Evening star., 1942-08-21
The Political Mill
forIey, With Only Half Of Bottle Won,
Must Elect Bennett to Hold PRESTIGE

did not realize the hold that Mr..
Farley had on the State organi-
zation or relied too strongly on
Gov. Lehman, ed" Flynn, the
Democratic national chairman
and boss of the Bronx, and
other New Dealers to win control
of the Democratic State Conven-
ton when the time came. He
and his followers were too late in
getting into action.
What the future holds for the
Democrats in New York remains
to be seen. The bitterness which
has been engendered in this
struggle between Mr.. Farley and
his followers and the President
and his followers goes deep. The
President has a distasteful choice
to make between Mr.. Bennett
and Mr.. Dewey, the expected Re-
publican nominee for Governor.
AS a Democrat, the President
will be expected to vote for Mr..
Bennett, whom he does not want
because he is Farley's man. He
does not like Mr.. Dewey at all,
and does not want to see him
Governor of New York.
Willkie Unhappy. Too.
The President and Wendell L.
Willkie, his Republican op-
ponent in the presidential race
in 1910, are similarly unhappy
over the situation which pre-
sents itself.
Mr.. Willkie, like the President,
does not think highly of Mr..
Dewey, just as the President does
not think highly of Mr.. Bennett.
Yet Mr.. Willkie, if he is to re-
main factor in Republican
politics, must give some SEM
blance Of support to Mr.. Dewey
in the coming campaign. The
President as the leader OF the
Democratic party will be ex-
pected to support the nominee
of his party for Governor in his
own State.
The final attitude of the Amer
lean Labor party, which has
threatened, through its leaders,
to place a gubernatorial NOM
inee Of its own in the field if Mr..
Bennett was nominated by the
Democrats. is expected to be de-
veloped at that party's State
convention the end OF this week.
The American Labor party,
which was started several years
ago as an aid to re-elect Presi-
dent Roosevelt, gathering in
great many of the independent
radicals, must make up its mind
whether it will go along with Mr..
Bennett or surely bring about
the election, of Mr.. Dewey. If
the Labor party puts a separate
ticket of its own in the race, it
does not seem possible that Mr..
Dewey can be defeated by Mr..
Bennett. The Dewey opposition
would be split.
With the Labor party aligned
with the Democrats in 1898, Gov.
Lehman was able to defeat Mr..
Dewey only by the narrow mar
gin of $4,000 votes in. a total of
upward Of 100000 votes cast.
Farley Forecast Borne Out.
1t Is true that Mr.. Bennett has
succeeded In being elected and
reelected attorney general of
the State without the indorse-
ment Of the American Labor
party, which has placed candi-
dates in the field against him for
that Office. But this guberna-
torial race is horse of another
color.
Mr.. BENEFITS hope would have
to lie in the fact that some of
the Republicans, particularly the
followers of Mr.. Willkie, do not
like Mr.. Dewey. It is doubtful.
however, that enough Of these
anti-Dewey Republicans would
support Mr.. Bennett to make it
possible for Bennett to win.
Mr.. Farley's prediction before
the balloting began in yesterdays
session of the convention that
Mr.. Bennett would receive a sub
stantial majority was borne out
by the results. The vote was 623
for Bennett to 3s3 for Mead.
With good sportsmanship, Gov.
Lehman, Tammany Leader Ken
nedy and Senator Mead himself
came forward to wish Mr.. Ben
nett success in the coming CAM
palgn, and to announce they
would work for his elertio,