 16% disapprove.

The present Democratic state of mind is quite different. The Democratic leaders start from the same assumption as the Republicans--that Eisenhower will run and will be almost impossible to beat. This is a discouraging and demoralizing prospect even for a party as vigorous as the 1954 elections proved the Democrats to be. Naturally, a Democrat in the position of National Chairman Paul Butler wants to keep alive the hope that Eisenhower will not run in 1956. After all, a national committee has to keep on collecting funds and holding out the hope of power and patronage.

Another Democratic difficulty hangs on the high probability of Eisenhower's candidacy. By this time in a pre-election year, half a dozen candidates are usually sharpening their spikes for the nomination race. But among the Democratic possibilities for 1956, Adlai Stevenson is so far out in front that few have a serious desire to challenge him. Estes Kefauver, of course, wore his spikes blunt long since, but is still running. As for Averell Harriman, any Governor of New York occupies a strong intraparty bargaining position and must make noises like a presidential candidate.

Last week Harriman made appropriate statesmanoid sounds by delivering a foreign-policy speech to a Democratic "1956 strategy" dinner in Manhattan. Among his hearers were Tammany's Carmine DeSapio, Pittsburgh's Mayor and Boss Dave Lawrence, and Michigan's Governor G. Mennen ("Soapy") Williams, who thinks his green bow-tie talisman may lead him to the vice presidency at least. Another guest, National Chairman Butler, brought encouraging words. A few days before the dinner, he told Albany reporters that "many people around the country" favor Harriman for President.

This helps to keep the party interest up. Besides, there is a real problem in relation to Adlai Stevenson. He might not want to go up against Eisenhower in 1956 (Stevenson will be only 60 years old in 1960, and still presidentially eligible). What if Stevenson refused the honor next year?

Harriman's manager, DeSapio, is no man to neglect this possibility. He has just won with a long shot, and he might as well let his stake ride. It doesn't cost DeSapio anything, and the talk makes the political spring more springlike.

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