Evening star., 1960-10-19
CALIFORNIA
Republicans Won't
Nixon to Hit Harder

/ article by the influential politi-
cal editor Of the Los Angeles
Times, Kyle Palmer. The views
| Of Mr.. Palmer and his news
paper have always carried con-
siderable weight with Cali
fornia Republicans.
'Faltering Chances"
He wrote: IT am compelled
to concede that Republican
chances for victory in the cur
rent presidential campaign
have faltered In the last two
or three weeks. =.
"The televlslon debates be-
tween Kennedy and Nixon may
be blamed to some extent for
Kennedy's stronger showing
The Democratic nominee un-
questionably has made q better
impression on the television
viewers than his Republican ad-
versary. And in the give
and-take of q more e-or-lesS
aimless recital of views on do
nestle and international issues
they have managed only tC
work up some heat on their diff.
Iferences concerning Quemoy
and Matsu.
"The Dewey campaign ir
1948 was lost because it waI
too negative. The Nixon cam.
psign in 1860 Is tagging be.
cause it is too tepid. And If the
Republican nominee is defeated
this year he will, in retrospect
face the dreary fact that HI
didn't swing hard enough ant
often enough"
The same desire for O tougher
lime prompted Milo Niles, {
Los Angeles hardware stort
owner, to undertake q curiou
personal Intervention in thl
campaign this week. Mr.. Nile
decided after several phonl
calls to headquarters that tn,
Republican organization ha
no CUTS" so he spent $500 o
his own money to rent 10 bill
boards displaying this message
Lets stop Khrushchev.
"Vote Republican"
Word Problem
Mr.. Niles said his origina
choice for a verb was IVA
porize," but that and tn
alternative, bury" were botl
rejected by the Pacific outdoo
Advertising Co.. so he finall.
settled for STOP"
There are many Republican
who think Mr.. Niles is on tn
.. right track. Their reasoning
ties in directly with the 50
called religious issue" in tn,
.. campaign.
Both Democrats and Repub
! licans concede that among tn
States Mormons and mi
grants from what they refe
to either as "bible belt" or tn
"Okie-Arkie territory" Sena
= tor Kennedy's Catholic faitl
, will cost him votes.
But Republican leaders here
as in other key States, fee
! that the net advantage in thi
) emotion-ridden question lie
with the Senator. The Stat
|, Is 22.4 per cent Catholic i
= population, and Democrats thi
= fall made a successful effol
to register 10000 new voter
of Mexican ancestry in whs
they called the viva ken
nedy" program.
: One responsible Republica
r official, a long time associat
e of Mr.. Nixon's and himself
= Catholic said: "Dick has al
o ways gotten strong suppol
= from Catholic Democrats 1
Y his races. chiefly because q
2 his strong stand against com
S munism. Now our surveys sho,
i that while Catholic Republi
cans are holding pretty firm
a Catholic Democrats are goin
n back to their party afiiliatio
{ to put a stop to the religion
e issue. If that happens, "
may be in difficulty on cal
= rying. the State"
r. "As other issues come to IL
= fore" he continued, "the situs
s tion may improve. If Kenned
II is forced to embrace more lef
o wing stands, he will weaker
That is if Quemoy and Mats
d is a good issue. It's brougl
,. communism back into the can
n paign, and that has been tt
e backbone of successful RI