The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-10
BEHIND H SCENES
In WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, May 9-Real
truth about the race-that-didn't-
come-off in Maryland's G. O. P.
primary is that astute Senator Taft
was just a wee mite outsmarted
by supposedly unsophisticated Tom
Dewey.
Taft's explanation that he stayed
out of the race because the bosses
were lined up for Dewey was true
enough. What he didn't add was
that the bosses could have been
lined up for Taft; the Dewey peo-
pie just naturally got to them first.
Maryland's G.. O. P. has a fac.
tional fight between ex-Gov. Harry
Nice and W. F. Broening, ex-may-
or of Baltimore, who are running
for the Senate with control of the
state G.. o. P. the real stalk, at
issue. They didn't want a presi-
dental primary contest muddying
the waters, and after the Dewey
people got them lined up they beg
ged Taft to stay out. He complied,
figuring the machines would swing
the primary anyhow and that there
was no sense getting in a family
row.
But if staying out of a party
row lost Taft a delegation in Mary
land, it apparently won him one
in West Virginia. Neither Tai: nor
Dewey has entered the primary
there, but some smart preliminary
spade work seems to have given
Taft the delegates.
TAFT samplers"
IN WEST VIRGINIA
Several weeks ago the Taft
crowd decided to find out ex-
actly what their prospects were in
West Virginia. They sent a big
crew of canvassers on a weeks
auto tour of the state to make ex-
tensive "sampling'' straw vote
tests.
The ~canvassers, incidentally, de-
cided they had to have some sort
of name to operate under, so they
called themselves THE Institute
OF Political Research" They had
some funny experiences.
In a number of cases, citizens
they tagged for a vote would say,
"Oh, yes, I've heard of you people.
You do a pretty scientific job of
a%nalyzing opinion, don't your"
Two or three times a canvasser
would stop a by-passer with,
May I have a moment of your
time?"-and the by-passer would
simply give him a dime and hurry
on.
Anyway, these polls convinced
the Taft people that they could
win if there was a contest, but
they didn't want a contest if they
could help it because there was
an inside-the-party scrap on for
state control.
So, in the end, they made out
filing papers and entrusted them to
a West Virginia G. o. P. bigwig,
with instructions not to file them
unless Dewey filed. Meanwhile,
the Dewey group was eying the
Situation and likewise decided the
scrap was a good one to stay out
of if possible. So they, too, made
out filing papers and left them to
be entered only if Taft filed.
DOUBLING IN TAFT
AND DEWEY
Odd part about it all was that
the man the Dewey crowd left
their papers with was the same
man the Taft people left theirs
with. For a week or more h e
walked about town with two sets
of filing papers in his jeans. In
the end, of course, he didn't file
either, and there's no contest {.
but Taft is due to get the dele
gates.
Meanwhile, in Washington t h e
G. o. P. race is beginning to take
on a "stop-Dewey' aspect, the
New Yorker being far out in front.
There are signs that his rivals are
beginning to gang up against him;
anyhow, in all the other camps you
r beginning to hear: You know,
Dewey would really make a swell
candidate-for vice president"
Jap Advance Troops