Hot Stew

Off a sizzling political stove came a thick primary stew peppered and ready to serve the voters. Items:

Indiana. Retiring Republican Senator William Jenner, 49, succeeded in promoting the G.O.P. nomination of his hand-picked candidate: Republican Governor Harold Willis Handley, 48. Handley's Democratic opponent: Evansville's Mayor R. (for Rupert) Vance Hartke, 39. whose chances--remarkable in the traditionally Republican Hoosier state--are fifty-fifty.

Connecticut. Democrats meeting in Hartford to choose a senatorial candidate bypassed the eager politicking of ex-Governor Chester Bowles and ex-Senator William Benton, onetime Manhattan advertising partners, instead picked former Congressman Thomas J. Dodd, 51, hardworking, seasoned politico, who will run against Republican Incumbent William A. Purtell.

South Carolina. Democrats nominated --and in effect elected--able Lieutenant Governor Ernest F. Hollings, 36, as Governor, after a bitter primary campaign against Attorney Donald S. Russell, onetime president of the University of South Carolina.

New York. Philanthropist Nelson Rockefeller, 49, announced his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, thereby throwing the gauntlet to GOPolitician Len Hall, ex-National Committee chairman, who had announced earlier, had been hoping for a clear field for the August G.O.P. convention. Rockefeller, who turned down pleas that he run for Senator, is no professional politico, but he has built a distinguished longtime record in public service.

North Dakota. Ailing, cantankerous Senator William L. Langer, 71, was resoundingly renominated in the Republican primary. Last March the Republican convention dumped Wild Bill because he had been a fairly consistent Democratic voter in the Senate, chose instead devoted Party Hack Lieutenant Governor Clyde Duffy, 67, to run for Langer's Senate spot. Langer (an adopted son of the Sioux Indians), once the favorite of the now-divided Non-partisan League, could not have cared less, filed against Duffy in the primary, showed his craggy face on only three campaign trips, wound up with a whopping victory. One source of his success: an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Democrats and old Non-partisan Leaguers who crossed party lines to pay their respects to Wild Bill. Langer's lightweight Democratic opponent in November: State Senator Ray Vendsel, 40.

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