A Three-Way Race?

New York's Republican Senator Kenneth Keating, his white hair freshly trimmed, his face newly tanned, waved at the cameras in the Overseas Press Club in Manhattan. "Well, ladies and gentlemen," he began, "we all know what we're here for. And I want to announce at the outset that I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate . . ." Newsmen froze. ". . . from Massachusetts." Keating grinned. His audience laughed.

After the quip, Keating announced seriously what everyone had expected him to announce: he would indeed be a candidate for re-election in New York.

And he made it clear that he was not joking in the least in his continued refusal to back Senator Barry Goldwater for President. Explained Keating: "I cannot in good conscience conceal my convictions behind a facade of conformity disguised as unity. I seriously doubt that any voter in New York would be impressed by any lip service I might give Senator Goldwater." Keating's stand demonstrated anew that New York Republicans are deeply divided in this election year.

But the Democrats were squabbling too--and at the moment, over that same Keating Senate seat. Bobby Kennedy, despite charges of carpetbagging, continued to blitz the party in his drive to secure a new base of political power by running against Keating. New York City's old-style Democratic bosses had been first to pick up his cause. Somewhat reluctantly, the Liberal Party leaders endorsed him. Then, under a barrage of pressure from Bobby's friends, regular Democratic district leaders throughout the state surrendered in rapid succession. Finally, only one major bulwark still stood against the blitz: the state's most powerful Democrat, New York City's Mayor Robert Wagner. "Dazzling Magic." Last week the walls came tumbling down--and there stood Bob Wagner. There can be no question of Bob Kennedy's "personal eminence," said the mayor, nor "of the appealing nature of his great public achievements, nor of the dazzling magic of his name. The vision, imagination, courage and initiative he has shown in regard to the supreme moral issue of our time--civil rights--and his practical initiative in advancing this cause are of heroic proportions." Wagner dismissed the matter of Bobby's nonresidence in New York with the lame observation that "New York State has taken to its bosom millions from abroad and from other parts of the country, giving our state constant infusions of new blood and renewals of vitality. All Americans are at home in New York." He indicated that what really bothered him was that Kennedy seemed too close to the bosses with whom Wagner and Reform Democrats have been fighting. But the mayor blandly accepted Bobby's pledge that he will work "with me and with all others who have dedicated themselves to the revitalization and democratization of our party organization." Actually, there was little else that Wagner could do but endorse Bobby.

In many respects, it all made good sense to the Democrats. They have not elected a Democratic U.S. Senator since Herbert Lehman--another candidate with a big name--turned the trick in 1950. Wagner realized that there is no really big-name Democrat in the state with the ability to give Ken Keating a tough fight. Bobby Kennedy may have plenty of opposition among New York Democrats, but he is undeniably a big name.

"Still Hopeful." There is no assurance yet that the coming campaign will deal only with a Kennedy-Keating race, for it may well be that a third candidate will join the battle. Former Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce announced last week that she would accept the New York State Conservative Party's invitation to run for the Senate on its ticket. So doing, she added: "I am still hopeful, as is the Conservative Party state leadership, that unity will be achieved behind the Goldwater-Miller ticket in New York." One way to achieve that unity would be for Governor Nelson Rockefeller to make it possible for voters to cast a ballot for Barry Goldwater on the Conservative ticket. The only way to do this is for the two parties to share the same electors. Mrs. Luce's chief aim is to achieve the maximum votes for Goldwater in New York this fall. Said she: "Senator Keating has a vote for President, which he is going to throw away.

Mr. Kennedy has no vote. I am the only senatorial candidate who has a vote and who is certainly going to use it--for Senator Goldwater." The burgeoning Conservative Party, which is running its own candidates for state offices, might be disposed to support Keating in return for the strength it would gain by having regular Republican electors on its ticket.

How that sticky problem will be resolved, no New Yorker yet pretended to know. But however the G.O.P. settled its internal dilemma, there was no question that the Senate race this fall would be the zestiest the state has seen in years.

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