Evening star., 1938-06-22
MAINE ELECTION
FIGHT TO Be HOT
Democrats and Republicans
Will Turn Best Orators
Loose in State.
by the Associated Press.

by the Associated Press.
Maine voters. who held their pri-
maries yesterday. have set the stage
for the first round of the 1888 cleo
ton contest, and it promises TO be
furiously fought right down to Maine
election day. September l2
Even disregarding the old saying
that as Maine goes in September, 50
will go the Nation in November, both
parties have such q stake In the Maine
outcome that they are likely to mobilize
their big guns there. President Roose-
velt is generally believed to have jotted
Maine down on the list Of speeches he
will make after his return from his
Western trip. Important national Re-
publican figures can be expected tc
take hand in helping Maine elect q
new Governor.
Both sides steered clear of national
issues in the primaries in Maine. The
Republican contest, which resulted ir
. denomination for Gov. Barrows, was
fought out on strictly State questions
Former Gov. Brann. Democrat, was
unopposed for nomination. No hint
Of the Democratic party friction ir
Washington or elsewhere was allowed
to enter the party picture in Maine.
Minnesota Significant.
The Farmer-Labor primaries in
Minnesota. where Gov. Benson's lead
was mounting as this was written
were far more significant than the
Maine trial heats. since some glimpse
might be afforded there of the 1888
attitude Of Northwestern liberals
toward President Roosevelt and his
policies. Yet it is in Maine that the
weeks political developments head ur
because OF that early election date.
Election of Democratic Governor
IN Maine in September would be q
sharp blow to rising Republican hopes
OF l938-l940 comeback. Maine stood
fast in Republican ranks in 1896
against the Roosevelt-New Neal sweep
To lose it now would be an i'll omen
for the party and Democrats would
make much Of it. And Mr.. Brann
over q number Of yeaB. has proved
himself a vote getter. 1t is a safe pre-
diction that all the oratorical heat
that either the White House or the
Democratic National Committee car
provide will be turned on in his be-
half. Republican campaigning efforts
Will be no less vigorous.
Democrats on Defense.
Democrats hold 50 one-sided q
proportion of State and congressional
offices to be filled this year that the
party Is on the defensive almost eyery-
where. Even Minnesota. and to an
extent North Dakota, where primaries
come next week, are not complete
exceptions because OF the virtual al
lance that has existed between Gov
Benson and the New Deal and the aid
New Dealers have given Senator Nye
Republican. in his denomination fight
Maine is the notable exception. It
is solidly Republican congressionally
Its electoral vote has never been cast
for a Democratic presidential candi-
date except Wilson in 1912. There
IS everything to gain and nothing to
lose for the administration in con.
centrating an intensive effort on
Maine. Moreover. the unopposed
nomination of Brann. twice before
Governor, frees that contest of any
OF the intra-party hostility between
New Dealers and anti-New Deal
Democrats that troubles Democratic
affairs In many other States.
The Roosevelt administration risked
prestige in throwing aid to Gov. Ben
son in Minnesota and in intimations
that 1t favored Senator Nye for the
Senate in North Dakota over his Re.
publican rival. It was stepping OUT
side Democratic party affairs in those
cases, presumably to keep non-Demo-
cratic liberals In the Northwest in q
sort Of working alliance with the New
Deal
None of those considerations is in
volved In Maine. It is An old-fash-
ioned, two-party tight there. Yet this
year, as perhaps never before to the
same extent. the Maine portents in
September will have = value all their
own. They should give q definite
answer to the question: How extern
sively has there been q Democratic
conservative drift away from 'Presi-
dent Roosevelt and the New Deal
since 1896?