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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, October 17, 1968
Refreshing politics
Obscured by the pomp and propaganda of the national presidential election is the state gubernatorial campaign.
If a voter can manage to slice through the front page maze of presidential charges and counter charges, he is likely to find a refreshing picture. Its freshness is reflected in the issues, which are distinguishable, and in the candidates, who are attractive.
In the race for the sunflower gubernatorial chair, energetic upstart Rick Harmon is proving to be the major obstacle in the promising political career of incumbent governor Robert Docking. If Docking can stand fast against the hard-running Harmon assault; he could well pave significant political inroads for himself in the national arena.
It is obvious that the Kansas governor has done much to identify with the elite of the Democratic party—out of state. He traveled to Vietnam for President Johnson, he has linked himself socially to the Kennedy family, and more recently he firmly attached himself to the Hubert Humphrey candidacy. But part of the irony of predominately one-party Kansas politics is that these ties have been emphasized out of state while simultaneously being played down in state. Preceeding and including the Democratic National Convention, Docking came under fire from a surprisingly large contigent of Kansas McCarthy supporters for leading a
Although Docking may present a flickering hope for converting Kansas into a two-party state; it should be noted that the realities of Kansas politics have necessitated his playing down the party label.
pro-Humphrey delegation to the convention. Many Kansas Democrats felt the delegation did not justly represent Kansas. Whether Docking lost any supporters as a result of the convention can only be surmised; but one thing is certain: democrats alone do not elect candidates in Kansas.
So the irony of the Docking campaign is that he must appear to be a staunch Democrat on the national scene; while scarcely mentioning his party affiliation on the home front.
In contrast to the Docking candidacy is the campaign run by his Republican challenger, Rick Harmon. The former Kansas State basketball all-American hopes to ride into office as part of a national Republican sweep. Harmon has had nationally prominent GOP leaders stump for him in state. Wearing a GOP label is as safe in Kansas as wearing a sunflower in your lapel. Harmon knows this full well.
This is not to say, the Republican candidate has not concentrated on the issues. He has. One of the predominate issues being taxes. But this is a familiar battle for Docking. Much of his support in 1966 can be traced to the stigma of unpopular tax hikes during the administration of William Avery. Docking is on familiar and advantageous ground if voters focus attention on taxes.
Harmon will likely need more than the issues to push him into office; a Republican year nationally, and Harmon's identification with it could spell the difference. And Governor Docking's political future could hang in the balance.
Richard Lundquist
Assistant Editorial Editor
Letters to the editor
Humphrey, Wescoe
To the Editor:
Not a strong supporter of the Vice President, I was nevertheless disturbed by the slanted reporting of Mr. Humphrey's arrival in Kansas City which appeared in the lead article of the U.D.K. Tuesday. It is improper for a university publication to present false information, unjustified inferences, and several examples of news slanting under the guise of a factual article and expect to maintain any reputation as a reliable news source.
If you question the above statement,you need only read the Kansas City Star,certainly not a Democratic newspaper; view filmed reports of the event; speak to other witnesses, and
consult a guidebook to good journalism.
Sincerely yours,
Michael McDonald
Kansas City senior
To the Editor:
As new members of the KU family, my wife and I were invited by Chancellor and Mrs. Wescoe to a New Faculty Welcome party at their residence Sunday afternoon, Oct. 13. Hundreds of guests were in the reception line, and all were greeted by the KU first couple. We introduced ourselves to the Chancellor and his wife.
When the party was almost over, we went to the door to say our thanks to our host and
hostess. The Chancellor said to my wife, "Are you Mrs. Huang? Thank you for coming."
We were greatly surprised that he could remember our names from that first, brief meeting among so many people.
Dr. Wescoe's leaving will indeed be an irreplaceable loss to this great University. As a new member of KU, I regret that I shall have only a little opportunity to know him more. From this little incident, I realize how a great man is great.
C. K. Huang
East Asian Library
East Asian Library
One-Way
DORCHESTER, Mass. (UPI)
— A doughnut shop here has a sign of "Fire Exit," and beneath it: "No Admittance."
