The Sidney herald., 1958-01-16
Montana
In Review

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political m%aneuvering which is a
normal part of any election year
Is not limited to the contests of
1858 but is a battle of alignments
for 1860 when nationally the pres
: idency and in this state the gov
ernorship will be at stake.
In Montana, with the 1860 state
campaign in mind, it is apparent
why there should be such great
interest in the election of legisla-
tors. Much will depend on that.
The 1859 legislative assembly will
be the staging ground for the
1860 state campaign.
The Democrats numerically
dominated both houses of the as
sembly in 1857. Odds are against
Republican reversal of that situ-
alton in this years election. Re-
publican %recapture of the senate
is highly improbable. Their out
look in the house is better but
far from optimistic.
l do not here refer, except in
cidentally, to the issues that will
figure in the legislative contests,
but the Democrats, with their eyes
on the 1860 governorship race, are
already ~fabricating issues. These
issues, phony as some of them
seem to me, will be incorporated
into the party's platform as the
basis of strategy through which
they hope to win back the gov
ernorship.
Thus it may be anticipated that
the emphasis in the 1859 legisla-
ture will be on politics rather
than on craftsmanship. This is to
say that political considerations
are apt to prevail and that the
general public welfare may suffer
as a result.
But the fight will not be n
tirely Democrat versus Republic
can. Having nor bearing on leg
islation will be the conflict be-
tween the Democrats who call
themselves liberals and those who
consider themselves conservatives
or at least not leftists. In recent
sessions of the assembly this di-
vision in Democratic ideas has
caused bitterness in the party -
even charges of treason against
Democrats who did not see fit to
go along with extremists.
Presently, with former Atty.
Gen. Arnold H. Olsen as the real
though inconspicuous leader, the
Democratic state organization is
dominated by the group that calls
itself liberal. AS a step toward
realization of their legislative pro-
gram and wider political objec-
tives, this element is trying with
greater effort than yer before
to keep conservative Democrats of
a nonconformist nature out of the
legislature.
In furtherance of the DEM
ocratic objective of recapturing
the governorship, the party high
command is obviously trying to
discourage Hugo Aronson from
running for a third term-whlch
l do not think he has any inten-
ton of doing - and convince the
voters of Montana that only a
Democratic state administration
can serve them well.
In expressing the opinion that
Governor Aronson will not seek
election for a third term, | am
not saying that he has decided to
retire from public service at the
expiration of his present term,
in January 1861. My impression is
that Hugo is acting very much
like a candidate for something.
Regardless of what his further
political aspirations, if any, may
be, it is good strategy for him to
act like he intends to be around
in some important capacity for
quite a while yet. Whenever 1t
becomes conclusive that an Inn
portant public official soon will
be out of the picture, the control
he exercises diminishes rapidly
until packs of political wolves are
nipping at his heels.
Another thing / feel quite sure
of is that, despite the efforts OF
some people to do it, Aronson
will not run for United States
senator this year even though he
is the only Republican who In
my opinion would have a chance
against incumbent Democrat Mike
Mansfield. In the first place,
Governor Aronson should fill out
the term for which he was elect
ed. Secondly if Aronson were
elected to the senate this year, he
would have to resign, and the re-
suit of this would be that the
lieutenant governor, Democrat
Paul Cannon, would fill the re-
naming two years of the Aronson
term. Hugo Aronson is just not
going to turn the administration
over to Paul Cannon.
From a source whose RELIABLE
ity l do not question, l have the
information that Paul Cannon is
promoting the idea that Hugo
Aronson might be considering
taking on Senator Mansfield this
year rather than waiting until
1860 and then trying to unseat
Senator James E. Murray. / sur
mise that the suggestion implied
would not be especially pleasing
either to Mansfield or Murray.
Nor presumably would 1t be
pleasing to Arnold Olsen, who 1t