Evening star., 1944-04-28

presid n ial A As1&II|N
candidate, not Frank r. Kent.
by the convention. Unless he
chooses not to exercise his prefer
ence, which is unlikely. his running
mate will be the man the presi-
dental candidate selects. The con-
vention will ratify.
Except in the rare instances where
the presidential candidate has been
boss-picked and Is boss-controlled
this practice has invariably been
followed in filling the second place
on the ticket, which is always the
last business of the convention
Certainly, no one will regard
either Mr.. Roosevelt or Mr.. Dewey
as boss picked or controlled. There
fore, it is likely their preference
in this matter, as in the matter of
the platform, will prevail. 1t is en-
tnely normal procedure for them
tc dictate both.
So far as the vice presidential
candidate is concerned, the primary
consideration is that he should be
politically and personally in accord
with the presidential candidate.
That is basic. Other considerations
such as what State he comes from,
are minor.
Of course, it is considered desir-
able, though 1t is not vital, that the
running mate should come from a
different section of the country
than the presidential candidate.
Balanced Ticket.
1t is true that what is known as a
balanced ticket" is highly esteemed
by the politicians and strong argu-
ment for sectional representation
can be made. Unquestionably, each
presidential candidate will want the
second place to go to some one not
from his part Of the country. Such
has been the unbroken custom and
there will be no departure this time.
Nevertheless, geographical reasons
are not overwhelming and the rec
ord of our political history fails to
show a single instance in which the
vice presidential candidate either
elected or defeated the ticket-or
even carried State that otherwise
would have been lost.
In brief, the voters do not vote
for the Vice President-they vote for
the President. The running mate,
so far as the campaign is concerned,
is incidental, not important. Votes
might be lost If he were an unpop-
ular man with bad record, but no
presidential candidate has yet been
stupid enough to pick one like that.
And no presidential candidate ever
owed either his election or rejection
to his vice presidential candidate.
All this sounds as though the vice
presidential candidate is unimpor-
tart. But that, of course, can never
be so. when, should the President
ole, the Vice President succeeds
him, Five of them have done ex-
actly that-Tyler, Arthur, johnson.
Theodore Roosevelt and Coolidge.
Appearances of Fight.
The point here made is not that
the vice presidential candidate is
unimportant to the Nation but that.
SO long as a stupid selection is not
made, he is not important to the
ticket. Both Mr.. Roosevelt and MIR.
Dewey can be depended upon not to
make a stupid selection. On the
Republican side 1t appears reason
ably sure that the Dewey choice will
be either Gov. Warren, Gov. Stassen
or Gov. Bricker. It will not affect
his chance of election which he
chooses.
In the convention, to be sure, there
will be q good deal of jockeying
upon the part of the aspirants and
all the outward appearance of a
fight. But, few doubt that, once
named for the presidency, the
Dewey wishes will be decisive.
Similarly on the Democratic side
the selection will be in the Presi-
dents hands. Mr.. Wallace is the
natural and logical choice, but the
names of Speaker Rayburn, Sem
ator Truman and others have been
mentioned.
Those who favor a change point
out that there is real party oppo-
sition to Mr.. Wallace-and was four
years ago. This is true, but it is
also true that If Mr.. Roosevelt
really wants him he can put him
over this time just as he did in
1910. The really big blocks of votes
IN the Democratic convention will
be controlled this time, as they
were four years ago, by the big city
bosses-Hague of New Jersey, the
O'Connells of Albany, Laughlin, the
new Tan1many leader; Eddie Flynn
OF the Bronx, Mayor Eddie Kelly of
Chicago and others.
None of these nrnfessinnals cares