Key Election

Passing the three-quarter pole in his race for governor, New Jersey Republican Malcolm Forbes was joined last week by a seasoned political pacer. "Think of the news it would make," said Vice President Nixon, "if Malcolm Forbes won. We had a little election in Wisconsin--one the Republicans would like to forget.* An upset gave inspiration to the Democratic Party. An upset here would prove to Republicans all over the country that it can be done." On the chance that it could, Nixon toured seven key counties, made eight full-dress speeches, shook as many hands as he could reach (2,000 in 90 minutes in Bergen County), even inspired 3,000 students who turned out of Atlantic City High School to give him a rousing "Three-Rah Nixon!"

In an effort to defeat Incumbent Democratic Governor Robert Baumle Meyner next week in the key U.S. election of 1957, the G.O.P. had also called out Labor Secretary James P. . Mitchell, Interior Secretary Fred Seaton and New Jersey's Senator Clifford Case. But the busiest campaigner of them all was energetic Malcolm Forbes, 38, who was trying to dramatize issues in a state that Bob Meyner has governed blandly but well.

Forbes took a gamble on the growing national discontent over big-labor brass, tagged Meyner as a tool of the state's C.I.O. bosses, hoped thereby to pick up some rank-and-file votes. He played relentlessly on Meyner's record budget (up $21 million since Meyner took office), warned New Jersey to "Get a new governor or get new taxes." For his part, Democrat Meyner continued to campaign like a man with his ears plugged. Confident that he would win, he did everything he could to avoid rocking the boat. Anxious to prove that he could win by himself, he turned down all offers of outside Democratic help.

In contrast to the thousands tumbling into the Nixon-Forbes rallies last week, Meyner was drawing poor crowds. In Jersey City advance Democratic scouts hastily combined five meetings into one in a hall seating 75, then produced an overflow audience. Nonetheless, the polls were showing Meyner a winner: a Princeton Research Service straw vote gave him 49% of the vote, Forbes 43%, with the remainder undecided. In Newark, bookies changed their odds' on a Meyner victory from 8-5 to 12-5.

* When Democrat William Proxmire upset heavily favored Republican Walter J. Kohler Jr. for Joe McCarthy's Senate seat.

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