Evening star., 1953-11-08
.2-PartY Trend
Seen in Heavy
Vote for Dalton
Virginia Democrats
Admit 6. O. P. Hos
Won New Supporter
BY the Assoeioted Press

BY the Assoeioted Press
RICHMOND, Nov. Since
Virginia went Republican in the
1852 presidential race and the
G.. o. P. polled nearly As per cent
of the vote last Tuesday, does
this mean the two-party stage
has been reached?
Democratic leaders will con-
eede that the twin results are
bound to have won the G.. o. P.
some new supporters. How many
is a point Of debate. The big
question is whether the gains can
be solidif1ed.
If they can't then President
Eisenhower'S victory and the new
friends won for the Republicans
by State Senator Ted Dalton's
$4,000 miles of campaigning
against the Democrats victorious
Thomas B. Stanley will go for
naught.
1870 Is hcCdAICus
One has only to go back to
1928 to show that you can lead a
voter to the ballot booth once,
but not necessarily twice.
In 1928, Virginia went Repub-
lican for Herbert Hoover and
swept three G. o. p. congress-
men into office. Many of the
Hoover voters were Democrats
who didn't like AL Smith, the
Democratic presidential nominee.
The next year, the Republicans
made a strong effort to keep
the disSident Democrats in their
camp by making a concerted
effort to win the governorShip.
But the bid failed as the Hoover
Democrats lined up for the most
part behind the state Democratic
nominee, John Garland Pollard.
Not only did the Republicans
lose the 1929 gubernatorial race,
but by 1882 the party's three
congressman were out.
Same Political Picture.
Ironically, the Eisenhower vic
tory last year produced the same
political picture as existed
after Hoover's triumph. Three
Republican congressman were
elected-the first since 1892
along with Gen. Eisenhower's
8O.OO0-vote victory over Adlai
Stevenson.
And, in Mr.. Dalton, the Re-
publicans came up with their
strongest candidate for Cover
nor since William Mosely Brown
rolled up 81 per cent of the total
vote against Gov. Pollard in the
1929 race.
Democrats and Republicans
alike have commended Mr.. Dali
ton for his vigorous campaign,
which saw him bring home more
than 10000 votes-just a few
under the total John Battle got
in winning the 1949 Governors
contest.
Some Republican leaders like
to think the party has registered
decisive and clear-cut gains off
the Showings of Gen. Eisen-
hover and Mr.. Dalton.
Test Next Year.
The true test will come next
year when the three COP.
congressman will be up for re-
election. If all three win, or
even two out of three, the Re-
publicans will have f1exed their
political muscle on the State
level in more convincing fashion.
This much is to be remembered
in any discussion of the Eisen-
hover and Dalton showings. Gen.
Eisenhower polled a preponder-
ance of Democrats who were
anti-Truman and felt the Re-
publican philosophy was more
attuned to that of the Byrd
Democratic organization.
And Mr.. Dalton waged an ag-
greSsive, free spoken campaign
that sharply contrasted with the
quiet campaign of Mr.. Stanley.
Many Democratic leaders think
MI. Dalton would not have done
so well had he been up against
q hard-hittlng candidate.
In this connection, they point
to the fact that the Republicans,
while doing well on the State
levels, made no gains, and actu-
ally lost one seat in the House
Of Delegates, on the local level.
Mr.. Dalton carried the 10th
District, for instance. but II To-
cal G. o. P. candidates went
down to defeat.
In the Senandoah Valley. cer-
tain counties such as Clarke,
Frederick and Rockingham
which swung to Gen. Eisenhower
were in the Stanley camp by
substantial margins. Rocking
ham, for instance, went for Gen.
Eisenhower nearly 3-to-1, but
backed Mr.. Stanley by 2-to-1.
Both Democrats and. Repub-
licanS admit that Mr.. Dalton
gathered in a large segment of
the young peoples vote. And
there was evidence of rather
widespread split ticket voting,
indicating arguments in behalf
of party loyalty don't carry the
weight they once did.