Unexpected Competition

When Interior Secretary Douglas McKay announced in March that he would run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon this year, he expected to win the Republican nomination with the ease of a stone rolling down Mt. Hood. A big automobile dealer (Chevrolet and Cadillac) in Salem for some 30 years, a state senator for four terms and governor for four years (1949-52), McKay had been winning elections in Oregon since his college days. At first he planned to stay in Washington until June 1, with only a speech here, a bow there before the May 18 primary. But back home in Oregon last week, with the primary two weeks away, Old Campaigner McKay found himself struggling like a salmon making its way up the Columbia River.

A Carpetbagger? The main reason for this drastic change of plans is a thoughtful, tireless former instructor in political science named Philip Hitchcock. By the time McKay made his last-minute announcement, Hitchcock had already taken leave from his job as public-relations director at Portland's Presbyterian Lewis and Clark College and was on the campaign trail. Although McKay moved in with the urging of G.O.P. National Chairman Leonard Hall and the blessing of President Eisenhower, Hitchcock steadfastly refused to make way for McKay. He insisted that he, not McKay, is the man who can beat Republican-turned-Democrat Wayne Morse in November.

Not nearly so well known in Oregon as McKay, Phil Hitchcock nevertheless has a wide acquaintanceship built up through his work for the college and the Presbyterian Church, his fraternal (Kiwanis, Masons) activities and two terms in the state senate. Now he is moving across the state in a small plane lent him by his brother Maurice, a White Swan, Wash. sawmill owner, making as many as 14 appearances a day.

With its overtones of orders from Washington, McKay's last-minute announcement caught many Oregon Republicans off guard, and created some resentment. Some of McKay's old friends who had lined up behind Hitchcock refused to switch. Objecting to the "commissioning" of a candidate in Washington, the Salem Oregon Statesman (circ. 18,646), published by former Governor Charles A. Sprague, an erstwhile McKay supporter, has come out foursquare for Hitchcock. The dangers in this situation are not lost on McKay. Says he: "You'd think I was a carpetbagger coming here from Washington instead of the grandson of a Hudson's Bay Co. trapper who settled in Oregon in 1842. It's pure nuts that two men in Washington told McKay to run. I made up my own mind."

Another Morse? In most of their campaigning, both Hitchcock and McKay have turned their fire on Morse and have been polite to each other. But occasional sharp notes have begun to creep in. Some friends of McKay have been looking at Hitchcock's record, and are saying that "the issue is whether we want to nomi nate another Wayne Morse." Says Hitchcock guardedly, in a state where Democrats have made the McKay-approved Hells Canyon dam project a symbol of "giveaway": "My activities as an Eisenhower Republican will not be tied to the policies of one controversial department."

This week, as the campaign rushed to a climax, Champion McKay was still ahead. But Challenger Hitchcock was running better than anyone thought he would.

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