The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-29
By Staff Writer

campaign of 1910 has begun. the
preliminary stage setting was
completed when the Republican
National Committee decided tc
hold its nominating convention IN
Philadelphia, beginning June "a
and the Democrats picked Chica-
go as the place and July Is as the
date upon which their party dele
gates will meet and either reno
inmate MIR. Roosevelt for a third
term or select some other stand
ard-bearer to oppose the one Sc
lected by the Republicans three
weeks earlier.
All the indications as OF the
present time are that both con-
ventions will be under the con-
trail of the well-oiled political
machines of the two parties
There are no signs discernlble
of any situation in either party
which might bring about such a
stampede of delegates as result
ted, for example, in the surprise
nomination of Mr.. Bryan in 1896.
Neither is there much likell-
hood, as experienced political OBJ
servers in Washington see the sit
uation, of either convention get
ting into such a deadlock that
some dark horse will have to be
picked by the party leaders and
offered to the delegates as a
compromise candidate. Except IN
a situation where the victory OF
one party or the other is a fore
gone conclusion that sort of last
minute compromise amounts to a
confession of weakness and so
every experienced politician tries
to avoid them.
No Decisive Advantage
Neither. party has such a de-
cisive advantage over the other
this year as to encourage either
convention to nominate any but
the man who seems to have such
a preponderant popular following
that his chances of election ap-
pear to be better than those OF
his rivals.
It is considered, therefore, a
practical political certainty that
the Republican party leaders will
throw their strength in the con-
ventien to whichever Of the three
outstanding Republican contend
ers has made the best showing of
popular support in the presiden-
tlal primaries which are soon to
be held in thirteen states.
At present, before the first of
these primaries. that to be held
in New Hampshire on March II,
Washington political dopesters
give Mr. Dewey approximately
100 delegates already assured,
Senator Taft about ITO and Sen
ator Vandenberg about $50. That
totals up to 500, or exactly half
the total number of delegates.
Some of the state primaries
operate to put a definite party
mandate behind the delegations
chosen at these preliminary cleo
tons; others amount merely to
registering the presidential pre-
ference Of the party voters. There
is nothing actually in the primary
results which binds any delegate
SO tightly that he cannot shift his
vote to some other candidate.
But the net effect Of these pri-
mary choices is to provide a
guage whereby to measure the
popular voting strength of the
different candidates, and that is
bound to influence the undecided
and uninstructed members of the
convention.
How 1t Works
If, for example, Mr.. Dewey
should get fifty or 100 more votes
on the first ballot in the conven-
ton than any other, and on the
second ballot should increase his
lead, that would be evidence to
a large proportion of the dele
gates that he is regarded as be-
ing acceptable to many who did
not vote for him on the first bal
lot; and that in turn would pro-
badly result in swinging larger
number of votes to him on the
third and succeeding ballots, I'M
til he had majority. Or if Mr..
Vandenberg OR Mr.. Taft made a
similar showing he would be
most likely to be the party no
minee.
Naturally, the mechanics of no
minating presidential candi-
date is not quite as simple as that,
: for account must be taken of all
of the undercover manoeuvering
carried on by politicians through
out the proceedings, in the effort
to swing votes away from some
candidates and to others. But, in
effect, that is how the 1910 Re-
publican candidate for president