Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-19
FAVORITE SONS FOR 1908
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tecOEW-htEhiW
stances such as exist at the present.
Ohio will send either a Taft or a
Foraker delegation, and even should
It he Foraker that will not eliminate
Secretary Taft from consideration, for
states in the middle west already are
taking action favorable to the secre-
tary Of war and he cannot be turned
down by politicians in the state where
he happens to reside Taft, In short,
is bigger than a mere favorite son,
and the fact that he is believed to be
the man favored by President Roose-
welt will operate to give him great
strength among the masses of Roose-
welt admirers who take the president
at his word and think 1t out of the
question TO persuade him to run again.
Indiana, of course, will back Fair
banks, although a good many of the
Hoosier political leaders may cross
their fingers when his name is pre-
sented. Illinois, according to expecta-
tion in Washington and in the light
of action by conventions in the state
last summer, will honor Speaker Can
non.
Wisconsin, 1t is expected, will present
a candidate, even If fight be necessary
to decide who he shall be. The La Fol-
lette men will endeavor to select dele
cation committed to him-one that the
senator can handle as he pleases when
the time arrives to change the vote, II
a change be necessary.
On the other hand the Spooner people
think that by next year events will
create new wave of enthusiasm in
favor of the brilliant senator who has
just resigned his seat to practice law.
Iowa will undoubtedly present either
Governor Cummins or former Secretary
of the Treasury Shaw.
In the last free-for-all convention
fight--in 1S8S-there were seventeen ia
vorite sons and dark horses who re-
ceived substantial support or scattering
votes. The favorite sons who cut a
real figure were John Sherman Of Ohio,
Chauncey M, Depew of New York, Rus
sell A. Alger of Michigan, Benjamin
Harrison of Indiana, Senator Allison of
Iowa, James G. Blaine of Maine, John
J. ingalls, Of Kansas, Governor Jere-
miah M. Rusk of Wisconsin and Will
liam Walter Phelps of New Jersey.
Walter Q. Gresham of Indiana was sec
ond on the list on the second ballot, al
though his state was for Harrison.
Mayor E. H. Filter of Philadelphia had
the Philadelphia delegation behind him,
and scattering votes were received by
William Mckinley, Robert T. Lincoln,
j. b. Foraker and others.
Fairbanks occupies a good deal the
same position today that Sherman did
in advance of the 1888 convention. Sher-
man led at the start with 229 votes
more than double the number for any
other candidate, and most of them were
colored delegates from the south.
Those who look for precedents to de-
termine prospective political contests
think that Taft, if he carries Ohio, will
occupy the position that Harrison and
Gresham combined occupied the last
time there was a fight for the nomina-
tion, nineteen years ago He would
have his own state delegation and prob
ably would not have an opponent from
his own state playing for outside votes
in the north. Foraker, of course, might
have some southern delegates. Taking
everything together the situation right
now is decidedly pleasing to the friends
of the secretary. The continued eX-
posures of corporation evils such as
developed by the Hartman investiga-
ton, are strengthening the progressive
campaign and the Roosevelt idea, and
as Secretary Taft seems to be its IA
vorte representative, with Roosevelt
out of consideration his strength is be-
ginning to worry the other candidates
who are not mere favorite sons.
In 1S84-the Blaine Cleveland year
there were several candidates before
the Republican national convention, al
though Blaine led from the start and
was clearly the party choice. Therel
were exciting contests in 1880, and back
of that in 1876. After the 1888 conven-
tion, however, the contest was decided
in advance of the convention, with the |
exception of 1892, and then the contest |
was between Harrison and Blaine only. |
Mckinley was a winner in 1896 before |
the first ballot was taken. His renom- |
ination in 1900 was a mere matter of |
form, and Roosevelt's naming in 1904
was as unanimous.
The impression here is that Chicago |
will get both the big party conventions |
next year without any particular effort, |
and if the Republican hosts do assem-
BILE there the city will witness the most
spectacular party gathering in two
decades.