Only the People . . .

The last of the 1,206 Republican Convention delegates were chosen this week. An Illinois state convention chose ten delegates-at-large, all for Taft. This brought the Illinois score to Taft 59, Eisenhower 1. Puerto Rico, which had been expected to go for Taft, exploded with a factional fight. Both groups agreed on one delegate, each elected two others. All are publicly uncommitted and uninstructed.

Despite claims from both camps, neither Taft nor Ike is within a hundred votes of the 604 needed to nominate. At week's end the votes stood:

Taft 464

Eisenhower 389

Warren 76

Stassen 26

McKeldin 24

MacArthur 3

Contested 75

Uncommitted 149

1,206

Pennsylvania's 55 uncommitted are embroiled in a hot fight centering on Governor John Fine (see below). Michigan's 26 uncommitted are waiting with much more patience and internal harmony. Quietly, the Michigan delegates may have made the political news of the week when they met Sunday afternoon at Flint's Durant Hotel. They chose Detroit's George A. Shaffer, a resolutely uncommitted delegate (TIME, June 23), for their delegation's member on the convention credentials committee.

Shaffer is thoroughly acceptable to the Ikemen because they believe his promise to abide by a poll of voters now being taken by the uncommitted Republican delegates in many Michigan districts. The Ike leaders know--and members of the Michigan delegation know--that Ike is leading Taft in this poll. When the poll is completed, Michigan may be ready to give Ike 30 or even 40 of its 46 votes.

Not all of the uncommitted delegates are waiting for actual poll results. All of them, however, are carefully testing the candidates' effect on public opinion. They listen to the sharp exchanges on the Texas delegation steal, read the speeches and watch Taft and Ike on TV. The delegates know that they can pick a nominee at Chicago without reference to what the people want. But the delegates also know that only the people can pick a President.

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