A student newspaper serving the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester. $10 a semester. Postage postpaid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Accommodations, goods, services and/or financial assistance without regard to color, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
Le May rationale
George C. Wallace, pilot for the American Independent Party, finally picked his co-pilot two weeks ago.
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, retired U.S. Air Force chief of staff, will sit next to Wallace as they soar across the nation on a campaign which up until now, was about 175 degrees away from the Democratic and Republican party candidates on the Vietnamese war.
Now, with LeMay in the picture, the American Independent Party just picked up five more degrees.
"I like a man who has the ability to speak his mind," Wallace said.
Certainly LeMay does not hedge when the discussion turns to Vietnam.
"There is a lack of a will to win in Vietnam." says LeMay.
Apparently, if elected, LeMay plans to instill the missing will.
Here is a candidate, apparently serious about getting to the White House, and all he can talk about are the virtues of being killed by nuclear weapons as opposed to conventional weapons.
LeMay said that to him, any war is horrible, but when asked if he favored the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam, LeMay said it didn't make much difference if a person got killed with nuclear weapons, and, in an effort to perhaps justify such a statement, added that if he had a choice he would rather get killed by nuclear weapons.
One wonders if, by saying such a thing, LeMay hopes Wallace supporters will go to work and tell their fellow employees that the atomic bomb has been misunderstood all these years, that actually the 'ole A-bomb ain't such a bad egg after all.
Or perhaps he was trying to say: "Well, I mean after all, all those Vietnamese over there are getting burned by napalm anyway, and if nuclear weapons were used they would burn up so fast that they wouldn't have time to feel pain."
Not exactly a humanist's sentiment.
A little later, LeMay said that a nuclear weapon is just another weapon in the arsenal. It was as if two people had packed a pile of snowballs and just before throwing them at one another, one combatant says that all his snowballs are the same, except one has a rock in it.
Then LeMay expressed his rationale, obviously discounting any possibility of peaceful withdrawal from Vietnam;
1. "Use the force that is needed to win, maybe a little more."
2. "Don't use nuclear weapons in Vietnam unless you have to."
3. "I will not say that in all circumstances I would not use nuclear weapons."
4. And then he adds: "We might as well bury them in Fort Knox."
Of all his arguments, number four appears to make the most sense.
Ron Yates Kansan staff member
The rock hound Paul Mauriat; Cream
By WILL HARDESTY
The music of Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra is magic. It is happy, light, fun, smooth-listening and well-arranged. His seventh album, PREVAILING AIRS on Philips, is no exception.
The master of modern "good" instrumental music again displays his prowess at taking rock songs and emphasizing the basic beauty in them while making them agreeable and likable by anyone from heads to Establishmentians.
Particularly enjoyable is the melancholy "Honey"—made popular by Bobby Goldsboro. Mauriat retains the great melody, clothes it in the fullness and beauty of his orchestral arrangement, but dumps the trite, sickeninely sweet lyrics.
Other American hits on the album include "Mrs. Robinson," "Eleanor Rigby," "This Guy's in Love with You," "Lady Madonna," and "Delilah." Also on the album are three French songs and a couple of other American tunes.
This album in definitely great listening during those quieter moments.
If you've been debating whether or not to invest the $7-$9 necessary to purchase WHEELS OF FIRE by Cream on Atco, wait no longer.
If the rumors are true and Cream is about to break up, this could well be their swan song album, and they certainly exit in a burst of glory.
WHEELS is a fine album by a very creative group. The album is actually a two-record set. One record was recorded in the studio and the other was made live at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.
The trio shows its own diversity as well as that of modern rock doing everything from blues to an almost-lullabyte to heavy, heavy rock. Many effects are used and used well—from feedback to the use of a calliope, glokenspiel, marimba and cello.
Songs from the album which might have been heard on the radio (depending on how progressive radio is where you have been recently) include "White Room," "Pressed Rat and Warthog," "Crossroads" and "Spoonful."
Perhaps the best song from a collection of fine works is "Spoonful." This is a 16-minute-44 second bit of hard jazz-rock in which each member has a turn at showing why he is considered one of the very best artists on his instrument.
Once through, the album is enough to demonstrate how the album, in an amazingly-perhaps fantastically-short time, has sold a million copies.