Christmas Carols

The Democrats unwrapped an early Christmas package last week. Pollster George Gallup reported that in the key states of Pennsylvania (35 electoral votes) and Ohio (25) the Democrats are leading 51% to 49%. But the Republicans were still doing most of the political caroling.

Ex-Governor Harold Stassen reported on results of a six-state speaking tour from Colorado through the South to Florida (most of which is usually considered Taft territory). So far, he calculated hopefully, he had picked up 54 convention votes out of a possible 114. His claimed first-ballot total so far: 175.

Governor Tom Dewey enjoyed a cautious bout of political doubletalk with a traveling foreign diplomat. Discussing France's Charles de Gaulle, the diplomat declared himself strongly against any general as chief of state. Grinning broadly, Candidate Dewey, with at least one other general in mind, nodded enthusiastic agreement.

Publisher Bertie McCormick of the Chicago Tribune ("I'm a Taft man myself") got back to the U.S. after a five-week Pacific junket and unburdened himself of a wealth of political opinions: 1) though General Douglas MacArthur is not a presidential candidate, he would not refuse a draft; 2) "There will be no damned foreigners in the Illinois G.O.P. primary. If Dewey or Stassen try to crash . . . we'll have to do something about it"; 3) "I think very highly of Warren, but a man cannot go into a national convention with only one state. It's like trying to fly on one wing"; 4) "The Marshall Plan? To hell with the Marshall Plan. It's really a snob plan."

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