The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-12-12
johnson Is
Out toScalp
President Placed on Defense
of Guarding G.. 0. P. Lau.
rels in Race for Nom
jnatiOn.
InatiOn.
Senator to Seek W est
by MARK SULLIVAN.

means are all republican leaders
satisfied with the turn events have
taken. Some of them would have
preferred that Coolidge should not
be a candidate in the formal sense.
They assume that Coolidge will not
make any trips through the country,
nor otherwise be an active candidate
uen the slam bang sense that Johnson
Is. To this extent, the elder guar
dians of the republicans party's for
tunes are glad. But they would have
preferred it II active work in behalf of
Coolidges nomination could have
been kept even more in the back
ground.
Their theory is in two sentences:
First, Coolidge cannot be nominated
unless he makes a good president;
and second. if Coolidge is a good
president, no one else can take the
nomination away from him. Since
Coolidges nomination depends SO
completely on the record he makes
as president, these leaders would
have preferred to let the outcome be
determined by that alone.
To Be Effective Campaign.
1t is now settled, however, that
there will be an energetic and
thoroughg going Coolidge organization
on a nationwide scale under the
management Of his friend, the repub-
lican national committeeman from
Massachusetts, William NJ. Butler.
The truth, it is not possible for
Coolidge to be completely passive.
Ills hand is really forced by provi-
sions of the South Dakota, Maryland
and some other state primary laws,
which require him to answer specific
ally "yes" or mo- to the question
whether he will accept the nomina-
tion.
All his friends say, and some of
them have already made public the
confident anticipation that coincident
with the setting up of Mr.. Buffers
organization the coming week, Mr.
Coolidge will farrnaily say yes"
Thereafter, these friends say. Mr..
Coolidge will formally say yes
business OF being as good president
as he knows how. and will trust the
rest to Mr.. Buffers energy and the
will of the people.
Coolidge Against Johnson.
These developments will complete
the picture of the coming year on the
republican side. 1t will now be GER
tain that there will be two nation
wide candidates. for the republican
nomination fighting each other in all
the states, Coolidge's and Johnson's.
In the, judgment of the writer. it can
1.af IN 10 l,at
will be the only nation wide candi
dacies.
All others will be confined to local
states on a "favorite son" basis. The
widely anticiated candidacy of Gov
ernor Pinehot on a nationwide basis
does not now seem probable. Pin
chot will almost certainly be a candi-
date in his own state of Pennsyl-
yania, but probably not outside It,
La Toilette will be a candidate on
a slightly more than a single state
basis, but short of nationwide basis
La Toilette will certainly run In Wis
consin and probably in n few neigh
boring states like Minnesota the
Dakotas. and Nebraska. But this. or
very little more, will be the extent of
La Follette's candidacy
The big fight will be Coolidge YER
sus Johnson. Specifically It looks
like sheer folly for johnson to try to
take the termination away from a
president secure in his office and
with the public favor among repub-
Hcan voters generally sympathetic to
him.
TO Play on EmotionS
Johnson viii make a world of
trouble for Coolidge. johnson will
be personally on the stump, and
Coolidge will not. Johnson's speech
making, emotionrousing capacity Is
an immense asset in the sort Of fight
he expects to make. Further than
this. johnson will have resources and
professional political management 10
an extent exceeding what General
Wood had in 1920.
With this equipment. johnson is
certain to win some Of the state pri-
naries. TT Johnson should prove that
he can take, say n third, or n half,
OF the delegates away from Coolidge In
Ohio. and "a similar fraction in New
Jersey, he would not be able TO claim
inb lipiilHdtlDilf Dui nt UtHUt give
the republican leaders excuse or rea-
son to withhold the nomination from
Coolidge.
II must be conceded as among the
possibilities that Johnson may be
able to make some such showing as
this In the big doubtful states. John
sons friends think he can carry In
diana. The writer doubts this; but
under tho Interpretation of tho pri.
mary law Of Indiana, johnson may
get some delegates there.
To Seek Vests Backing.
Further. II must be conceded as
among tho possibilities that johnson
rnay appeal to the sectional pride OF
the west. His managers count on
saying TO the west that this Califor-
MIA senator presents the first real
chance the west has ever had 20 put
ons of its own in the White House
IL johnson should get approximate.
ly half the delegates from west of
the Mississippi, that would not nom
mate him. but II might be construed
az notice that the west Is unsympa-
thetlc 10 having a New Englander In
the White House, and might cause