Upset Applecart

To Candidate Estes Kefauver the New Jersey apple appeared sweet and ripe and ready for picking. Adlai Stevenson was not entered in the New Jersey primary, and Kefauver, who specializes in trouncing state organizations, saw little to fear in the unpledged slate of delegates headed by Governor Robert Meyner and representing the New Jersey regulars. By so underestimating Robert Baumie Meyner, Kefauver got his apple, all right. But it was bitter and overripe and thrown right in his face.

In New Jersey Kefauver waged one of his patented, tireless, poorboy campaigns, seeking the voters' help in his underdog battle against the state "machine." But Bob Meyner refused to get mad. Although he privately describes Kefauver in lurid terms, Meyner invited Estes to a personal meeting, chatted pleasantly for 40 minutes, said kind things ("He has a style of campaigning which I like to think is my style of campaigning"). Meyner blandly denied that his organization was trying to impose its will on the voters. Said he: "I am not one of those who think that leadership is synonymous with bossism."

Meyner's strategy--that of preventing a big sympathy vote for Kefauver--paid off. Last week when the votes were counted, Estes Kefauver won precisely one-half of one delegate vote--and that by a voting-machine fluke. The Meyner slate took the other 35 1/2. Kefauver did little better in New Jersey's preferential vote. Running unopposed on the Democratic ballot, he received 110,000 votes against 329,000 for President Eisenhower on the Republican side.

Old Hand. At 47, New Jersey's Meyner is an old hand at upsetting applecarts. One of the most eligible bachelors in U.S. politics, he practiced law in Jersey City and home-town Phillipsburg, went to the state senate in 1947, became one of the leaders in ousting Jersey City's Boss Frank Hague from the seat of Democratic power in 1949. Four years later Meyner was nominated for governor. He promptly announced that, win or lose in the general election, he was assuming direct personal leadership of the state organization and intended to retain it for the next four years. He won the election, bringing down the New Jersey Republican organization, whose timbers had been rotting behind an impressive facade of long-held power.

At the moment of taking office, Meyner became one of the most powerful of U.S. governors. Under the New Jersey constitution, the governor is the only elected official in the executive branch. He has almost absolute power in appointing cabinet officers (the fact that four of Meyner's cabinet officers are Republicans has caused some major Democratic grumbling). Says Meyner: "I have great opportunities to do a job of service without legislation." This helps, since the New Jersey legislature is Republican.

New Lilt. After last week's primary Governor Meyner met newsmen. He was a model of modesty, but the lilt of success kept dancing into his voice. How had the primary hurt Kefauver's national chances? Said Meyner: "I have to agree that what happened is a setback." (In California, Kefauver said frankly, "We tried and we didn't succeed.") Did Meyner, whose slate had been billed as pro-Stevenson, see the primary as a mandate to vote the New Jersey delegation for Stevenson? Replied Meyner: "I see nothing in the way of a mandate." (In Pennsylvania, Stevenson agreed that it was strictly a Meyner victory.)

What about Meyner himself? Had he now become a dark horse of lighter hue? Grinned Meyner: "I haven't been using peroxide in the last few days." With his political future still well ahead of him, Bob Meyner can easily afford to wait. But in the unsettled Democratic situation of 1956, it could be that peroxide will be poured on him before convention time.

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