Evening star., 1946-11-15


'sition to concede the prize to The
gentleman from New York but there
appears q determination to "gane
up" on him.
Whether this can be done effec.
lively so far as convention dele.
gates are concerned depends upor
developments of the next 10 months
but at this moment the effort is X
Offset the arguments advanced ir
behalf Of Mr.. Dewey with argument,
against.
Arguments For.
On the favorable side are these
ID that his success in carrying New
York a second time for Governor by
o maiority-675 900 00-greater than
ever given any other Republican
makes him the logical choice; "a
that his recognized competency as
administrator of the greatest State
pre.eminently qualities him to run
the National Government, in which
the greatest need is for competent
administration; CD that the ma
tional polls all show him to be FIRST
choice of the Republican rank and
file.
On the other side, it Is asserted
that that 675,000 Dewey majority
loses significance when contrasted
with the showing of other Repub-
Iicans in other States. For example
considering the size of the vote,
Gov. Martin of Pennsylvania
won q greater victory with his
100000 majority over Senator
Guffey. Also, it is said that Gov.
Warren's reelection in Califor-
mia with the Endorsement of both
parties was q greater personal trib-
ute than the Dewey reelection.
Comparison with other outstand-
ing Republicans, such as Senator'S
elect Henry Cabot Lodge in Massa-
chusetts and Raymond Baldwin in
Connecticut, are also made. FL
nally, it is asserted that while the
Republican Party as a whole in
creased its vote per cent in the
Nation the Dewey increase was only
. per cent.
Other Offsetting Factors.
Granting Gov. Dewey's COM
petence, the reply is that his rec
ord Is no better than that Of Sena-
tors Taft and vandenbefg, ex-
Gov. Stassen and Gov. Warren, all
of whom are-or have been-public
officials of real distinction. AS for
the Dewey popularity among the
rank and file, that. 1t Is held, Is on
set by the lack of real warmth in his
personality plus his unpopularity
with the key politicians In the party.
It lis these rather than those who
vote in the polls who select dele
gates, control conventions and make
nominations.
The point that the Republicans
have never renominated q defeated
presidential candidate Is also made,
though not many take stock in
that, 1t being perfectly clear that
in the past the reason the defeated
candidates were not renominated
was because they were not politi-
cally available and not because they
had been defeated.
In other words, while 1t Is agreed
that Gov. Dewey's triumph was the
most spectacular In the country,
that he will have more convention
delegates to start with and that he
defeated q most formidable opposi-
ton, including the American Labor
Party, the Liberal Party, the Demo-
cratic Party, the CIO and the Com
munists, it is argued that there are
various ways In which his nomina-
ton can be prevented in year
when any one Of the aspirants can
win-or so they think. There are the
further adverse facts that Gov.
Dewey win not by any means have a
majority on the first convention
ballot and that the Republican Ma
tional Committee chairman, Carroll
Reece, is supposed to be pro-Taft.
Realize Battle Ahead.
In addition it is possible Though
not probable) that Gov. Dewey
may make some damaging precon-
vention mistakes. At any rate, the
only concession his opposition
makes now is that, while he will
not be nominated himself, he can
name the nominee. All this and
more in the way of Dewey dis
paragement is emanating from the
anti-Dewey camps and will be
echoed by the radical groups which
he has so thoroughly beaten. Under
the circumstances, it is natural. The
value Of the prize this time is so
great that the idea Of conceding 1t
to the leader Is months In advance
cannot be tolerated. Mr.. Dewey's in
Inmates are fully aware of this, real
ize that there is a battle ahead, but
their confidence is not lessened.
AS the outstanding aspirant, they