Evening star., 1950-11-09
The Political Mill
Tuftond DeweyVictories
Verify Old Political Saw
You Cont Lick Somebody
With Nobody Proves True
By Gould Lincoln

"You can't lick somebody with no.
body"-that old political saw-was
again verified in the 1850 elections.
The Democrats tried to defeat Senator
Robert A. Taft Of Ohio with q nobody.
State Auditor Joseph T. Ferguson-a
nobody in the sense he had no qualif1ca-
tions for the Senate, and they tried to
defeat Governor Dewey In New York
also with a nobody. Representative
Walter A. Lynch-a nobody because he
had no administrative experience ana
was virtually unknown to the people OF
New York outside Of his own congress
sional district.
The Taft and Dewey victories ran
into big figures. Gov. Deweys margin
over Mr.. Lynch was more than half a
million votes. Senator Taft had the
largest majority ever given senatorial
candidate in Ohio. approximately
100000.
A third important race in which the
Democrats sent an untried candidate
against a strong and experienced Re
publican was the contest in California.
There the eldest son of the late Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevenlt, James
Roosevelt, was pitted against Governor
Earl Warren, who beat Mr.. Roosevelt
almost two to one.
Hopes Pinned on Smear.
In New York, the Democrats pinned
their hopes for Lynch on their at
tempted smear Of Gov. Dewey as the
man who bought off It.. Gov. Joe r.
Hanley so that he, Dewey, could have
a draft" nomination for third term
as Governor The people of New York,
however, didn't bite. They probably real
lied that Gov. Dewey not only would not
pay Mr.. Hanley to step aside, but
that at no time did Gov. Dewey
have to make deal with anybody to get
the nomination. All he had to do was
to say he was going to run-and that
is just what he told Mr.. Hanley be-
fore the Republican State convention.
The reelection of Mr.. Dewey was q
testimonial to his integrity by the people
whose chief executive he had been for
eight years.
Senator Taft's win in Ohio by such
an astounding figure, in the face Of the
bitterest campaign against him by CLOS
PAC and the AFLS League for Political
Education. seems to prove one thing
conclusively-that labor leaders cannot
deliver the labor vote. No such lead
for Senator Taft was possible without
his having a good slice Of the workers
votes.
Also. Senator Taft's victory, plus the
victories Of Gov Duff, Republican. in
Pennsylvania; Millikin in Colorado,
Lodge in Connecticut, Nixon in Cali
fornia, are indicative that organized
labor leaders are not so effective polit-
ically as they are economically. For
many years the president Of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, the late Samuel
Gompers, kept the AFL strictly out OF
partisan politics. That attitude was
broken down, however, during the early
Franklin D. Roosevelt years in the White
House. Since then the leaders OF Or
ganized labor have gone more and more
strongly into the political arena, until.
indeed, they have threatened to take
over control of the Democratic Party
itself in q number of States.
'52 Nomination Eyed.
With Messrs. Taft, Warren and DUN
all victorious in the elections, there
should be plenty Of competition for the
Republican presidential nomination two
years hence. Gov. Dewey of New York.
whose impressive victory Tuesday keeps
him firmly in the place OF titular leader
Of the Republican Party, is not candi-
OdLe 1OT d tl1uu p1Co1llC4eid2 AOiAAAiIoeAoiAs
he has announced. He has already ad-
vanced the idea that Gen. Dwight D..
Eisenhower be drafted for the Repub-
lican nomination in 1852, and he will
doubtless stay with that idea. Repub-
licans in all parts of the country are
anxious that Gen. Eisenhower become
their candidate, irrespective OF the Taft,
Warren and Duff victories.
The Korean war never popular al
though admitted to be necessary, was
charged up to Democratic bungling. The
Truman Far East policy. particularly in
China, was held responsible for the new
war and the impact on the voters was
severe. What now will happen to Sec
retary Of State Acheson. largely the
architect Of that policy, is $64 question
in Washington.