The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-12-15

W dSHlll Slblls ~ - 49,
actual fight of President TAFT for
denomination and reelection began
with the meeting in this city last
Tuesday of the republican national
committee. Naturally, the national
committeeman gave ont encouraS-
ing interviews concerning the pres
ident's chances. Confidentially. how
ever some of them admitted that
the fight ahead for the republican
party is hard one. with foes with
in as well as foes without menacing
the success of the ticket.
However. the republicans have al
ways had habit of getting togeth
er on the home stretch. and this
encourages the republican committee
men who met here to map out the
preliminary plans for the struggle
of 1912.
1t was understood beforehand that
the committee would not attempt to
select permanent chairman at this
time The selection of this official
was deferred until a later date, and
the president himself is said to have
been responsible for the fact that
no permanent chairman was named
when the committee met. The per
anent chairman will have the rrmt
of the political battle &c beGr: and
the almost pains vii be taken %
obtain a man who can solidify, if pos
sible, the republican forces md who
can rout the democratic army. The
president made it known that he
wished deferred the selection of his
campaign manager for 1912.
The presidents reasons are under
stood to be that it would be EN-
barrassing to select a man at this
stage of the game who might be
termed a Taft man" Mr.. Taft does
not wish the idea to go abroad that
he is railroading matters, and for this
reason he counseled a goslow pro
gram. There is plenty of time yet
for the selection of the chairman
of the committee, and in the mean
time developments will show the
strength of the LaFollette movement
While the possibility is remote, it
would have been embarrassing had
the president insisted upon the Sc
time. Suppose, for instance, that af-
ter the national convention it was dis
covered that Senator LaFollette or
Colonel Roosevelt was the nominee.
1t would be very unf rtunate, in
this event to find a Taft man at
the head of the national committee,
so the prudent thing to do was to
defer the selection OF chairman
until after the convention, or at
least until sufficient states have
instructed their delegates to insure
the denomination of President Taft
If the members of the republican
national committee are confident OF
success in 1912 they have nothing
on democratic prognosticators who
will meet here on January s. One
of the greatest celebrations in the
history of the democratic party is
now being planned for the day when
the democratic clans will gather to
pick a place for the national con
With the republican committee
meeting out of the way. attention nat.
urally turns to the plans OF the dem
ocrats and the probable selection
for the place o. holding of the ma.
londl convention. Baltimore, dcs
p.te the TACT that tle democratic
ticket lost cut in the recent cleo
tions in that state, is still in
,he running, anG - making a des.
.slate fight for the honor of being
the convention city" Other aspir
ants are Denver, Colorado, and st.
Louis, with Chicago qualifying also
as a receptive candidate. Chicago
has had so many conventions, how
ever, and its natural advantages are
such that it does not have to put
forth any strenuous efforts to OBJ
tain a gathering of the platform and
candidate makers of the great po-
litical parties. 1t would not be sur
prising if the democrats decided to
meet in Chicago.
AS has been the custom for years,