Evening star., 1940-06-10

he will run.
onA'es u ROSE Though Sen
ator Bennett c. Clark, contending
for mastery with Gov. Lloyd C.
Stark, largely controlled the selec-
tion of delegates to the Democratic
National Convention, the delega-
ton can be put down as strongly
pro-Roosevelt. What happened
was that Clark, in order to get his
men on the delegation, had to take
Rooseveltians.
There is no doubt that the 30
votes of the State will 60 for the
President in any third-term stam-
pede at the convention. 1t is highly
doubtful, though, that Roosevelt
would be able to transfer his
strength to either Attorney General
Jackson or Supreme Court Justice
Douglas. Secretary of State Hull
has considerable support for the
nomination if the President doesn't
run, and there is some sentiment
for Paul v. McNutt.
On the Republican side most Of
the delegates are still shopping
around. Dewey has perhaps nine
or 10 votes at the outset. Taft has
some, but fewer. Dewey appears to
have lost strength in the last month
and Vandenberg has passed out Of
the picture.
Willkie Makes Impression.
Willkie made a favorable impress
sion on his appearance here last
Thursday. One of the delegates
sized up the situation by saying that
WlllKle was a man the delegation
could easily go to, but he thought
1t would first want to give the right
OF way to congenital Republican.
The party label still counts heavily
in Missouri, particularly in the rural
parts. With the State delegates
as a whole Wilkes Democratic
antecedents are probably as great
a handicap as his public utility
connection, If not greater. Nobody
controls the delegation.
The most surprising thing in the
Missouri political picture is the
good race that Senator Harry S.
Truman is making for denomination
IN the Democratic primary August
8. He has two opponents. Gov.
Stark and Maurice M. Milligan Of
Kansas City, the Federal prose-
cutor who sent to the penitentiary
the notorious Tom Pendergast.
head Of the Kansas City Democratic
machine, along with an assorted lot
OF smaller-fry election crooks. Mill.
gans efforts on the stump. to the
surprise of nearly everybody. have
fallen far short of his capable pres
entation OF the Kansas City cases
His campaign hasn't caught on.
Stark Appears to Have Edge.
Gov. Stark appears still to have
the edge in the three-way fight. but
Truman has come up fast in the last
month and is now thought by i'm
partial observers to be the second
man in the race. with an outside
chance of becoming the first. Stark
Is not popular with the general run
OF Democratic politicians. More
over, some Of the votes on which he
had counted by reason of his sue
cessful war on Pendergast will 20
to Milligan. This splitting of
strength between Stark and Milli-
gan on the boss issue is a Truman
asset
Truman is popular personally and
his record of support of the New
Deal is helping him. His heavy
liability is the Pendergast label.
Elevated to the Senate six years ago
by grace of the machine, he sought
to prevent the reappointment of
Miligan while the latter was in the
midst Of the Kansas City vote fraud
prosecutions, and after the exposure
OF Pendergast as an income tax
evader, he made speech to the
effect that he wouldn't desert a
sinking ship" If 1t were not for
those two things, Truman probably
would be No. man in the race to-
day. AS it Is. the Pendergast burden
is weighing him down.
Eight Republicans In Race.
Eight Republicans are in a scram-
BILE for the senatorial nomination, a
fact which would seem to indicate
that the party hopes to profit from
the strife among the Democrats.
The leading Republican candidates
appear to be two former State Sen
ators, both Of Kansas City-David
M. Proctor and Marvel H. Davis.
An interesting angle of the CAM
paign is the candidacy Of a former
prominent Democrat. Ewing Y.
Mitchell, who has made a book out
of the fact that he was kicked out
OF the little cabinet" of Roosevelt
He was an Assistant Secretary of
Commerce. Mitchell swung over to
the Republican side in the 1896
campaign.
Another quirk in the Republican
senatorial race has been provided
by the entrance, a day or so be-
fore the deadline, of a second Davis
John r. Davis of st. Louis. The
adherents of Marvel Davis profess
to see in this dark plot by the
| lioCeoi people, III Cne manner OF
the Grocer Norris" episode in Ne
braska some years ago. This is the
second time that John R. Of st.
Louis has elected to run for public
office against Marvel Of Kansas
City. The st. Louis Davis denies
that the similarity Of names has
anything to do with it.
|
Whatever the truth OF the mat
ter the Davis VS.. Davis affair adds
its bit to the bespangled show that
Missouri, in keeping with a long
political tradition, Is putting on.