Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-02
The Political Mill
Burktey Likely to Seek
Kentucky Senate Seat
He Would Find Formidable
Opponent in Senator Cooper
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

Opponent in Senator Cooper
By Gould Lincoln
Alben w. Barkley-nationally known
as THE Veep'-will run for the Senate
in Kentucky next fall, it is reliably
reported. The 76-year-old former SEN
ator and former Vice President can be
halted in an endeavor to stage q polit-
ical comeback only by a slackening Of
his buoyant good health, it is said:
such slackening as. would make q
grueling campaign difficult in the ex-
IRENE. For 1t is no secret that the
Weep will. If he runs, face his toughest
competitor in a long line of political
campaigns. Senator John Sherman
Cooper, Republican.
Mr.. Barley has been out Of Office
little more than q year, after a total
Of AZ years as prosecuting attorney.
county judge, Representative, Senator
and Vice President. Forty of those
years he spent in Washington, IA Of
and four as Vice President. Now he Ii
strongly urged by his friends in Ken
lucky to run again. He has become q
political tradition in his home State
and has been regarded as unbeatable.
So far. Mr.. Barley has said publicly
only that he is seriously considering
the matter Of running for the Senate
again. However, at a recent meeting
Of the Kentucky Press Association, the
former Vice President was introduced
as former Congressman. former Sen
ator and former Vice President and
next Senator from Kentucky" He did
nothing which indicated he was back
ing away from the designation.
Good Election Record.
Senator Cooper has twice been
elected Senator from Kentucky, once in
1916 to fill the unexpired term Of
Happy" Chandler, who resigned to be-
come baseball commissioner, and again
in 1852. A veteran of the second World
War in which he served in the Euro
pean theater, Senator Cooper has q
strong personal following in Kentucky.
so strong that while President Eisen-
hover was losing Kentucky by 700 votes
in 1852. Cooper was carrying the State
by 29,500. In a State which has $780,
900 more registered Democrats than
Republicans, and in which the ordinary
Democratic margin of victory ranges
from $4,000 to 10000, Cooper has done
amazingly we'll in his senatorial races.
In 1946-a Republican year-he won by
4l,000, and in 1948, when he came up
again, he lost by only $4,000 votes
while Dewey Republican candidate for
President, was losing by 10000 votes.
Against Mr.. Barkley's tremendous
personal popularity and ability to get
Democrats to the polls, particularly in
the 1st and I'd congressional districts.
will be ranged Senator Cooper's own
great popularity with the independent
voters, with many Democrats and with
the Republicans. Senator Cooper'S total
vote in the 1852 election was $4,000.
indicating how he stands with Ken
lucky voters. He was running against
former Representative Tom Underwood.
who at that time was serving in the
Senate under appointment. and was
regarded as a good candidate.
Distinguished Career.
The Republican Senator has had a
distinguished and effective career. In
1948 he was able to have tobacco given
a 80 per cent Of parity fixed price sup
port-which made hit with the farm
ers. President Eisenhower has recently
recommended that this fixed 80 per
cent price support for tobacco be re-
tanned. which is not going to hurt
Cooper. In international affairs,
Cooper was follower of the late Sena-
tor Vandenberg of Michigan. He served
as United States delegate to the
General Assembly of the United Ma
tons in 1949, as an alternate delegate
to the U. N. Assembly in 1850 and 1851,
and as adviser to the Secretary Of
State at the meetings of the Council
of Ministers of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. Today he sup
ports the foreign policy of President
Eisenhower and has been an opponent
of the Bricker constitutional amend
ment, as reported by the Senate Judi
ciary Committee. which would limit the
Presidents treaty-making powers.
While Barley is generally given the
edge in race against Cooper, it is
agreed by many that the more youth
full Republican Senator would have a
real fighting chance. And against any
other Democrat in Kentucky, he would
have an excellent chance. If Mr..
Barley should take himself out of the
race. then Gov. Lawrence w. Wetherby
or Representative Carl D. Perkins may
be the Democrat to run against Cooper.
The Governor, in Kentucky, cannot
succeed himself. and Gov Wetherby
will have served three years of his four
year term at the end of 1854. Former
Senator Chandler has already said he
will seek the Democratic gubernatorial
nomination next year-which further
complexities things in the Bluegrass
State.
The Weep may announce his decision
at Jefferson-Jackson dinner in
Louisville soon.