Wednesday, November 6, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
Wallace-has he had his say?
By MIKE FEINSILBER
WASHINGTON (UPI)—"You'd better have your say now," George C. Wallace hollered at his hecklers, "because after Nov. 5th you're through in this country!"
Now that the voters have had their say, is George C. Wallace through in this country's politics?
Or, as his campaign literature asks, "can the son of an Alabama dirt farmer who drove a taxicab and a dump truck and waited on tables to help work his way through college be elected president of the United States"—on a second try, in 1972?
Wallace did not really expect to win the presidency this time. But he did expect to perform better in the North than he did. The fact that his victories were confined to five southern states—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi—seemed to rebut his argument that his movement was national, not regional.
Fails In North
He had expected to get the votes of the lunchpail crowd who had cheered him so lustily at rallies in the industrial states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. But he did not win them significantly.
Nor did he win much in the Midwest or the West. He bombed
in New England. But in the border states of Maryland where he won about 15 per cent of the vote, and in Kentucky, where he won about 18 per cent, his performance may have determined the outcome. New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Hughes said Wallace's "hate vote" in New Jersey defeated Hubert H. Humphrey in that state.
In assessing the "spoiler" role Wallace played it's virtually impossible to know which candidate would have won Wallace's votes. The chances are he hurt both—and therefore did not really alter the ultimate outcome of the election.
Americans demonstrated again that they prefer to vote for presidents, not for symbols. Wallace's strength diminished as the election approached and as Americans realized that either Humphrey or Richard M. Nixon would govern for the next four years and that there was a choice to be made between the two.
LeMay Significant Factor
Significantly, Wallace's appeal appeared to fall shortly after he selected retired Air Force Gen. Curtis E. LeMay as his running mate and nearly dragged LeMay from the platform when the general began telling a televised news conference about America's "phobia" about nuclear warfare.
Even though he didn't do as well as he expected to do, Wallace did win 14 per cent of the popular vote, the best third party showing since 1924, when progressive Robert M. LaFollette won 16.6 per cent.
And he succeeded in working his way through a labyrinth of state laws to win a place on 50 state ballots.
His major accomplishment may be one he hardly sought. He may have prodded Congress and the next president to carry through electoral reform, making it impossible for an outsider to become a power broker in the Electoral College and thus making American elections more reflective of the popular will.
George Wallace
GOP gains 13 governors in country's 21 elections
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Republicans today wrested five governorships from the Democrats for the party's biggest statehouse majority in 14 years and threatened to make even deeper inroads.
By early morning, Republicans had won 8 gubernatorial races and were leading in 5 others. Of the 21 contests, the Democrats had won 7 and led in only 1 other battle.
State-by-state voting pattern
Kansan map by Robert Entriken Jr.
The narrow margin of Richard Nixon's victory is shown by the above map showing states the candidates had won or were leading in according to unofficial returns as of 10 a.m. today. Hubert Humphrey, winning only 15 states, still captured large electoral vote blocs with his victories in New York (43 votes), Pennsylvania (29), Michigan (21), and Spiro Agnew's Maryland (10). Although Nixon maintained a steadily increasing lead in electoral votes, he could not claim victory until late this morning when Illinois' 26 votes put him over the 270 needed for election.
Before Tuesday's election, there were 26 Republican and 24 Democratic governors. It appeared the new lineup would be 31 Republicans and 19 Democrats.
Marring the GOP victories was a disaster for one of the party's brightest young stars. Gov. John H. Chafea was defeated in his bid for a fourth term in Rhode Island by Democrat Frank Licht, former Superior Court judge.
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who swept the state, apparently sealed Chafee's fate.
On the other hand, Richard M. Nixon's coatattails helped Russell W. Peterson make it a GOP win in Delaware. Peterson defeated Democratic Gov. Charles L. Terry, 68, a popular chief executive still recovering from a heart attack.
The only other Democratic upset was engineered by Montana Atty. Gen. Forrest H. Anderson who defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Tim Babcock.
Besides hanging on to the Arizona, and South Dakota statehouses, Republicans added Vermont, Indiana, New Hampshire and Iowa.
The Democrats maintained control in Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Utah.
The trend exceeded predictions the Republicans had hoped to win only 11 of the 21 races.
In Illinois, Richard B. Ogilvie was leading Democratic Gov. Samuel H. Shapiro.
Walter R. Peterson made it a GOP victory in New Hampshire. The former state house speaker beat Emile R. Bussiere.
Republican Edgar D. Whitcomb, former secretary of state, is the new Indiana governor, defeating Democrat Robert L. Rock, the lieutenant governor.
Washington Gov. Daniel J.
Evans easily beat the Democratic
(Continued on page 20)
Pea picker vote not as large as Wallace thought
WASHINGTON (UPI)—George C. Wallace learned Tuesday that America had fewer "rednecks, woolhats, peckerwoods and pea pickers" than he claimed. They were the people he said would put him in the White House but too few rallied behind him on election day.
At the Boston Common and in Fargo, N.D., in the pulpit of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and before the aerospace engineers of Southern California, Wallace insisted that his message was reasonable and not racial and that his movement was national and not regional.
But when the nation spoke, Wallace found only the South had listened. Even there, he was hurt by the recent and heavy registration of Negroes, who now account for 17 per cent of the South's voters.
