Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-21

its bitterest. Democratic Senator
Mcclellan of Tennessee had just
4 delivered his twenty-third Cor
some such number) TRADE against
President Hoover. Rising to a climax
in which he demanded that Mr.. Hoover
apologize to the Senate" Mcclellan
came to an oratorical rest. The pause
gave an opportunity to Republican Sen
ator Bingham of Connecticut to rise and
with smiling urbanity say MIR. Presi-
dent, 1t Is easy to see that the campaign
of 1892 Is now under way" Whereupon
the Senate registered and the stenog-
Taphers duly wrote down Laughter"
That laughter had the impish honesty
Of men caught in the act. The humor
thus introduced had the quality of dis
infection, of aeration. The Senate, in a
changed mood, listened to Senator Bing-
ham continue:
ct is also quite apparent that our
friends on the other (Democratic) side
of the aisle have made up their minds
thai the people of this country are
going to demand that the present occu-
pant of the White House shall be re-
nominated, and they (the DemocratS)
are engaged in making campaign ma
terial as fast as they can reel it off and
the official reporters take it down"
Senator Bingham was probably COR
correct on the other It is probably
true that the Republicans will renomi-
nate Mr.. Hoover. 1t is certainly true
that "the campaign of 1882 is now under
way"
Campaigns are always under way long
before the public realizes the fact. That
Is, campaigns for the presidential nomi-
nations of the two parties are under
way, in the Senate and wherever else
politicians foregather, many, many
months before the public recognizes the
n1aneuvers of the forces at work.
Election % Months Away.
It is true that the presidential cleo
ton (between the two party candidates.
Of November, 1892 is more than %
months ahead of us. It is true the two
national conventions which will nonli-
nate the respective party candidates in
late June or early July, 1882, are some
18 months ahead of us.
But 1t also is true that the real deter
mination of the candidates of the two
parties Is not much over ID months
ahead of us. This amounts to saying
that the nominees of the Republican
and Democratic parties for the presi-
dency will be determined by about the
middle Of February, 1882
This, statement calls for some expla-
nation. Since the coming of direct pri-
maries in some States and not in others,
the selecting of presidential candidates
has become an intricate process. Speak
ing not in statistical sense, but never
theless in real sense, the writer of this
article believes that the forces which
determine presidential nomination will
have gone so far by about the middle of
February in a presidential year that it
is practically impossible to avert them.
In the old days before the direct pri-
mary. national conventions were COM
posed of free and uninStructed delegates
able to follow their own judgment or to
subscribe to the Judgment of any leader.
Under those conditions the presidential
nomination to be made by national
convention could not be accurately known
until the convention was in session
Since the coming of direct primaries,
however politician or observer SUM-
GENTLY well informed can make a shrewd
guess about February IS in a presiden-
tial year as to whom the national con-
ventions OF the subsequent June and
July will nominate. February is, 1882,
Is only little over Is months ahead of
us, and 1t will surprise nobody Except
the non-politicaI public to be told by
Senator Bingham that the politicians
are already at work
AS to the Republican nominee, it
seems as Of today, as Senator Bingham
put it, that President Hoover will be
renominated. There is as yet no rec
equitable force under way that aims
to alter that outcome.
AS to the Democratic nominee, how
ever. intricate forces are at work Not
only intricate forces-intricate men
also About all that can be said now
is that the Democratic nominee is al
most certain to be wet"
Campaign Claim Analysed.
The aim of the present article is to
examine the assertion that the Demo-
cratic party, with a wet nominee for
the presidency, stands its maximum
chance-and good chance by any
standard of meaSurement-of winning
the presidential election 1882 AS a
text we may begin by quoting the re-
cent words Of an able political CORE
spondent, Frank r. Kent of the Demo-
cratic Baltimore Sun. Mr.. Kent says:
1T is simply too plain to be mistaken
that regardless Of merits, principles,
theories, convictions and personal pre-
elections, the Democratic side must be
the wet side. : TIE strategy of the
Democratic position is too plain for
argument It is not a matter of prin-
ciple; 1t is merely a matter of politics;
of ordinary common political sense.
There is no escape from the logical con-
clusion-and whether you are wet or
dry, Democrat or Republican. their
truth must be conceded. The thing is
foreordained. The wetness of the
Democratic candidate and the Demo-
cratic platform is really settled now.
There is no way out of that
Here, then, in the person of this