The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-25
GEORGIA CAMPAIGN
 NEARING THE END
SENATOR STEVE CLAY AND TOM
 WATSON ARE SAID TO BE IN TERESTING THEMSELVES IN
 THE CONTEST FOR GOVERNOR.

Atlanta. May 24-(Special.) )-Less than two weeks remain of the cam
 paign for governor, but the situation has not sufficiently cleared to furnish ground for a prediction either way, nor does it seem likely to in advance of the primary.
 Just what inroads Governor Smith has made on the Brown strength by his campaign throughout the state it. is difficult to say. Of course the claim is made that the governor has con- verted some thousands of voters to his
 way of thinking, but in Brown head
 quarters this Is emphatically denied.
 The Smith people are now strongly claiming Cobb county, the home county of Jospeh M. Brown. prominent
 Smith supporter of Marietta said to-
 day he had bet s25 that Cobb would go for Smith, and when a Brown man replied:
 Well, Cobb county has never yet
 gone against Steve Clay'
 Continuing he declared that Senator Clay was writing letters to his friends in Cobb in behalf of Governor Smith, and he felt certain the senator's in- fuence would carry the county. Another element in the campaign that is little difficult to figure on is | the effect of Thomas E. Watsons at titude against Governor Smith, It Is | claimed that MT. Watson's writings are l having their effect in the country and | that it will be quite apparent on the | day of the primary.
 The Smith people won't talk much | about Watson. It is to be noted that l Governor Smith has scarcely mentioned | Watson in any of his speeches, nor has he once replied to any of the state | ments which MT. Watson has made in l his Jeffersonian against the governor S candidacy. According to reports 1t IS l generally believed that if the governor should come back at Watson the latter l would not hesitate to take the stump | against him. Naturally the governor | does not want to bring that about. There is quiet talk, however, on the l part of thu Smith people that a victory | for the governor will practically mean 1 the political funeral of Tom Watson. l and they are apparently rejoicing at 1 just the thought of it.
 | Governor Smith has waged perhaps i the fiercest campaign that has ever | been made for the governorship not ! even excepting that of two years ago. | The former was the longer campaign l extending over a period of more than | a year but 1t was at no time so in = ! tense as now The governor is making | from eight to ten speeches a week, ap- pearing sometimes before three au- ! diences in one day. He is darting back and forth between north and south l Georgia at a tremendous rate, and al- though he is apparently confident now
 that he at one time feared the result l there Is scarcely any doubt.
 Equal confidence is expressed in the ] Brown headquarters. MT. Brown, minis | latest card, declares that he has the | race won and that his nomination on | June 1 is now assured His friends l express the belief that he will carry
 close to 100 counties; they are banking | on many in which it is generally be- lieved the result whichever way it goes, will be close.
 Each side has some 10 or a dozen
 speak CTS In the field, and will continue
 "whooping things up'' until the day
 of the primaN.
 | The governor does not seem at all
 certain about Fulton, his home county
 as he continues to make ward speech es
 here. Local politicians who have cam
 vassed the county in their own behalf
 are practically unit in the statement
 that Fulton will go for Brown. and
 that there will have to be a tremendous 1 change of sentiment for it to get
 around the other way before the nri-
 mary.