He carried his own state of Alabama with two of every three votes in incomplete returns. In neighboring Mississippi and in Louisiana he won handily. He was the indicated winner in two other Deep South states, Georgia and Arkansas, where Hubert H. Humphrey trailed him but not by much.
But the partial returns showed even in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia and Texas the Wallace appeal was fractional. He trailed in all six.
In the border states of Kentucky and Maryland he won fewer than a fifth of the votes.
Wallace went to bed early today, apparently believing his third party candidacy had deadlocked the presidential election.
Earlier he refused to say what course he might take if his electoral votes held the balance of victory for Republican Richard Nixon or Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
"I can't say what I'm going to do with my electoral votes," he told a UPI newsman. "You just can't decide something like that until the whole deal is over."
The former Alabama governor won 45 electoral votes in five southern states—Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Philosophy club will meet tonight
The KU Philosophy Club will meet at 8 p.m. tonight in the Kansas Union, room 101.
Dorothy Haecker, ethics and values instructor, will present a paper entitled "Camus' Concept of Absurdity."
Her presentation will be followed by a discussion period. All philosophy majors and other interested persons are invited.
Democrats retain control of House, Senate
WASHINGTON (UPI)—Democrats kept control of the Senate today and maintained their grip on the House. Republican House Leader Gerald R. Ford conceded the GOP could not gain command of the 91st Congress.
At a news conference early this morning, Ford predicted the Republicans would score "a net gain of 10, possibly a few more," but nowhere near the 30 seats necessary for Republican control of the House.
The Republicans had cut down the Democratic margin in the Senate, however. The recent Senate was controlled by Democrats 63-37. The indicated new total was 58-42.
"Unfortunately," Ford said, "we've had some disappointments." Democrats controlled the recently concluded House 247-188; they moved toward similar margins in the new House that will convene dan. 6.
In the House, with only three races still not heard from, the indicated new total was 243-189.
GOP hopes fade
Earlier, Ford had predicted a 30-seat net gain, but as the returns rolled in, his hopes of a big Republican gain faded. The GOP last won control of Congress when
former President Dwight D. Eisenhower won his big victory in 1952.
GOP candidates won Democratic-held Senate seats in Florida, Arizona, Maryland, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. They led in races for seats held by Democrats in Oregon and Ohio. Outgoing Gov. Harold Hughes of Iowa was the only Democrat to win a GOP seat, defeating state Sen. David M. Stanley for the seat vacated by Sen. Bourke B. Hickenlooper, R-Iowa.
All told, Democrats were ahead early today in the House by a healthy margin. They were elected to 202 seats and were leading for another 41 seats. Republicans had won 154 seats and were leading in another 35.
Goldwater returns
GOP Senate winners included former Sen. Barry Goldwater, Republican presidential candidate in 1964, who easily beat Roy L. Elson, aide to the Senate's retiring dean, Democrat Carl Hayden, 91.
Republican Rep. Richard S. Schweiker ousted veteran Sen. Joseph Clark of Pennsylvania. In Oklahoma, former Republican Gov. Henry Bellmon defeated Democratic Sen. A. S. Mike Monroney, who was seeking a fourth term.
Two Senate Democratic critics of the Vietnam War were trailing. Oregon State Rep. Robert W. Packwood, 36, a Republican, led Sen. Wayne Morse, D-Ore. Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., who briefly sought the Democratic presidential nomination, was running behind former Republican Gov. Archie M. Gubbrud.
In Florida, Republican Rep. Edward J. Gurney beat former Gov. Leroy Collins, a Democrat, for the Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. George A. Smathers.
In Maryland, Rep. Charles Mcc. Mathias Jr., a moderate Republican, defeated Democratic Sen. Daniel B. Brewster and independent George P. Mahoney. Brewster was seeking a second term.
Ohio Atty. Gen. William B. Saxbe, a Republican, held a comfortable lead over former Democratic Rep. John J. Gilligan. The Ohio Senate seat was vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Frank J. Lausche.
In Kentucky, county Judge Marlow W Cook, a Republican, defeated Democrat Katherine Graham Peden, the only woman Senate candidate this year, in a race for the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Thruston B. Morton.
Kentucky woman loses
Incumbent winners included Sens.
Abraham A. Ribicoff, D-Conn.; Norris
Cotton, R-N.H.; Peter H. Dominick,
R-Colo; Jacob K. Javits, R-N.Y.,
and Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii.
House Speaker John W. McCormack, D-Mass., won re-election easily. So did House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., and House GOP Whip Les Arends, R-III.
Adam Clayton Powell, the Harlem Democrat who was elected twice to the 90th Congress but was "excluded" by his colleagues, swept to an easy victory.
Wallace ally wins
Sweeping to expected Senate victories were former Aliaba Lt. Gov. James B. Allen, a Democrat and an ally of George C. Wallace; veteran Sen. Sam Ervin, D.N.C., and Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D.S.C. Allen will replace retiring Sen. Lister Hill, D-Ala.
House Democratic Leader Carl Albert, D-Okla., easily won re-election over Gerald L. Beasley Jr., a physician and member of the John Birch Society.
Sen. Russell Long, D-La., Senate Democratic Whip, and veteran Sen. George Aiken, R-Vt., were uncontested winners. Sen. Herman Talmadge, D-Ga., won an expected easy victory.