The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-09-10
BY TOM WOLF

BY TOM WOLF
 (NEA Service Staff Correspondent
 Nashville, Ind, September 10 = The only thing typical about day with Wendell Willkie is its complete dissimilarity to any other day of the campaign.
 Be 1t damned with appointments in the New York headquarters high above Manhattan's roaring traffic, or be it comparatively free in his comfortable, borrowed house in the calm and quiet of his small mid- western community--it is always the same in being completely different.
 As a rule the candidate is an early riser. One recent day he ran the newspaper correspondents a merry chase by starting his schedule at 6 a. m. with two-hour tour of his five sprawling, brown-barned corn and hog farms in Rush county.
 If there is any rule about the beginning of the day, it is reading the newspapers-as many as he can get his hands on.
 Sometimes the candidates first appointment is at breakfast. During the morning comes the mail. Natur- ally it is impossible for the candi- date personally to attend to large percentage of it, despite such tele- grams as this: Please give per- sonal attention to letter I am mail- ing to you personally within next few days"
 The 1000 to 5000 letters and tel egrams addressed to Willkie per- sonally each day are sorted, and the important ones passed on by a staff of two men, assisted by seven or eight secretaries. Greatest single factor in the mail is suggestions = surprisingly few of the crackpot va riety. But of course there are letters telling Willkie everything from how to stand, breathe, and walk to those suggesting that he renounce his candidacy.
 LIKES PRESS
 CONFABS
 At least once day, usually more often, Willkie calls in the press. Of all his campaigning-every bit of which he obviously enjoys-he most enjoys his daily meetings with the correspondents-both formal con- ferences and informal, unScheduled chats.
 These meetings are a kind of game for the candidate. Here he can match his wits with the best reportorial brains. Here he can try out ideas on well-informed group of men.
 It is not secret that much of the Elwood acceptance speech was tried out on correspondents. Three weeks in advance the reporters knew CJust in the bosom, boys') that Willkie would challenge the Presi- dent to debate.
 A Willkie press conference may be definitely scheduled in advance Gin which case it is almost sure to be at least half an hour late). or it may come at the spur of the g in the morning, at 1o:30 at night, in a plane. or in a restaurant.
 Almost all the scheduled con- ferences begin in the same manner.
 The candidate greets the report CTS by first name. If there is some thing he wants to say, he usually begins with: "Now, I want to talk to you today about Tile doesn't dictate, he doesn't crate. An impor- tant point always ends: Now, do I | make that entirely clear?"
 When he wants to speak "off the record" he usually starts: "Now just between us fellas." Or he may say: Now to fill you in on the back ground of this (which is the signal for the pocketing of re- portorial pencils.
 Willkie usually talks slowly at his conferences, gesturing constant y with head and hands, banging the table with the side of his open hand for emphasis. He smacks his lips togther, strokes his chin, plays with his glasses. While he talks, he ooks from one correspondent to an- other.
 His secretary Oracle" Grahn takes down his remarks, for the candidate never resorts to notes ex- I