The Wilmington morning star., 1940-02-06
STATE POLITICAL
FIXTURE REVIEWED
u,;ter Sees Cut-And-D Dried
Action On Presiden-
tial Issue
Star-News Bureau
Sir Walter Hotel

4bore we're a whole host of
Fnea +ed candidates for governor,
hsp ped from formal announcement
de'e' carernor Hoey's "short-cam-
By '" IDEAS, the word in political
lalsn vas Wait until right after
tfciss .st of the year and things will
The n'+ IN take some sort of shape.
tsgln ~ can tell what's what and
WY the first of February has
wv and gone, 1910 is more than
ton.' ,+h old and if there has been
H| ohange, it has been in the di-
h. of confusion worse confound-
H' instead Of a simple blueprint,
e. .s. political mar nov looks more
's more like a jigsaw puzzle.
aU minute Men"
result of Friday nights ses-
- If the democratic state COM
sv .!oan,en, who turned out to be
'..rsrallv minute men," there is
NV Unprecedented prospect that
with Wv carolina will select its dele
.os IN a national convention for
st;ob mite possibly not even the
sa.e has been fixed. Certainly the
s.srates will be chosen before there
IL snv definite and sure indication
:, The identity Of the contenders
t.r the presidential nomination.
What it will amount to, it is every
,,bsre agreed in political circles, is
.h.+ former Governor O. Max Gard
,sr and his inner circle will have
~oornlete control of the North Caro-
Ina delegation, just as much so
49, If the state committee had given
Nav credentials in blank leaving
arIv the delegates names for him
TO fill in.
If positively prohibits any real
fvpression by North Carolina voters
an a third term fer President Roose-
welt, who probably will not have
made any definite announcement
| about it prior to the converting of
| The North Carolina state convention.
Hustle And Bustle
All of which provides Tar Heels
| with the somewhat silly sight OF
| ,7ndge Walter A. Siler trying to
| tujld up sentiment for Jack Gar
r4r. while State Senator Joe Blythe
busles and bustles about the bust
| ness of liking North Carolina Paul
". Men. 2onscious.
That n.uhes campaign managers
for a non-existent campaign. It's
all cut and dried. The precinct meet
irgs won't draw a handful of voters
/ and will be rugged and run by a
/ few of the faithful who will go to
/ the meetings with a list of county
/ delegates already in their pockets.
County conventions will in turn
make similar selections of delegates
/ 10 the state convention, which will
turn out to be a fine rubber stamp
for the Hoey administration, so far
as state affairs go, and a docile
agency to select the delegates Gard
ner wants to go to the democratic
/ national convention.
Thereafter there will be much
coaferring and shadow boxing, and
in the last roundup at the national
/ convention, North Cardinals dele
gates will no doubt be found vot-
ing for the winner and nominee.
That's the plan at present.
On the state side, it isn't any
thing like as simple. Here there are
seven announced candidates, six of
whom are regarded as having a re-
mote chance to get into a second
primary, at least. With all due re-
spects TO Colonel Arthur Simmons,
he might just as well be 'chucked
out Of consideration off hand-as he
hasn't even the chance accorded the
celluloid dog chasing the %proverbial
ASBESTOS pussy cat through the in.
lernal regions.
Cooper Is ~"
cooper, undoubtedly, is the real
X Of the gubernatorial equation.
loloTful, a political opportunist OF
'Ae first order, able to get favorable
publicity where nobody else can
"llnlngton's up-down-up mayor may
10 anything from leading in the
,fst primary to polling entirely neg
lglole number of votes. He will
campaign as the broke" candidate,
ana probably with complete SINGER
NY as 1t is doubtful if Tom has
peeh able to lay up a cent even
uullhg his remarkable comeback ca
ieer since his election to the legis-
azure IN 1884. One of the people
1ilaself (his father died and left him
" manage a farm when Tom was
49, talks a language which stirs
@e great mass Of voters as no other