Evening star., 1950-03-12

In the Illinois battle, the poll,
of the Senate, Senator Lucas, and
Senator Myers of Pennsylvania,
are involved. Neither will have
primary opposition, but in the
general election they will have to
move fast to win. Senator Lucas
will be opposed by former Repre-
sentative Dirksen, Republican.
who has been campaigning up
and down Illinois for many
months. In the case of Senator
Myers, the Republicans are badly
split over a candidate to oppose
him.
Gov. Duff of Pennsylvania
is his own candidate for the Key
stone States senatorial nomina-
ton and against him is Represent
ative John Grain Kunkel, backed
by the Joe" Grundy faction with
which Senator Martin plays ball.
Gov. Duff has brought out as
his candidate for Governor Judge
John Fine-who is to be opposed
by Jay Cooke. Mr.. Cooke is re-
garded now as the candidate OF
the Grundy faction, although In
1948- Mr.. Cooke was a campaign
manager for Harold E. Stassen in
the latter's race for the COP
presidential nomination.
This Pennsylvania Republican
primary campaign Is being car
ried on bitterly. What the Demo-
Gratis hope is that it will lead to
divisions in the Republican ranks
through which Senator Myers can
win reelection. He will need this
break in all probability, for
Pennsylvania has been electing
Republicans in State wide contests
pretty regularly in recent years.
Taft Holds Spotlight
The two outstanding Republi-
can leaders of the Senate whose
fate also rests in the election next
November are Senator Taft of
Ohio, "Mr. Republican himself" "
and Senator Millikin of Colorado.
Senator Taft is chairman of the
Republican Policy Committee and
Senator Millikin is chairman of
the Republican Conference of the
Senate. AS of today, Senator Taft
seems almost certain of reelection
The Democrats are expected to
nominate Jumping Joe" Fergu-
son, State auditor, against him in
the primary, which also comes
early, May 2. Senator Taft him
self has no opposition for the
nomination. The Ohio senatorial
contest will be followed perhaps
more closely than any of the rest
Labor and President Truman have
both made Mr.. Taft a principa
target of attack. the first because
of his sponsorship of the Taft.
Hartley labor law and the second
because Mr.. Taft has been a chic.
block in the road of the admins
tration's domestic program. Gabol
has threatened to throw millions
of dollars into the campaign tt
defeat Senator Taft, which ha.
caused contributions to flow into
the Taft campaign fund from al
parts of the country.
President Truman has made il
clear he intends to get into the
coming battle with a -"give 'em
hell type of campaign. His first
"non-political swing" will be made
into the Northeast early in May
1t is expected the President
will stop in Chicago on this trip
to attend a large Democratic rally
which is to be staged at that time
and will put in some good words
for Senator Lucas. In 1946, the
last midpresidential term elec-
ton, MIR. Truman was slated to
get into the congressional cam
paign, too. He wasn't as popular
in those days, however, and there
was clamor to keep the President
out of lot of the States. Any
way, his projected campaigning
trips did not materialize. 1t would
take a lot, however, to keep Mr..
Truman out of the coming fracas.
Thirty-six Senate seats and the
entire 435 seats in the House are
involved in the elections on No
vember Z, except Maine, where the
balloting takes place September
IL. Had there been no vacancies
filled temporarily by appoint
ment-only 80 Senate seats would
have been contested. Connecticut
and Rhode Island will elect SEN
ators to fill out the terms of Bald
win of Connecticut, Republican,
who resigned to accept appoint
ment to the bench, and McGrath
of Rhode Island, a Democrat, who
resigned to become Attorney Gen
eral. Idaho and North Carolina
will elect Senators to fill out the
unexpired terms of the late Sem
ators. Miller and Broughton. In
80 States, too, there will be guber-
Material, elections.
Order of Primaries
The present political makeup
of the Senate is 54 Democrats and
AZ Republicans. OF the 36 Senate
seats involved in this campaign
% are held by. Democrats and 13
by Republicans. Eight of these
Democrats are from the solid
South,' leaving Is from Northern,
Western and Border States. OBJ
viously should there be a real
swing away from the Truman
fair deal, the Democrats would
have a tough time maintaining a
majority in the Senate.
Some of the incumbent Sena-
tors-up fer election-will have a
difficult time winning renomina-
ton. All must enter primaries
except three, Lehman, Democrat,
in New York, and Mcmahon and
Benton. both Democrats, in Con-
necticut. Those States nominate