Evening star., 1936-05-14
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By C. Could Lincoln.

mont selections of delegates to the Re-
| publican National Convention Tuesday
are favorable to the Kansas Governor for
| the presidential nomination. The Ohio
delegates, elected on the Taft "favorite-
son" slate, Al out of So, are ready to vote
| Tor Landon, with few exceptions, after
| they have recorded q first vote for the
| son Of the late President and Chief
| Justice. Half a dozen Of them may be
| found voting for Col. Knox, Chicago
| publisher, but the rest are decidedly in
clining to Landon. In West Virginia
the bulk Of the delegates elected are for
Landon. The Republican State Conven-
| ton in Vermont, without instructing
delegates for the Kansan, gave him hope
for that States delegation.
| Unless the Landon leaders are seri-
ously fooling themselves, the Kansas
Governor will have nearly 400 delegates
on the first ballot. 1t is likely he will
have more than 400, from all appear
ances. 1t takes only SOL delegates to
nominate, with the entire delegate
strength Of the convention voting. Many
Of the delegates now counted for Lam
don are "uninstructed," but known to
be at present favorable to the Governor
1t Is possible, Of course, that something
might happen during the next three or
| four weeks to cause the Landon band
wagon to falter-but it is not probable
The Ohio primary gave Senator Borah
Of Idaho only five delegates. In this it
ran rather true to expected form. The
Statewide contest for delegates at large
was disappointment to the Senator,
for Daniel E. Morgan, who was the high
4 OF H. l. Ill
slate, was far behind the lowest man on
the Taft slate. Borah faced great odds
in the Ohio primary, with the Republican
State organization lined up solidly
against him, and the supporters of Knox,
Landon. Vandenberg and other aSpir-
ants for the presidential nomination
backing the State organization slate. His
failure to make better showing in Ohio
lessons materially the Idaho Senator's
| chances for the nomination.
With the lessening of Borah's chances
the opportunity for the field" to tie up
the Republican National Convention in
a deadlock would thus prevent Landon
from getting majority of the delegates,
and the nomination seems almost at the
vanishing point Knox will have bloc
of delegates, as well as Borah, and
Michigan will turn in for Vandenberg
and Iowa probably for Dickinson There
have been reports that some of the older
Republican leaders, like HilleS of New
York, Williams of Oregon. Roraback of
Connecticut, and some of the Pennsyl-
vanianS, might band together in an effort
to put across Senator Steiwer of Oregon
| the keynote speaker and temporary
chairman of the convention. If they are
planning such a move they will have to
move fast The Landon swing is gaining
momentum as the days go by.
The Democratic protest vote against
| President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the
Ohio primary promises to reach 10000
or more. Roosevelt carried the preSi-
Dental preference primary there against
Col Henry Breckenridge by about IA to l.
This is far better showing than the
President made in Maryland, where he
beat Breckenridge by only 51s to /, but
not so good as his record in the Penn
Sylvania primary, where he won by
about 20 to I. These Democratic protest
votes indicate distinct cleavage in the
party. In Ohio, Breckinridge made only
few brief radio addresses in the last
week of the primary campaign. He had
no organization whatever. and yet some
10000 Democrats went into the voting
booths and marked their ballots for him.
The next and final clash in the pri-
maries between the President and Breck-
inridge will come in New Jersey next
| Tuesday. OF course, the President
showed under Breckenridge in the Ohio
| primary. 1t is no news that he did. 1t was
unthinkable that Breckenridge could run
anywhere near the President. AS in
Pennsylvania and Maryland, however,
the Breckenridge vote in the Buckeye
State showed that many Democrats are
| breaking away from the Roosevelt lead
ership, and many of these disgruntled
Democrats will not support him in
| November.
| The veteran Senator Nicely did the
expected in West Virginia and won re-
nomination, despite the efforts of Rush
D. Holt, the junior Senator, to unhorse
him in the primary. Nicely ran far
ahead of Ralph M. Hiner, former Speaker
of the House of Delegates, his opponent
for the Democratic senatorial nomina-
tion. Holt two years ago was elected to
the Senate with the support of Nicely.
The two Democratic Senators fell out
over patronage matters in the State, and
Holt has recently made bitter charges
about the handling of Federal relief and
the w. P. A. in West Virginia. The pri-
mary fight has left many scars. Whether
the Democrats can patch up their differ
ences and put Nicely across in the No
vember election remains to be seen.
Probably good deal will depend upon
how strongly President Roosevelt, at the
head OF the ticket, will run in the Fall.
| Senator Borah- won the presidential
preference vote in the West Virginia
| primary. He was the only Republican
entered. But most of the elected dele
gates to the national convention an
nounced they would not be bound by the
results of the preference primary, and
many of them said they would support
Landon. So the West Virginia primary
was blow also to the Borah candidacy.
The lure of the A. A. A. check is strong
among the farmers of Kansas. That is
the burden of the testimony given here
by those who have knowledge of the
farmers sentiments. Not only did the
| A. A. A. hand over to the farmers Gov
ernment checks for not growing wheat
and corn and hogs, but it actually saved
many of them from utter ruin during
the last two years. For Kansas was hard
hit by drought. The farmers could not
have grown crops on their acres which
| they took out of production If they tried.
| When the Supreme Court of the United
States knocked down the A. A. A. there
| was a feeling of resentment among many