Evening star., 1951-08-07
The Political Mil
Mccarthy to Be forget
OfDemocrutsi in Election
First Gun Fired by Benton
In Coll for Senator'S Custer
The Political Min
BY Gould Lincoln


Senator "Joe" Mccarthy of Wisconsin,
symbol Of the Red" issue which the
Republicans used against the Democrats
in the congressional campaign. Of 1850,
will be a particular target Of the Tru-
man administration when he comes up
Tor reelection next year. Mccarthy
haters believe they have valuable am.
munition to use in the recent report Of
the Senate subcommittee on the Mary
land senatorial campaign Of 1950-which
excoriates Senator McCarthy's participa-
tion In that affair.
The first gun in the anti-McCarthy
drive by the administration was the
Introduction Of resolution yesterday by
Senator Benton, Connecticut Democrat,
demanding that the Senate Privileges
and Elections subcommittee begin an
inquiry to determine whether Senator
Mccarthy should be expelled from the
Senate because Of his part in the Mary
land campaign-and because of his other
activities since he became Senator.
Presumably Senator Benton was re-
ferring to McCarthy's charges Of COM
munism in the State Department and
his more recent attack on Secretary Of
Defense Marshall.
Bitter Note Of Condemnation.
On a note of bitter condemnation,
Senator Benton declared Senator Nc
Carthy should forthwith resign from the
Senate, in the face of the subcommittee
report on the Maryland campaign, which
urges that Senator. not candidate,
should be found guilty of dirty cam
paigning and dealt with accordingly.
Outside of forming base of attack
on the Wisconsin Senator, the Benton
resolution is likely to get nowhere.
Obviously political move by former
Assistant Secretary of State, the de-
partment which Senator Mccarthy has
relentlesSly attacked, the resolution Is
unlikely to receive the necessary sup
port.
A report is that the Democrats are
ready to throw any amount of money
necessary into the campaign to defeat
Senator Mccarthy. If they could, they
would like to eliminate him in the Re-
publican senatorial primary. Their only
chance to do so lies in the fact that in
Wisconsin the party primaries are wide
open. The Democrats could move into
the Republican primary and support a
Mccarthy opponent. To be effective.
however, such q move would have to
be in support of big-name Republi-
can-Gov. Kohler, for example, or
former Gov. Rennebohm. Up to date,
however, there has been no reason
to believe that either of them will run
against Senator Mccarthy. Gov. Kohler
is expected to seek reelection.
Kohler Turns Down Bid.
The Democrats already have sought
to interest Gov. Kohler in running
against Mccarthy, but he turned them
down. refusing to meet with them and
making some remarks favorable to SEN
ator Mccarthy and in criticism of the
so-called Tydings "whitewash" of the
Mccarthy charges against the State
Department.
Leonard Schmidt of Merrill, Wis,
who ran against Gov Kohler for the
Republican nomination for Governor in
1850 and received sizable vote. has
said he would oppose Senator Mccarthy
in the primary if no one else did, but
there is slim chance he would get any
where even if he had Democratic sup
port. And State Senator Chester Demp-
sey has already announced he will chal-
lenge Senator Mccarthy in the Repub-
lican primary. Mr.. Dempsey, however,
is not considered serious opponent for
the Senator.
At one time, some Democrats also
sought to interest former Senator Rob-
ert M. LaFollette, jr., in a race against
Senator Mccarthy. The former Sena-
tor has so far given no encouragement
to the idea. So far as Senator McCar-
thy himself is concerned, he appears to
have the solid backing of the Repub-
lican organization for denomination
and reelection.
One trouble for the Democrats is that
they have no outstanding candidate Of
their own to oppose Senator Mccarthy
in the general election.