Lost in Pennsylvania

Harold Stassen, ex-Governor of Minnesota, ex-candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the U.S., ex-president of the University of Pennsylvania, ex-White House disarmament adviser, had wandered around Pennsylvania for weeks, trying to round up enough votes to win the G.O.P. primary for Governor and a second political wind. Last week came the primary test--and for Harold Stassen it was over almost before it began. Within three hours after the polls closed, he knew he had lost all of crucial Philadelphia's 58 wards, fallen behind by 88,000 votes to Pretzel Manufacturer Arthur Toy McGonigle, 51, a hard campaigner (TIME, April 21) who had the support of the state's regular Republican organization under vigorous Chairman George Bloom. In the final count, Stassen carried only 16 relatively small counties out of the state's 67, lost to McGonigle by 574,000 votes to 344,000.

That left Harold Stassen, once the hottest thing in Republican politics, out in the cold for what promised to be a tough general election. In November Republican McGonigle runs against Pittsburgh's powerful Democratic Mayor David Lawrence for Governor, and G.O.P. Representative Hugh Scott Jr. runs against incumbent Democratic Governor George Leader for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Ed Martin. For those who thought Stassen was through with politics, Childe Harold had a word of warning: "When God ends my life," said he. "that's when my career will end."

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