Evening star., 1960-09-04
EARL WINS LIVELY CAMPAIGN
A New Long in Congress
BY SAM A. HANNA
Contributing Writer

"A rump1ed. gravel-throated
master politician. now recuperat-
ing from exhaustion and q touch
of ptomaine, will arrive in WASH
ington in January to become the
NTH m e m ber Of the fabulous
Louisiana Long dynasty to serve
in Congress.
Earl Kemp Long, the only per-
son in anybody's memory ever
judged insane while Governor Of a
sovereign State, surprised every
one except himself by staging a
political comeback to defeat in
cumbent Harold B. McSween in
Louisiana's 9th congressional dis
trict August q.
Uncle Earl" as he calls him
self while lambasting his oppon-
ents and passing out hams to the
voters, needs only the formality
of the November balloting to sue
ceed to the House seat once held
by his dentist brother, the late
DR.. George Long.
Earl won against odds that
might have deferred even his
legendary brother Huey. Earl had
been committed last year to the
State mental hospital in Mande-
vile. He got out by firing the
superintendent and set out on
madcap tour of Western race
tracks and Supermarkets. He was
solidly defeated in a bid for the
lieutenant governorship last fail.
The Internal Revenue Service was
constantly on his heels, and press
criticism of his friendship with
French Quarter strip teasers was
unrelenting. In addition, he chose
to run in district that has never
seen an incumbent defeated.
A RuroI Constituency
The 9Th district, however. is
home ground for Earl. It stretches
from his ramshackle pea patch"
farmhouse across the Red River
to the Texas border through yellow
pine forests and strips of small
farms. The areas metropolis,
Alexandria, contains fewer than
10000 people.
It is an area where Huey's name
is still byword, where voters can
see the roads and schools Huey
built and old folks get pensions
that Huey started. The iron hand
which Huey imposed in the last
years before his assassination in
1885 is largely forgotten.
Despite the magic of the Long
name, which Earl has kept alive
in his own right through three
terms as Governor, he faced a
formidable opponent in Mr.. Nc
Sween, a complex young attorney
whose greatest achievement was
beating Earl's hand-picked candi-
date, Lloyd Teekell, in the 1858
congressional race after George
Long died.
Mr.. McSween in Washington
was a Studious freshman con-
gresham apt to lead visiting re-
porters of into discussions of the
New Conservatism. On stump
in his shirtsleeves in front of a
general store he can shout in the
best Louisiana tradition.
Mr.. McSween conf1ded before
the race began that he thought
Mr.. Long would get 80 per cent
of the vote no matter what he
said or did, but no more. He also
thought that a third candidate,
Ben Holt, would draw of much Of
Longs strength.
Eornest-ot First
The half of the campaign that
led up to the first primary July 26
was lackluster exchange Of earn
estness. The candidates talked
vaguely about the Tidelands issue,
about reopening shutdown
Army base at Fort Polk, and about
and the flag.
Curiously, the subject Of inte-
grafton played almost no part in
the campaign at any time, even
though Louisiana faces more legal
action in this field than any other
Southern State.
The tally of the first primary
was the first sign that Mr.. Nc
Sween was in trouble. He led Mr..
Long by a mere 10000 votes and