Ready for Running

REPUBLICANS Ready for Running

From Albany west to Corning, thence on to Niagara Falls, then the length of the state to Manhattan--630 airway miles in all--whizzed New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller last week, shaking hands, slapping backs, issuing a tireless stream of enthusiastic comment: "Great . . . Isn't this fun . . . Wonderfully exciting ..." Cried he, spotting a three-year-old girl at Niagara Falls: "Hi, sweetie pie. I wish I had your freckles." Promised he, speaking at a Republican State Committee dinner in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria hotel: the same zestful formula that got him elected Governor last fall "will put New York in the Republican column in the next national elections."

In his every word and move, Nelson Rockefeller was acting as though 1960 were already here--and by week's end any lingering doubts that he would play an active part in G.O.P. presidential politics next year had all but vanished. At a Corning press conference, he carefully refrained from disavowing a group of Republican Congressmen, led by New York's Stuyvesant Wainwright, who had announced their intention to enter his name in New Hampshire's early-bird presidential primary. Was he upset by the plan? "Well." said Nelson Rockefeller, "I was upset about a lot of things in the beginning--but I've got used to them now." Reminded that once he is entered in New Hampshire, he must either run or positively forbid the use of his name, Rockefeller replied with a broad grin: "I'll have to make a mental note of that."

Even if Governor Rockefeller does decide to avoid a head-on New Hampshire clash with his chief rival, Vice President Richard Nixon, the contest seems sure to come eventually. In fact, Oregon's young Republican Governor Mark Hatfield, visiting in New York last week (and conferring with Rockefeller during his stay), assured newsmen that both Rockefeller and Nixon will be entered in the Oregon presidential primary. Reason: a new Oregon law requiring that the primary ballot carry the names of all candidates--whether "announced or generally advocated."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.