CAPITAL NOTES

Retirement for Rayburn?

House Speaker Sam Rayburn has suddenly become conscious of his advanced age. He is 79 and his eyesight is failing badly. Mister Sam has to have his mail read to him, and he sometimes fails to recognize friends' faces (he always recognizes their voices). Close Rayburn associates report that he may be considering the possibility that this is his last term in Congress. The hottest candidates for the speakership if and when Mister Sam retires: Missouri's Richard Boiling, 44, Oklahoma's Carl Albert, 52, and Arkansas' Wilbur Mills, 51. Seldom mentioned is Democratic Floor Leader John McCormack. Working against him are age (69) and religion: like President Kennedy and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, McCormack is a Roman Catholic.

Wandering Lyndon

Lyndon Johnson, nettled by reports that he swings a light bat in the Administration's lineup, is determined to shape up as its most powerful good-will ambassador. Tingling with the success of his recent junket to Senegal, he now hopes to tour Southeast Asia in early May.

Toward Nuclear Tests

The U.S. is considering resumption of nuclear testing. It may well end the self-imposed 30-month-old moratorium on nuclear tests, while still continuing negotiations with the Soviets toward a test-ban treaty. Reports a top policymaker: "It would be wrong to say that we must break off the negotiations before we can resume testing."

The Morse That Roared

"Who does that pip-squeak think he is?" raged Oregon's Democratic Senator Wayne Morse about John F. Kennedy to friends on the Senate floor. What angered Morse was that Kennedy had failed to reverse a recent order by the Eisenhower Administration that shifted a regional office of the Post Office Department from Portland to rival Seattle without first consulting him. "Kennedy is not going to get my support until I get some satisfaction," said Morse. Soon after. Morse postponed Education and Labor Committee hearings on a Kennedy-backed education bill.

"Dollar Bill"

Texas' Multimillionaire Senator William ("Dollar Bill") Blakley is arousing anguish in Democratic leaders, who are trying to get him re-elected this month. To win support of Texas liberals, leaders are urging Blakley to slow down his sniping at the Kennedy legislative program. But Blakley is not cooperating. "It's crazy," snaps an exasperated friend. "Even when his vote doesn't change a damn thing, he insists on taking the anti-Democratic position."

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