Evening star., 1948-10-03

ASAASAASuAi AAaFC bCCI1 WaoCLlCu Oll tAIe
1ded in Washington yesterday. The
spot, with heavy concentration o1
industrial workers, was ideal for 9
slam-bang attack on the Taft Hart.
ley Act, but it did not materialize.
Only the most careful planning
can guard against misadventures o1
this sort, and when that isn't done
the candidate suffers. In State
such as California, where the Pres.
ident admittedly is running second
to Gov. Dewey, thanks to combi.
nation of dissension among the
Democrats and Wallace party
strength, the hurt is intensified.
The visit to metropolitan Califor-
mia struck most observers as the
least satisfactory spot in the trip
although Mr.. Truman drew well
out-State and expressed gratifica-
ton at the whole picture. The
San Francisco turnout could have
been better and no doubt would
have had not bad timing put
the President in there at an hour
when the people customarily are at
the dinner table In Los Angeles,
where Democratic strength is weaker
than in the northern part of the
State, the President didn't fill a
stadium with accommodations for
80 900, the night after the San Fran
cisco appearance. He had Jared
much better in his June visit.
Polls Encourage Leaders
Mr.. Truman still can take hope
however, in the fact that polls show
him on the upgrade in California,
with it's all-important "a electoral
votes, and Democratic leaders are
taking courage from that.
Over the rest of the route the
President could have no complaint
about his crowds, which amazed
even party workers.
A freakish situation that seems to
be developing in this campaign is
the amount of ticket-scratching
looming on the horizon. A Truman
campaign trip is conducted at such
a mad pace that no more than cur
sorry contacts are possible with the
various sources of information in
the States traversed, but on. this
basis, all the evidence is that per-
sonalities are going to figure largely
in what the voters do, come No
vember.
To cite some outstanding examples
Iowa. according to the curbstone
prognosticators, will go for Dewey,
but is likely to send former Senator
Guy Gillette back to Washington be-
cause enough Republicans will cross
the line to beat Senator Wilson, the
Republican incumbent. The same
situation repeatedly prevails in Colo
RADIO where Gov. Dewey gets the call
in close race, while Senator john
son, Democrat, is the favorite for
reelection, and the Democratic Gov.
William Lee Knous rates as a shoo-
in. In Utah, the talk is all Truman,
and the Democrats may add House
seat, but Democratic Gov. Herbert
Nav is considered a poor betting
risk in his bid for a thifd four-year
term.
Texans Most Cordial
Such a hodge-podge alignment,
carried far enough. could produce
some queer results. In fact, in a
trainload of writer's where a ma
jority were convinced too many
forces are operating against Presi-
dent Truman to permit him to win,
an opinion sometimes heard was
that he has done such a job on
Congress that in the absence of a
Dewey landslide "a Democratic
House in the Eighty-f1rst Congress
is. possibility, and a Democratic
Senate-which net gain of four
seats would produce, is even more
likely.
One thing for which the Truman
camp will be watching intently as
the aftermath OF Mr.. Truman's trip
is the effect the fence fixing that
went on in Texas may have on the
Presidents fortunes in the Southern
States, where the civil rights issue
has created such a ruckus.
Even before he got into Texas,
leaders there were convinced that
they had the Texas vote in hand
despite threats from Dixiecrats and
Wallaceites However so, Mr.. Tru-
man undertook the unprecedented
pin point" drive through the State,
which he high lighted with the visit
to former Vice President John
Nance Garner. 1t seems pretty Ger
tain that those around the President
are hopeful That the cordlallty with
which Texans from top to bottom
received him, may ease the hostility
elsewhere the dissident bloc.
The President let the civil rights
issue lie as he rode throug the cot
ton country, ignoring demands from
both Gov. J. Strom Thurmond and
Henry Wallace, the Dixiecrat and
Third Party heads, that he say
something.
The President was decidedly opti-
mistic as he came home. He
summed it up in the Southern Illi-
nois coal pelt:
I've been making a crusade across
this country trying to wake the
people up," he asserted II tell you
I'm succeeding"
BrOvn
Continued From Page C-1.)