Calling Card

The high and mighty of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party last week were mulling some blunt words from a visitor whose calling card is still the hottest Democratic pasteboard in the 1960 Presidential race. The visitor was Massachusetts' Senator John Kennedy, and he was speaking bluntly on the noisiest issue of the campaign: Catholicism in the White House.

Kennedy's words came at a Pittsburgh luncheon attended last fortnight by 35 of the state's top Democrats, headed by Governor David Lawrence, a power in the party as well as a Roman Catholic himself. Directing his remarks at Governor Lawrence (who claims that he would have been elected by a bigger margin were it not for his Catholicism), Kennedy issued a warning: If he should go into the Democratic Convention with enough votes to assure him of the nomination but fail to get it because of his religion, the Democratic Party would suffer in the nation's eyes and even, perhaps, lose the election. On the whole, Lawrence & Co. were not convinced, but in Pennsylvania Jack Kennedy had done a fair job of turning the Catholic-can't-win argument his way.

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