Evening star., 1936-06-07


In making this statement take into
account not merely the number of dele
gates committed to Gov. Landon-act-
ually the number Of delegates binding
ly committed to him is not extraordi-
narily impressive; other candidates in
the past have had more delegates, yet
failed to get the prize. But Gov. Lam
don's nearneSs to the nomination does
not rest merely on the number of his
delegates: early in the race he decided
not to try for large numbers of dele
gates, not to enter many State pri-
maries and, generally, not to act as a
candidate conducting a high-presSure
Campaign.
Mr.. Landon's advanced position is
due in part to the lack of any one
strong rival: to the lack. also, of any
strong opposition to him. whether
among groups of delegates or groups
of the public. Taking all these con-
siderations into account, the general
tzation is true that no candidate in
either party was ever as close to the
presidential nomination as Gov. Lam
don is, and thereafter failed to get it.
Champ Clark Lost.
True, in the 1912 Democratic con-
vention, Champ Clark, at one stage of
the balloting, had more than half the
delegates. yet later lost to Woodrow
Wilson. But that was a special condi-
tion. The Democrats have the two
thirds rule; in that party nearneSs to
the nomination means not merely
nearness to having majority of the
delegates, but nearness to having two
thirds. Also, in that case some of the
delegates who made up Clark's maj ajor-
ity were not really his-they were
thrown to him temporarily as a mat
ter Of strategy by rival candidates. 1t
is further true that in 1912 Theodore
Roosevelt, seeking the Republican
nomination for what was described as
third term, though it actually was
not that, had larger number of dele
gates than Gov. Landon has. But
Theodore Roosevelt had one strong
outstanding rival in the person of
President Taft. and also had deter
mined, implacable opposition to him
from a very large number of delegates.
All in all, arguing from precedent, it
would be most surprising if Gov. Lam
don should fail to win next week.
Has Popular Support.
Conceivably if this had been real
Tight for the Republican nomination,
with Gov. Landon and others contend
ing earnestly against each other in all
the State primaries, Mr.. Landon
might possibly be even nearer the
nomination than he is For it was
quite apparent that he had more pop
ular support than any of the candi-
dates who entered primaries against
him. 1t seems probable that had he
entered all the primaries he would
have won many of them.
The fact that neither Gov. Landon
nor any OF the other candidates con-
tended in many State primaries, that
most OF the delegates are therefore un-
instructed and that many of the dele
gates are in favor of Gov. Landon
without being bindingly instructed to
vote for him-this condition accounts
Tor state of mind which has pre-
vailed with most of the delegates and
leaders for some time. Probably fully
half the delegates, many of them with
out being bindingly committed to Gov.
Landon, favor his nomination. But
because of the conditions I have men
toned they have not crystallized into
clear determination to nominate him,
They regard themselves as extremely
likely to nominate him, but they feel
no urgency to come to a decision until
the actual balloting begins.
Acute Looking Over"
The last few weeks have been a pe-
riod OF suspended judgment, time of
acute looking over" Gov. Landon. He
has been surveyed both as a possible
candidate and as a possible President.
II there was anything in his record or
his personality or any other circum-
stance about him which would clearly
1ncapacitate him the circumstance
would have been brought out.
There has even been inquiry and
speculation about just what kind of
campaign the Democrats might be able
to make against Gov. Landon if he
should be nominated. In this connec-
ton it has been learned that the Dem
ocrats expect to 'pooh-pooh" Gov.
Landonis record of having balanced
the budget of his State. The Demo-
Gratis, some OF them say are going to
claim that Gov. Landon kept Kansas
expenditures down and balanced the
Kansas budget-but only by contrib
uting considerably to the Federal bud
gets unbalance. The Democrats are
going to say that Kansas has received
a total Of nearly $4U0, ,00O, 900 from the
Federal Treasury, including Federal
payments to Kansas through the Farm
Credit Administration, Federal contri-
buttons to offset unemployment in
Kansas and the other channels
through which Federal contributions
to the States were made. The Demo-
Gratis will say further that Gov. Ian
don took this money for Kansas and
never made any objection to the New
Deal policies which put out the money
Public May Not Be Moved.
Probably this argument will not
move the public much. Gov. Landon's
responsibility was Kansas, not the
Federal Government. And many
earnest persons, local public officials
and individuals, have taken the view
that the New Deal policies are deplor-
able-but that since the money was
being passed out, and since the tax
payers must later pay it back, they
might as well accept their share of
the benehcence.
Consideration has been given to the
fact that Gov. Landon has never been
Federal official, never been mem
ber Of Congress, and, therefore, pre-
sumably has not had experience with
Federal problems. Probably that will
not weigh much with the public
either; Calvin Coolidge, before he was
nominated for Vice President and
stepped from that Office into the presi-
dency, had had, like Gov. Landon, his
only public experience as a Governor