The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-11-02
Political Can1paign Gossip

GOSSIp
 By X. P. RIENCE
 Ihs battle draws nearer and the battle-lines are tighter. It looi<s like . close race all-around/ Joseph McIevy will probably get 0O,OOO to SO,OO0 votes against the SS,OO0 of two years ago. Eighty per cent will be from the Democrats. Ae cannot win but he can change the results. Governor Cross is al- 50 losing some of his previous Re- publican supporters tor one reason or another, principally because he has openly hitched his political wagon to the New Deal. Baldwin $ comparatively unknown around the state but will get the straight Republican vote with few defec- tons. It looks like Governor Cross to win by . narrow plurality, but anything can happen.
 The Surest winner in Waterbury ls Commissioner Egan in the 18th. district, as straightforward can- didate aS any party ever offered the voters. The tactics of few of the Independent ringleaders are raising foolish technical questions aS te his nomination have only served to cause the sincere Inde- pendents to flock to his support. He is genuinely popular anyway. His gOOd-natured sincerity is not inst . prediction discovery but something that has been well known by his neighbOrs during an entire lifetime spent in his dis- ttict.
 It is a nawfully quiet campaign year in Waterbury on both sides Of the fence. The Democratic rift of last year hes kept g lot of peo- pie on the sidelines but indications are that most of the rank and filN are back on the wagon. The local Republicans do not seem to enthuse much over their candi- dates and seem resigned to the be- lief that the tide has not yet turned back in their direction.
 There will be some very selective voting on the parts of those who always split . ticket and who con- sider each candidate on his merits. Same Democrats will profit by it mere than usual.
 Johnnie Goss had the correct answer when the reform boys tried to box him up on the city manager question. He has mind of his own and a good one, and he means 1t when he said it's up to the people of Waterbury to de- eide such questions. If elected he can be counted on to show the usual Goss family loyalty to Wa aterbury and its people. George Culhane knows the Republicans gave him . strong opponent but hA also knows 1t will be & clean campaign as far as Johnnie Goss is concerned. They are both sports enough to accept the result, which ever way 1t goes.
 What . boner the Republicans pulled in picking the school Mnarm" McConaughy for their ticket. If they had nominated him for governor and had been able to shut off his prattIe he night have OoAsted in on his reputation as . college president against the other cOlIegian, Governor Cross. Instead, he got the notion he had to do . let of shouting and condemning, which only cheapens himself and spills the beans. And are the boys aore!
 Joe Smith will carry Waterbury and don't you believe otherwise. Also Ansonia, Naugatuck, Torring- ton, and the district. It's close but he has done 8 job that satisfies Republicans as well as Democrats for he did just what most any one of us would have done when it came to voting on the various measures presented to Congress. Joe is too reticent to blow his own horn, but his scholarship record at Yale Law School would win an election for anyone. His nornina- tion of Governor Cross at the state convention was not a politi- cal move but an indication of the learned governors respect for Joe's character and intellectual aciimeil. Democrats of all factions are for him in spite of the holler- 1ngS Uf . very few malcontentS.
 And did ,. Francis Smith lower Inc dignity of MT. McConaughy a few notches by styling him . smart aleck" college president! Wew! The Smith brain works qpickly in any emergency and generally hits the nail on the head.
 The popular Dan Mahaney with go0d old Brooklyn behind him to q man is sure to add to his long term of service in Hartford. Dams friends are legion and he makes them all the while. His opponent, Joe Me0urk, 8 Republican in a hotbed of Democrats has a lot OR friends on both sides of the political fence and should run ahead of his ticket.
 xt IenIrs more certain every day eeR Attorney Pat Healey for pro- bate judge over George Lynch. Both good fellows but MT. HeaIey's AsB and experience will tell. Like J8ase Slavin before him he will
 PLUMBING
 At last the shoppers c