The Sidney herald., 1958-06-11

a pOlltCal party and I
persons who vote for candidate.
of that party. Montana's primar,
election law permits electors Il
vote either ticket. Hence contests
usually local rather than state
wide, cause voters to shift to thu
party to which they do not nor
mally adhere. This is not neces
sarily an index to the outcome o
the November general election.
Somewhere around SIS percen'
of the eligible voters cast ballot:
in our recent primary election, {
substantial majority being in the
Democratic column. 1t may BIT
that in some areas there was Re.
publican indifference, but it ma
also be that in some counties there
was considerable Republican in.
vasion of the Democratic primary
There is evidence that in al
least two counties Republicans
voted the Democratic ticket tc
Illustrate an attempt by so-called
Democrat liberals to purge Dem
ocratic legislators who did not &c
along with them. One was Toole
county, where Sen. George w
Wilson, dean of the senate, mar
rowly survived. The other intend
ed purge victim here referred to
was Sen. Charles A. Bovey OF
Cascade county. He won easily.
Democrat Sen. Mike Mansfield
will be reelected in November for
a second term, but it is as pre-
Sumptuous as it is absurd for
Democratic spokesman to claim
that Mansfield's primary victory
over two virtually unknown can
didates was a Democratic land
slide. Against what amounted to
no opposition at all, Senator
Mansfield should have done as
well as he did.
AS / checked county election re-
turns as they were phoned to the
United Press in Helena on cleo
ton night, what seemed most sig
nificant to me was a tendency to
vote for well known names. How
ever, this should have been no
surprise to me. 1t is a well estab-
lshed practice in Montana.
An example this year was Jack
Holmes, successful Democratic
candidate for the four-year term
as railroad and public service
commissioner. He is the o of
State Auditor John J. Holmes, who
beginning with 1882 has been ov-
erwhelmingly been elected to
that office every four years. The
name Holmes is so we'll known to
Montana voters that it has a great
political advantage.
The name factor as reflected in
the nominations for associate JUS
tice of the supreme court was even
more significant to me. AS SUI
preme court justices and district
judges are on a non-partisan bal
lot, the primary election in these
instances is something of a free
for-all popularity contest. This
does not necessarily mean that the
candidate who wins the laurel
wreath in June will keep it in No
vember.
What it does mean is that so
far as the ballot is concerned the
partisan element does not enter.
Both for chief justice and associ-
ate justice only two candidates
filed for each office. This auto
matically puts them on the No
vember ballot.
For associate justice the nomi-
nees are incumbent Wesley Castles
and James d. Freebourn of Butte.
Castles, who in 1852 made
creditable though losing race
against Arnold H. Olsen for attor- |
ney general, is indelibly marked
as a Republican. Governor Aron- |
son appointed him to the supreme |
court to fill a vacancy.
On the other hand, the Free
oourn name is deeply stamped as
James D. Freebourn is
son of the late Harrison j. Free
oourn, who after being attorney
general was elected to the SUI
court. 1t appears that the
Freebourn name has been on the
often enough to make it
stick in the minds of many Mon
ana voters. Freebourn's vote in
he recent primary indicates this.
In checking county returns |
noted that time after time where
here was a definite Republican
Gaming on the partisan ballots,
here was an equally definite
swing to Arnold H. Olsen for chief
Justice and Freebourn for associ-
ate justice. On a party ballot per-
1aps few of these Republicans
would have voted for Olsen and
Treebourn, but on a nonpartisan
they were merely voting for
names familiar to them.
This seemed especially true re-
Freebourn. Between him
and Judge Castles there was and
S no issue except the general is
Tue of political differences. Hence
his race may continue to be main
y a popularity contest without dis
.racting factors.
AS to chief justice, the situa-
ion is only roughly parallel. Oh
len will be confronted with the
on which he lost the COVER
lorship election in 1856. In the re-
,ent primary there was evidence
If GOODNESS toward Olsen in sew
sral counties where the Democrat
C party is strong. One of Arnold
0lsen's problems is to concilate
he feud between the Olsen and
anti Olsen factions in the Demo
ratio party.
Chief Justice James T. Harri-
;on, former county attorney of
Phillips county, appointed by Gov
.rnor Aronson to fill a vacancy,
S more widely known in the Re
publican organization than he vet