The Man to Beat

The morning after last week's Nebraska primary, Ohio's Senator Robert A. Taft was standing in the Senate cloakroom, his eyes glued to the news ticker. A Democratic colleague called to him: "Is Stassen still winning?" "Yes, he's way ahead," replied Taft. "But Dewey and I together have more votes than he has."

Actually, Harold Stassen got only a trifle less than Taft and Dewey combined. He walked off with 43% of the vote, to 36% for Dewey and 11% for Taft.* And he had done more than win a popularity contest. Thirteen of Nebraska's 15 convention delegates announced that they would vote for Stassen on the first ballot --though they are not legally bound by the primary results. The significance of the Nebraska election was that, in the space of two short weeks, Stassen had become the man to beat for the nomination --the man for all other candidates to stop, singly or in combination.

"A Good Man, But . . ." The Dewey and Taft camps denied that they had any "understanding" that they would work together to sidetrack the Stassen bandwagon. But Stassenites thought they had spotted at least a willingness of the two groups to work together. They pointed to Omaha, where Senator Hugh Butler's machine had been expected to deliver strongly for Taft. Instead, when Stassen strength and Taft weakness became evident, it delivered for Dewey. The final Omaha results: Dewey, 12,500; Stassen, 9,000; Taft, 4,000.

Stassen's headlong drive did not mean that he had the nomination in his pocket. But professional politicians who had said "He's a good man but he can't be nominated," hurried to take a second look. They also looked hard and long in the direction of Michigan's Senator Arthur Vandenberg, whom Stassen never failed to praise and who might be the ultimate beneficiary of the Stassen strength.

Stassen himself continued his whirlwind campaign. He spent the morning of his 41 st birthday in Omaha, cut a cake given to him by dapper Fred Seaton, his Nebraska manager, then hurried home to listen to the returns. Then he was off to Bob Taft's home state. He was competing with Taft for 23 of Ohio's 53 delegates. If he could take a dozen from Ohio's "favorite son," it would be the end of Taft's chances.

Stassen went at it as he had in Wisconsin and Nebraska, as if he were running for sheriff. At 9 a.m., four hours out of St. Paul, his chartered airliner dropped in on grimy Youngstown. For most of the next 15 hours he talked, answered questions, shook hundreds of hands. He got a warm reception; Ohioans seemed as friendly to him as Nebraskans.

"No Surpassin'." Then he was off for a day in Washington, where he talked to half a dozen Senators and about 50 Congressmen. At week's end, he flew down to Miami (Florida is holding a Republican primary on May 4). Stassen is the only G.O.P. contender who has made a personal effort to win any of its 16 delegates. Miamians who greeted him wore big badges: "No Surpassin' Harold Stassen."

This week he hustled back to stump in Ohio industrial cities (among them: Dayton, Toledo, Akron, Cleveland). Senator Taft, hurriedly canceling other plans, sped out to Ohio. The Senator had his gloves off. "Mr. Stassen," he cried, "could have been elected Senator two years ago and been in Washington to help us Republicans do our job. It would have been easy. He chose instead to spend two years running for the presidency." From now on, the going would be rough.

* The others: Vandenberg (whose name was entered without his consent), 5%; MacArthur, 4%; Warren, 1%; Martin, 0.5%.

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