The Washington times., 1938-10-20
BALTIMORE CITY
VOTE TO DECIDE
GOVERNOR RACE
0'Conor Seen Winner
On Urban Support
BY THEODORE HUNTLEY

BALTIMORE. Oct. 2O.-Every-
body knows by this time that Her
bert O'Conor's big fight is going
to be right here in Baltimore.
Outside of the city the State is,
pretty we'll set. Governor Nice
will carry il. That, at least. is
the general opinion among those
who have checked figures and re-
ports bearing on the coming cleo
ton. 1t takes into consideration
both past performances and cur
rent trends. The unanswered queS-
ton, therefore. is whether the
O'Conor plurality in Baltimore
II there is one-wil offset the
Nice plurality in the counties.
$4,000 PLURALITY
Attorney General O'Conor him.
self looks at the 100000 plurality
he has always received in Balti-
more when he has run for office
in the past, and is satisfied with
the outlook. His campaign aides
say his minimum plurality in the
city should not fall below $4,000,
allowing for the bitterness of the
primary fight between the nomi-
nee and Mayor Jackson.
Against these hopeful predic-
tions, Governor Nice has been say
ing repeatedly in his campaign
speeches that he expects to win.
His campaign associates believe
the same thing. They look for
q close fight in Baltimore, and for
the governors margin in the coun-
ties to put him over. They are
not reducing their claim to figures.
PRIMARY FIGURES
Final figures for the primary
election are available this week
from the office of Secretary of
State E. Ray Jones. They permit
some interesting calculations. The
net result of most of them is to
show O'Conor the probable winner.
The only factor that can be set
against that seeming certainty is
Governor Nice'S extraordinary
performance in his two State cam
paigns of 1919 and 1884, when he
upset all calculations to come in
either as a winner Or officially, to
lose under circumstances which
suggested that he might have been
counted out in Baltimore.
MARGIN OF SAFETY
But this year, with the Demo
cratic registration in the State at
its all-time peak, and with 327 1913
votes cast for all of the Democratic
candidates for governor in the
September primary-81 900 more !
than were ever cast before in |
Maryland primary fight-the Situ-
alton is distinctly more advan-
tageous to all of the Democratic
nominees than it was in 1884, CIV
ing them margin of safety to
cover considerable cutting of the
ticket in the general election.
Unless MarylanderS are going
to throw normal political affilia-
tons to the wind, therefore, and
vote almost altogether on per-
EonalitieS, O'Conor and of course
Senator TydingS - who seems
likely to lead the ticket-should
have no difficulty winning in the
general election. Even allowing
for the loss of a substantial seq
ment of the Jackson vote, the
Democratic nominee for governor
would seem to be safe.
MAKE CHOICE
In any event his fate will be
decided in Baltimore, as it looks
now, as ward leaders, the business
crowd and the run-of-mine voters,
who come out for general elec-
tionS and vote as they darned |
well please, no matter what the
politicians think about it, make
their choice between the tWol
nominees.
On the basis of the official pri-
mary returns from the city and
the counties, here is the way the
vote shapes up in round figures:
O'Conor'S total, 8,000-86, 900
in Baltimore, $1,000 outside.
Jacksons total, 35,OOO-64, 900
IN the city, 71,OO0 outside.
Nice's total, 83,00O-26, 900 in
Baltimore, $1,000 outside.
Other candidates for povernorl