Evening star., 1952-03-15
The Political Mil
Candidate Who TroveIs
Doesn' t Always Get Vote
Front Porch Campaign Result
Of Mckinley RecolIed
The Political Mill
BY Gould Lincoln

How many votes does presidential
candidate gain by travelling and speak
ing throughout the United States? How
many does he gain in individual States?
& The question becomes important In
the light of the prodigious effort now
being made by Senator Robert A. Taft
of Ohio. in search Of the Republican
presidential nomination. Once, another
Ohio Republican. William Mckinley,
conducted q "front porch" campaign in
his home In Canton. and defeated the
silver-tongued William Jennings Bryan.
Democrat. by a wide margin. 1t is
recorded. however. that Mr.. Mckinley
delivered 800 speeches from his front
porch to approximately 100000 visitors,
who came In big delegations to see and
hear him from many parts Of the coun-
try.
Senator Taft's recent activities in
New Hampshire. where he travelled up
wards of 500 miles in three-day tour
and actually spoke to perhaps $4,000
people, may or may not have gained
him votes. He drew big crowds In small
places. and big crowds in big cities. To
his chief opponent, Gen. Dwight d.
Eisenhower. who remained throughout
the campaign 5000 miles away and
completely silent. the Ohio Senator lost
by nearly IL 900 votes In the presidential
preference contest. And he lost all II
delegates to the Republican National
Convention.
Taft Went Where Needed.
Did Senator Taft make votes for him.
self by his strenuous speaking campaign?
The election returns, obtained by the
Associated Press, from those places
which the Senator visited, and from
those he did not. show that. generally
speaking, he did better in more places
he did not visit than in those he did
make appearances. This is by no means
conclusive. however. that he lost votes
by his appearances. He might easily
have received fewer votes in the places
he visited. had he remained away. The
only true answer could be obtained by
taking vote before he campaigned and
comparing 1t with the vote after he
had been and obviously an Inn
possibility. Also. it is reasonable to
suppose that Senator Taft was routed
to many places where he needed to
gain votes, and he may well have gained
them. Certainly. until Taft invaded New
Hampshire, 1t was expected he would
be showed under by an avalanche Of
Eisenhower votes.
A canvass Of the returns reported by
the Associated Press does show that in
80 Of the States biggest cities and
towns Senator Taft did better percent
age-wise in the Is places he did not
visit than in the II places he visited.
Disregarding the Stassen, Schneider
and write-in votes, and comparing only
the totals between Taft and Eisen-
hover, 1t is found (a) in the II places
where Taft spoke. he polled 15.101 votes
to 2l.264 for Eisenhower. giving the
Senator Ais per cent Of the total vote.
and (b) in the is places he did not visit.
the Senator's vote was 4.055 to 5,315
for the general. and Taft's percentage
was 43.3. Also, in the 26 cities and towns
Taft visited. the Senator defeated
Eisenhower in seven and lost to him in
nineteen.
Crowds Do Not Mean Support. 81
Big crowds do not always mean big
votes for the campaigning candidates.
For example, In Berlin, strong labor
town in Northern New Hampshire.
OOAoVOI A01b opOAC w u ClUWU GSbkkldUSu
at more than 1.000-a big crowd since
the population is about 10000. Yet
when the vote was counted, Taft had
233, Eisenhower 933 and Stassen Sl4.
This was strong Stassen town in the
campaign of 1948 This disparity be-
tween audiences and voters is found in
other cities which Taft visited. At Con-
way, 1000 turned out to hear him, and
he got 444 votes; at Lacor,ia, large
outdoor crowd came to hear him at
noon, and he failed to carry any Of the
city's six wards. polling only 1853 votes.
and at Lebanon he spoke to 800 and
received 437 votes.
Senator Taft did make good show
ing in Manchester. New Hampshire's
largest city-and labor town, He spoke
to large crowd. estimated at 1900,
and he carried Manchester by 1000
votes over Eisenhower, who was ex-
pected to win there. Taft's percentage
Of the votes was 55.2. and Eisenhower's,
44.8. In Concord, the capital, however.
the Eisenhower percentage was TIL.
and Taft's .229.
Before Senator Taft concludes his
pre-convention campaign, he will have
travelled an estimated $4,000 miles
practically around the earth. How it will
pay of in convention votes Is still
anybody's guess.